101 on Acid

My usual 20 minutes commute to work turned in to a two hour nightmare today. Highway 101 was closed from Capitol Expressway all the way to Bernel road, that’s six miles of well traveled 8 lanes of highway -- Closed!

The jam was caused by a big-rig 18-wheeler leaking sulfuric acid on 101 near Bernel, that’s just a mile from my work! As much as 800 gallon of that highly corrosive spill on to the pavement, released not so friendly fumes. Emergency shelters were set up for the residents nearby, numerous helicopters hovering above the hazardous site, all traffics diverted, surrounding business buildings locked down and radio advised drivers on the road to roll up windows.

I finally managed to get off 101 to try my luck on the surface road few miles before reaching, that’s when my co-worker called me and told me to just turn around and go home, but do so, I’d have to battle my way thru traffic, turn around and spend god-know-how-long on the road to reach home. Besides, I have already sat in the car for almost two hours to get this far, no way I am going to turn around.

Someone is actually benefiting from this chaos -- our company cafeteria! Due to the lock down, the usual deserted cafeteria was packed with employees fighting over greasy pizza and not so tasty pseudo-Chinese food.

I am feeling a little headache, not sure if it is due to the acid fume or lack of sleep or sick of work? :-)