Our last day & Cats, Dogs and Whipps are reunited

We have arrived home SAFE AND SOUND! We came home to a couple loving cats and an excited puppy who has grown!!! We also came home to a BEAUTIFUL COMPLETED THEATRE ROOM!!! Thanks to the McCallum family for doing that in our absence!!! The 7 of us (Lars didn't participate) watched Jurassic Park II together while sipping our free champagne (from the resort at Knotts Berry Farm) and eating popcorn.

Let's back track to our last day in California. The day can be summed up in one word: TRAFFIC!!! We had terrible traffic getting back into San Francisco Friday morning to catch our ferry to Alcatraz, but we made it! The tour was really good. We have gone on a few walking/audio tours in the past and both agree this was one of the best tours! The narrators were 4 former guards and 4 former prisoners. The sound effects made it sound real and the directions were clear: even to the point of seeing the pock marks from when hand grenades were used during the Battle of Alcatraz. We also watched a movie about the history of Alcatraz and learned that it was first used for military purposes, as a prison, and the American-Indians tried to take control of the island to use it as a university for Indians until the National Park Service took it over in the '60s. We really enjoyed ourselves, even in the rain. Mouse got a lovely parka as a result of the rain (pictures later).

Once again we found ourselves in San Francisco traffic, but were enjoying each other's company and getting further in our book on CD. Once we got moving we were enjoying some beautiful rolling hills and great weather. Until ... Los Angeles traffic. LA rarely gets rain and when it does, the drivers don't have a clue how to drive in it. Our houseguests heard about the I-5 accident on the news here in Colorado Springs, so you may have heard about it as well. There were 15 trucks that collided in a tunnel going southbound on I-5 on the north side of LA. 5 trucks caught on fire. (The picture on the left is from latimes.com taken by Mike Meadows / Associated Press on October 13, 2007.) One person is still missing. 10 were taken to the hospital, and now 3 are dead. (The picture on the right is from latimes.com with a caption: The driver of the mangled truck on the right was able to walk away from his vehicle with minor injuries before it was engulfed in flames, according to CHP officers on the scene. Picture taken by Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times on October 13, 2007) The interstate is still closed in both directions and won't be opened until Tuesday at the earliest for the southbound lane. The northbound lane may not open for a while longer until inspectors can determine if the tunnel/bridge is usable. The trucks were burning in a truck only lane which happened to be in a tunnel that truckers say is hard to see in good weather.

The chain reaction began when two trucks collided on the I-5 late Friday.
(Mike Meadows / Associated Press)
October 13, 2007 (from latimes.com)

So back to our version of the story. We saw a sign stating there was a truck accident up ahead of us, so when we were at a dead stop on the interstate, we had an idea of why. We were able to pick up a station on our Sirius radio that gave us updates on LA traffic and quickly found out there were burning trucks in our way. We realized we'd be sitting there for a while, so we shut the lights off and continued listening to the repeated message on the radio. Fletch wanted to take a nap, so we switched seats. While he was trying to sleep (a little hard with the excitement around us), we noticed a Saturn going in reverse on the shoulder. I instantly said, "What an idiot! The cops will be getting him!" Then we saw a car driving forwards, north, in the southbound shoulder! Then we saw another car, and another, and people out starting to walk around questioning what was going on. It was raining at this time and we were enjoying our warm dry car, we decided to stay inside. Then we saw cars going north on the shoulder on the other side of us. Once a car beside us starting going, making a way for us, we decided to become what Melissa said "an idiot" and break a few laws as well. We were probably one of the first 50 cars to do this, so we thought the cops in front must be giving the cars the go ahead to do this. We had to do some curb jumping at one point because a trucker was on the shoulder and not able to move. Thanks to Fletch for getting out to see if we could jump the shoulder! I didn't think we could do it!!! There were a few sport cars that were stuck on that shoulder. Poor people! They thought they were free!!! We spent the next 3 hours following a truck (that didn't get past the stop point, so he wasn't stuck on the freeway with the other big rigs) hoping he would lead us to a passable point southbound on I-5. Again, that was my husband's street smart idea! We finally made it through. Our first time of arrival was set by Mandy (without breaks) for 10:33 pm. After the San Francisco traffic it was moved to 2:10 am. Now after this accident, it was going to be 5:30 am. We still saw a few more accidents on the way, but nothing as major as that 15 truck collision accident!!!


The lady at the hotel in San Diego was quite suprised to see us show up at 5:30 in the morning. As we were checking in, others were eating breakfast. Now that was a sad sight to see! After sleeping for 3 hours, we started our journey home. It was amazing that we stayed up as late as we did watching the movie last night! We made up for it in the morning, though ... we slept 10-11 hours (Fletch got up earlier than I did).


It was an awesome vacation, but we are so thankful to be home!!! I need to unpack, so some laundry, and upload more pictures. Keep checking the blogs for updated pictures!!!