© Maynard Chen, All rights reserved 2009.
A sharing by Maynard Chen
February 2nd 2003, San Francisco, California
I started the engine, drove out of my loft in San Francisco and headed towards the Bay Bridge. Light mist enshrouded the bridge as I drove across. My thoughts were a mist of anticipation and apprehension. This was the first time I was driving across the North American continent.
The Tech Stock bubble had burst and Dot-com had morphed into Dot-bomb. Gone were the heady days of lucrative contracts in the technology job market that came with fancy take-out lunches from gourmet restaurants, and free massages to tempt us back into the office on weekends. Goodbye Tech Bubble.
Then 9-11 happened and in the aftermath, the Fed started pushing down interest rates to cushion the stock market crash. It was a time when one could refinance a housing loan without any closing costs to freeze interest rates for 30 years. Six months later one could do it again and ratchet down to lock in at an even lower rate. Housing prices began to soar. The banks made it so easy to take out home equity loans on the rising property values that people began to treat their homes as self replenishing ATM machines. Hello Housing Bubble.
As the owner of both a condo in Cambridge and a loft in San Francisco, I became worried when the housing market got so hot, that rentals started to drop even as housing prices were rising. This paradox came about because many would-be renters, able to qualify for easy financing, had decided to purchase rather than rent. I decided it was time to sell at least one of my properties. Since I had bought the Cambridge townhouse in 1981 it had made substantial capital gains. In order to lessen my tax burden, I had to move to Cambridge and live there for two years in order to qualify for the home owner’s deduction on Capital Gains Tax.
So it came to pass on that cold and wintry day, with my Toyota Camry packed to the gills with my computers and clothes and other worldly possessions, I was driving across the Bay Bridge embarking on a 3000 mile trans-continental journey from San Francisco to Boston. Even my front seat was completely filled with barang-barang, ruling out a tentative idea of taking a friend along to relieve the boredom of driving.
I considered two alternative ways to cross the USA. The southern route was longer but more sensible in winter because there was less likelihood of disruption by snow. I chose however the northern route because of the shorter distance and to avoid having to drive through regions that were reputed to be less friendly to people of color. A friend who was a member of AAA kindly obtained for me free maps for the entire trip. It was going to be essentially driving along Interstate 80 all the way. Security was also a major consideration since I could not hide any of the stuff in my car and I thought that it might be wiser to drive where climate would force most people to be indoors.
Besides the weather and security, my other concern for this trip was boredom, especially since I tend to suffer from highway hypnosis. I resolved to always pull over and take a nap whenever I felt drowsy. A friend made the brilliant suggestion of audio-books. So I assembled an eclectic stack of tapes borrowed from SF library and friends. Along the way I also planned to visit a few friends.
Berkeley was for me at the northern fringe of familiarity in the Bay Area, since I seldom visit Vallejo or the towns beyond. Towards evening I arrived in Sacramento where I spent the night in the apartment of an ex-colleague from Cambridge.
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(To be continued)
About the Writer
Maynard Chen was a software consultant working in Silicon Valley from 1997 to 2003. He has now relocated to Singapore.
