When I was gone shopping, I did turn the GPS, and I figure I'd do that same 12 mile stretch, and whatever else was added on. However, the GPS thinks I should take the freeway, and switch like 3-4 times to get there. Uhh, ok. I figured they knew better. Then, it tells me the best way to do a straight line route is to run that array of freeways. I tried it this morning and got caught in traffic, so I'll stick to the straight line route until I find a new place.
I also went car shopping, but turns out they won't set up a loan without a SSN. On Monday, that 10 day mark will pass, and I should be able to go downstairs, wait in line for an hour and see if I can get it. But, it's really the worst part of living here.
I am getting the hang of driving, though, and while the GPS is still mandatory, I am starting to see some patterns. And I can step off the path if the GPS is making uninformed decisions (like telling me to use an exit that's closed.) However, there are still some weird and interesting things that people back home might be surprised by.
They are pretty good at telling you which lane is a bad idea to be in. There are signs saying through traffic left, warning you your lane is destined to go somewhere else. There are also arrows telling you when a lane is disappearing/merging. So, you can tell which lane not to be in most of the time.
Most roads are wide enough to make U-turns on, and you can pretty much do it anytime you can do a left turn at a light. So, you go to make a left, but actually do a 180 and turn into the rightmost lane going the other way. There are signs telling you where you can't, so you have no U-turn signs, and no left turn or U-turn signs. I've yet to do one, and am in no rush to try.
In places where the traffic can get bad, you'll see signs on the highway saying how far it is to key points. But it doesn't tell you in miles, you already know that. It tells you in minutes, giving you an idea just how bad traffic is. You can go one mile going 70-80, and the next, you're stuck crawling around 20.
Most of the lines in the road have little bumps in them. They looks like those temporary markers you have, and are usually reflective, but they're probably the size of a matchbook, and give you a little unevenness when you drive over them, but not enough to disrupt anything. It's useful, because you know exactly when you start drifting lanes, and you also feel it when you change lanes intentionally. It's a nice feature.
So, all in all, driving out there isn't too bad, it's just when the traffic gets bad that things slow to a crawl. One accident can delay thousands of people for half an hour. And I did see some remnants of a crash at a point where the chokepoint lifted. Some people cut across multiple lanes without as much as a signal, but they're easy to spot ahead of time. They're usually missing a bumper or two.
Tomorrow, I'm visiting apartments, and I'm not sure what else I can do. Start looking for stuff to do, I guess. Can't do too much until I have a SSN.
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