At LAX

We arrive in LA at 8 p.m. on the 1st. Immigration is quick but our baggage takes a while to arrive. We head to customs; seven flights have arrived within the space of a few minutes and there are long lines. The customs agent waves us through unlike SFO where I have been stopped and asked several questions each time I have returned from India. We head to the AA counter and plead with the agent to let us on the 10:30 p.m. flight to SFO. She refuses and tells us that is a United code share flight and our ticket isn't valid for that. The earliest flight is the 6:26 a.m. flight on the 2nd.

Staying overnight at the airport is not a pleasing prospect. We head to the Alamo rental where we have reserved a van. We fret if all our luggage will fit in the van. The rental agent lets us inspect it and my friend and I are fairly optimistic that it will.

It is raining outside and driving in the rain all night is not a pleasant prospect but it is the only alternative. On the way out of the rental parking lot, we are held up at the gate; the guard won't let us through because the van has more than 20K miles on it. We back up and trudge back inside the rental agency. The agent who rented the van says she'll do a manual override that will let us take the van out. We head back out. Again the agent at the gate refuses to let us through. My friend is about to lose his temper. We have been traveling forty hours and this is the last thing we want to happen.

Better sense prevails and we leave the parking lot at 10:15 p.m. and head to the airport. To our relief all the luggage fits in with room to spare. A little later as we drive away a light appears on the dashboard console. My guess is that particular light comes on when the tires have low pressure. So we stop at a gas station and fill the tires with air. The light doesn't go away but we keep driving hoping that it isn't an indication of anything worse.

The hills near LA have a thin layer of fog. But after a few minutes it clears. Still there is driving rain outside that makes it difficult to drive.

We count down the miles and arrive into San Jose at around 5 a.m. in the morning on the 2nd. We have been traveling for exactly forty eight hours and it is a massive relief to finally reach home.