My Turn To Pick Up

On this first week of September, my first couple of official carpool pick-ups have begun. I took yesterday off, so I was able to pick up the boys at Bell at 3pm. I actually had more time to kill than I had anticipated. I took a fairly late lunch, hoping that, once I was done, I would have just enough time to get to San Jose. I ended up leaving Fremont about 2:25pm.

Traffic was unexpectedly light on 880, and I arrived at Bell in less than 20 minutes. My driving was steady at the limit, at times doing 70. But there was hardly any traffic and I got there sooner than I had wanted to. It was all good. Better early than late, right?

The boys were quite surprised, too. They were expecting me to arrive past 3, so when I texted Jake that I was at the parking lot, he had to rush and inform the other boys it was time to go.

Going home was a breeze as well. Having more passengers allowed me to take the carpool lane, which, at times, wasn't really necessary. Cars were just moving along. Once we passed the 237 interchange, traffic slowed down a bit, and the carpool lane became very helpful. Being a Tuesday, I dropped off Nick at Club Sport, where he would be met by his parents later in the day. Then, I dropped off Coby. Jake and I proceeded to do a little grocery shopping, which we failed to do over the weekend.

Today was my second pick up day for the week. Since it was a work day and I was coming from Oakland, my pick up schedule was 5pm, plus minus. I didn't know how the traffic was so, I gave myself ample time to get to Bell. I left the office at 3, and was on the 3:15 BART train back to Fremont. By 4pm, I was rolling out of the station.

Now, I had a couple of options to get to the 880 freeway. It's either I took Mowry Avenue straight from BART till I hit 880, or I could snake my way locally up to Warm Springs via Mission Blvd, then on to 880. I chose the former. And it took me almost 15 minutes to get on the freeway.

Once on 880, traffic was surprisingly light and moving pretty fast, until I got past the Montague exit, as we neared the 101 interchange. I wasn't surprised that this interchange was causing the slow down. Since I was alone, I couldn't hop on the carpool lane, as cars zipped by with ease. I crawled for a while, but no more than 10 minutes (maybe less). As I neared 101, things just moved alone much faster.

From that point, it was just another 6-7 minutes to Bell. As I got off the Almaden Expressway exit, I texted Jake and informed him that I was less than 5 minutes away. As I neared, I got no reply. I called Coby and I learned they were out getting Jamba Juice.

I arrived at Bell a little past 4:30pm, which I thought was a respectable time. But since the boys were out getting some refreshments, I waited. They got back and were in the car by 5pm. Well, so much for getting there early.

From Bell, I dropped off Coby at Santa Clara University for his tennis lessons. On 880, the carpool lane helped us get through from San Jose till things slow downed as we passed 237 (again). Even the carpool lane moved slowly, but wasn't crawling as everyone else was. I decided to take the Dixon Landing exit and went local. It was faster than I thought, except for the occasional traffic lights. Next was Nick at his house off Mission. Then, it was home for Jake and I.

If today's drive was any indication, leaving the office at that time would just be perfect. If I leave 15 minutes later, traffic conditions might be different. And I don't want to take my chances. I'll just have to see how the rest of the month goes.