The weekend was finally here. I woke up to find cars parked in front of me, probably people taking a hike. I got out of the backseat with contacts still dry and drove on down the highway. I hadn't realize Tahoe City was right down the road.
Tahoe City seemed like a wealthy small town, but somehow it didn't have the homy feel since there were so many people about. I suspect most of the residents were wealthy and didn't work much or owned a small business locally. At the edge of the city, I pumped some water from the lake for the rest of the day. The Tahoe Rim Trail passes through here, and I have plans on hiking on the 160-mile trail in 2002.
Most of the drive that day was very beautiful winding up and down the mountains. It was very cool in the mountains, but warm further down. At one point, there was road construction and motor vehicles were backed up, but I prefer to be the last in line since I don't drive very fast.
After miles and miles, I finally ended up on a highway towards Santa Clara County. I felt I had been on the road before going in the opposite direction. I had to use the bathroom sort of badly, but there was just too much traffic this late in the afternoon.
Along the way to Santa Clara County on Interstate 580, there are wind-driven propellers used to product electricity. Those propellers looked pretty heavy, so I don't see how the win can actually move them unless the wind was pretty powerful.
I was able to make it into San Jose as the last of the sunlight was leaving town. I had decided I would call our family friends who used a own a small convience store in downtown San Jose, but it turns out they sold the shop. My dad was able to give me their new home phone number, but they weren't home at the time and I left a message.
Driving around trying to find a road which would lead into Santa Clara got me lost. I finally was able to use the restroom by whizzing on the side of the road somewhere in a wealthy part of town.
Still lost, I stopped at Lion Plaza shopping center and call the family friends one more time, and the husband was able to come pick me up. It turned out I was only 5 minutes away from their new home.
The house was really nice- a new home on the edge of San Jose, which overlooks the city. They had one free room available and I was offered the room. The occupied one room and their youngest son (college student) occupied another, while 2 rooms were rented. The room I was rented, but the tenant had not moved in yet. California is expensive. Their mortgage was $3000 per month, and since the husband was laid off 6 months ago due to the struggling economy, they had to rent the extra rooms. Their other three children are very successful, one is a resident doctor, another an optomitrist, and one a dentist.
Back in 1998, I had planned on returning to San Jose and living with them after working for a year or two in Houston, but plans have changed. Due to the current economic problems, I was grateful just to have employment, and hard times for the economy are still further ahead.
While we ate dinner at the home, I suggested I may be back here within 3 years and if I could stay with them, of course I would have to rent one of the rooms for around $600. They said just let them have some notice, but I probably will not be making the trip in the near future. But then again, if they knew my true feelings about certain occupations, I may not be welcomed.
I was very tired and went to bed early after taking a shower and throwing the clothes in the laundry. I had been wearing the same jeans without boxers for almost 5 days; there's no telling what types of virus, bacteria, or other microorganisms were breeding in them. The washing may need to be decontaminated.
In the morning, they head off to work at their new business, a dry cleaning agency, so I had to be up by 8:30 am. It doesn't make much money, but enough to break even and help with some of the bills.