Yesterday we drove home from Lake Tahoe, and, with inspiration I can describe as well-intentioned but mistaken in retrospect, decided to take US-50 instead of I-80 (on which we’d driven to Tahoe). Here’s the route:View Larger MapThe whole point of the last-minute Tahoe trip was to get some snow, which we missed completely on the [...]

Yesterday we drove home from Lake Tahoe, and, with inspiration I can describe as well-intentioned but mistaken in retrospect, decided to take US-50 instead of I-80 (on which we’d driven to Tahoe). Here’s the route:

View Larger Map
The whole point of the last-minute Tahoe trip was to get some snow, which we missed completely on the New Year’s road trip. So, says I, checking the Caltrans road conditions site, US-50 seems to be clear with no restrictions and it’s the scenic route. Let’s try that.

We got as far as South Lake Tahoe and then, wow, sudden stop. I rechecked Caltrans and saw that chains were now required for a portion of highway 50 through Eldorado National Forest. Since we were in Jennifer‘s Subaru Forester, with full-time all-wheel drive, we didn’t actually need to install the chains but had purchased some just in case some well-meaning CHP officer insisted we have them.

I really didn’t know what was holding up traffic, but later I determined that we covered the next 25 miles in a little under five hours. It wasn’t accidents, though there were a few. It wasn’t severe weather, as that didn’t start until we were well up in the mountains. It wasn’t chain-on areas—those were pretty well organized off to the side and not really blocking the road. I think it was mostly just volume of traffic combined with less than competent drivers. Think of how badly the average person drives in the rain, and then double or triple that for snow and ice conditions.

Anyway, Jennifer was driving so I was fiddling with my phone—Tweeting, checking road conditions, getting news, the usual. For some very odd reason, although I had good coverage through most of the drive, my Tweets didn’t arrive until many hours later and, of course, were all out of order. I’ve reassembled the correct timeline here:

• Checked out & heading home via I-50.
• Correction: US-50, not I-50. I’m so embarrassed.
• No rain here (outside S. Lake Tahoe on US-50) just snow. Lots and lots of snow.
• It’s snowing sideways.
• Making average 4mph. Whee.
• Live video: http://qik.com/smartwatermelon (archived video clips here)
• There is something ever so slightly surreal about a Mexican cantina in an alpine-style building in a snowstorm. (it was El Papagayo Grill & Cafe, and we stopped for a quick snack and restroom break)
• Close to white-out.
• Cars & trucks skidding out as we descend.
• We’ve gone from snow to rain.
• Annnnd now back to snow.
• Torrential rain in Placerville.
• I think my Tweets are not going through.
• I suspect a whole load on on-the-road blathering will show up sooner or later.
• HOME.

The trip home took around eight hours, and for comparison it was fewer than four to get there on I-80. But hey, snow!

The “Service Engine Soon” light came on as I was driving home Tuesday night in my ’99 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, so I made an appointment for this morning at my local GM dealer to have it checked out. The light stayed on through my commute to and from work yesterday, but was mysteriously dark [...]

The “Service Engine Soon” light came on as I was driving home Tuesday night in my ’99 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, so I made an appointment for this morning at my local GM dealer to have it checked out. The light stayed on through my commute to and from work yesterday, but was mysteriously dark this morning (and was lit during the normal systems check upon starting the car, so I know the lightbulb is not out). Not knowing what to think, I kept the appointment and dropped the car off this morning. Apparently this can be caused by any number of problems from trivial to major, though there has been absolutely no sign of trouble–the car sounds normal, runs fine, isn’t leaking anything, etc. They didn’t have (or weren’t offering) a free loaner, but did have an Enterprise rental desk in the showroom. I asked for a basic car to get me to and from work while mine is at the shop, and the car rental guy asked me, “As long as you pay the economy price, do you mind what you get?”

I parsed that sentence and didn’t see any danger, so I answered in the affirmative. What I got was a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT. “And this is for the economy rate, right?” I asked, oh-so-casually.

“Yep.”

“Okay then.”

Wow. I haven’t enjoyed driving a car quite this much since I bought the Grand Prix itself six years ago. The weather today precluded lowering the top (and I’m not much for the windblown hair look anyway) but it hardly mattered. And I spotted the CHP car near SFO before he spotted me, so I was lucky there too.

I always wanted a 4-door for passenger and cargo capacity, but now that Jen has her Subaru Forester 2.5XS (4-door, tons of cargo space) I’m thinking something a little sportier might be nice. I don’t know that I’d go for the Eclipse itself–I’d really prefer an American-made car–but it is causing me to look in a different direction for my next car.

Jennifer has a new car! It’s a 2004 Subaru Forester XS Premium in “Java Black Pearl”. We bought it from Carlsen Subaru in Redwood City, using AAA‘s Vehicle Purchasing Service, which eliminates haggling and negotiation and let us work directly with the dealership’s fleet manager. Here are some pics of Jen in her new car:

Jennifer has a new car! It’s a 2004 Subaru Forester XS Premium in “Java Black Pearl”. We bought it from Carlsen Subaru in Redwood City, using AAA‘s Vehicle Purchasing Service, which eliminates haggling and negotiation and let us work directly with the dealership’s fleet manager. Here are some pics of Jen in her new car: