Lost in San Francisco
December 11, 2001
Looking for something fun to do in the San Francisco area, someone suggested the Exploratorium. It is a place where there are multiple demonstrations of some of the principles of science and technology with lots of hands-on exhibits. Maybe a place where 13 folks from our family, ranging in age from 6 months to 65 years, could be entertained and enlightened. So, we piled into three cars and took off from Palo Alto on Hwy 101. It had taken us somewhat longer than expected to load everyone into the cars, so we were running a little late. Consequently, our lead car with Brian driving drove a little faster than normal and changed lanes frequently. Brian was followed by Shenda, and I brought up the rear. At first, the traffic was uncongested, but as we approached San Francisco, the traffic was heavy, and keeping in sight of our leader became much more challenging. But with some driving skill and lots of luck, we all arrived at the Exploratorium together.
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| Tony, JJ, Jimmy, Auston, Kynwyn and Shenda at Exploratorium |
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| Jimmy, Kynwyn and Auston at the Normal Curve |
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| Brian and Preston at something |
After a few hours in the Exploratorium, we decided to head to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. We lined up our cars in front of the Exploratorium in the appropriate order: Brian, Shenda and myself, and drove off into the heavy traffic. A few blocks away, Shenda in her green Ford Windstar, suddenly turned right. We could see Brian, in his gray Jeep continuing straight ahead. Now I faced a dilemma: who to follow? Tony Bonta, who was riding with me, suggested that we continue to follow Brian. But, I decided that if Shenda turned, she must have done so for a good reason, so I followed her. We drove a few miles up a steep San Francisco street till we received a phone call on my cell phone. It was Jimmy. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“Well, I’m just following you,” I replied.
“No, we are following you,” he said.
Tony quickly spotted our error. The green Ford we were following was not a Ford at all. It was a Mercury. Same color and shape, but definitely not Jimmy’s Ford. So what to do? Cell phones came to the rescue. Each car had a cell phone, so we communicated quickly and decided on a rendezvous point. When we reached the point, Shenda was already parked with flashers blinking. I parked, turned on my flashers and Brian soon appeared. We were reunited again and this time I made certain that we were following a green FORD.
As we reentered the heavy traffic, it suddenly occurred to me that I was breaking several of my self-imposed driving rules. (1) Avoid driving in a strange city at night! As I have aged, the bright lights of oncoming headlights complicate my visual acuity, making it difficult to see street signs. (2) Minimize the number of driving laws that I break! By the time the third car reached a green light, it was now either red or turning red. Not wanting to get lost again, red lights were sometimes ignored. (3) Drive relaxed! Difficult when speeding through strange streets, in the dark, while sometimes breaking the law. A loud “clang” as I drove over a loose trolly track was not a calming influence. I was reminded of Popeye Doyle chasing the bad guys through the streets of New York in the “French Connection.”
Finally, we safely reached the “New China Restaurant” and Tony returned my cell phone that he had been using so effectively. It was warm and I tested it for evidence of perspiration. It was dry! Either my son-in-law, Tony is one cool guy or else my driving did not make him too nervous.
In the back seat, 2-year-old Koby Bonta slept peacefully through the little adventure in his car seat.
After parking, Shenda gave me a big hug and said, “Your driving was awesome!” I think it was her way of saying that she was glad we all survived. Then she whipped out her trusty cell phone and called her student in New York. As we walked the streets of Chinatown, Shenda was busy trying to convince her student not to back out of giving an important paper at a meeting.
After a tasty traditional Chinese dinner, with some cow intestines included for variety, we started our drive back to Palo Alto. Frances and Brian provided careful instructions on the route to take in case we were again separated. So, with the aid of Tony’s great eyes for finding street signs, we were soon back on Hwy. 101 headed south. I somehow got into the fast lane, where the traffic flow was averaging about 80 mph. We unintentionally passed Shenda, who was in a slower lane and zipped south to Brian’s home in Palo Alto. But now we knew the way, so it was a relatively easy drive. When we arrived, Shenda and family had slipped passed us on the freeway and were already parked in the driveway.
It had been an interesting little adventure which provided some spice into our humdrum lives. I was thankful that we had all arrived safely. It gave added meaning to our Thanksgiving reunion where we all enjoyed health, happiness, and mutual affections.
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| And, we somehow escaped the Gates of Hell |
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