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There are some cool places in CA, and of course a lot of history, but overall, no way I would live there. It's a shame; CA is such a gorgeous state (the sequoias, Yosemite, the coast, redwoods, Death Valley, etc.), yet the political, legal and cultural climate is suffocating. We travel there every couple of summers to visit some relatives and have been anxious to get the hell out, every time.

I remember once we visited a northern CA beach. We got out and were walking along the surf (it was cold, windy and foggy) when a Volkswagen van parked next to our car. A couple got out with their three grade-school-age kids. ALL FIVE of them had tie-dyed t-shirts and waist-length braided pony tails, and each was carrying an empty gallon plastic milk jug. I mean, what the heck? As they slowly walked past, I nodded slightly in greeting, but they just glared at us angrily without speaking, looking very irritated. My "danger" meter was beeping like mad. To this day I have utterly no idea what they were doing out there. We shuffled quickly back to our car and left.

I have never seen so many freaking weirdos in one place as I have in CA. Remember this is the land of Hells Angels, Charlie Manson, MS13, the Crips and the Bloods, et. al.

We got down to Barstow and headed towards Baker and Vegas, feeling greatly relieved in the relative peace of the vast, empty desert.