part of city living

I am not a city girl.  But for the last 10 years or so, I have spent a lot of time in two major cities: Seattle and San Francisco.

With the woods, mountains and water nearby, I find I am able to manage pretty well, most of the time.  There are some things that really bother me though; I have never liked traffic. But then, who does?!  I just take a deep breath and remind myself it is all a part of living in the city.

This past weekend, in my typical weekend warrior-ing, I went up to Tahoe to ski and hang out with friends.  On my way home, I stopped in Davis (my alma matter!) for a long bike ride on the flat and rural roads.

Post bike ride, I noticed the freeway leaving Davis was backed-up.  To avoid the stop-and-go,  I chose to go the back way, through the rolling green hills, past lakes, and bisecting wine-country.

I was happy: The scenery was beautiful, the sun was shining, I had another nice weekend, and the traffic was moving pretty darn well.  That is, it was moving well until I got near the Golden Gate Bridge, where I found myself suddenly stuck in stop-and-go traffic for over an hour.  Not to worry!  I opened my sunroof, put on a podcast, and took a deep breath.  It is all a part of living in this fine area.

But then, my clutch started to shudder a bit (I was hoping that it wasn't a true shudder, but that I was just getting tired and not operating the clutch as well).  And there was the unmistakable smell of an over-heated clutch.  I hoped it was the Westfalia in front of me, but after a few more moments, it was pretty obvious that the terrible smell was coming from my car.

The next day, with fingers crossed, I called my service agent.  After describing my experience, he had me come right in (questioning the safety of my driving the distance from my office to the garage).

A new clutch, flywheel, some bearings and way too much money later, I am even more frustrated with city traffic.  I suppose this is why people drive automatics in the city - it isn't because of the hills, but because of the traffic.  All I can do though, is take a deep breath and remind myself, this is all a part of living in the city.