First fair missed in 39 years

For the first time in 39 years, we missed the Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair. We have participated in it since 1977, but the call of visiting our relatives was stronger this year.

Plus, the chance of snow gets greater in the higher elevations the later in the year one waits, and when you are driving you don’t want to add snow to the mix.

It appeared to me the speed limits in California are merely suggestions; no one really observes them.

And if you try to maintain a safe distance between you and the car ahead, that only encourages a driver to squeeze his car in front of you. And if you back off again, another vehicle jumps in.

That’s a lot of lane switching to try to get somewhere 10 seconds sooner.

We tried one of Van Nuys’ storied eateries, Bill’s Burgers. Bill, now 89, has been in the same location for 62 years flipping burgers on a grill that is even older than he is.

We sat at the counter, which is right on the street almost—Oxnard Street, to be exact. Bill is quite a character and is very willing to talk with his customers. While he was talking with us, his wife, Hiroko, jumped right in and flipped the burgers right on time and never missed a beat.

On the cash register, which looks like the ones stores used in the 1920s, is a sign that says: “You can’t have it your way, this isn’t Burger King.”

We also took in the Getty Museum, which cost $13 billion to build. It was built by the J. Paul Getty Foundation and contains more art than you can really see in one visit.

David and Sally took us there.

Sitting next to me at Bill’s was a guy who spoke like he was from Australia. When we started talking, I learned he was an actor. He said he was in a movie coming out soon named “I.T.” and also stars Pierce Brosnan.

So we naturally Googled “Pierce Brosnan new movie” and learned all about him. Pretty impressive, I must say.

Driving north to Bend, we saw orchards for miles and miles. We thought it would be nice if they labeled what kind of trees and plants they were. We certainly couldn’t tell by looking, and we also weren’t sure what some of the trucks were hauling.

Again, going north the speed limit signs were just suggestions as to how fast one should drive.

We stayed in Sacra­mento one night and learned that it was the city of trees. We Ubered out for dinner and our driver said you would need permission to cut any branch off that was more than 3 inches in diameter. It definitely was the city of trees.

Another traffic jam there made us crazy, too.

If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@
hillsborofreepress.com.

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