downtown LA (Century City for those who know where that is). We went down on Tuesday night and didn't have hotel reservations. I thought for sure there would be vacancies everywhere.

After an hour with me and one of my partners working our cell phones, the nearest vacancy we could find was across the street from the John Wayne airport in Irvine (59 miles away and one county south).

We did a lot of LA driving over the last couple of days. The freeways during much of the day are an exercise in risk taking and prayer.

It isn't like I haven't been to Southern California before. I worked there for a couple of summers in my late teens. And the job involved driving all over the "Southland."

But this time I found myself overwhelmed by the enormity of the population there. It made so much more sense why UCLA and USC don't even sell out their own stadiums hardly ever. It would difficult for any sports team to capture the heart of a community the way the Jazz captured Utah's in the late 90s. Or even how a team like Cleveland could capture its metro area.

Sure people follow the Dodgers and Lakers/Clippers. But I don't see how it could have the same feel.

I also had the feeling you could easily feel lost in the 22 Million person sea of humanity there.

Last thought: My late father was a wizard at using his set of Thomas Guide maps and navigating all over with what seemed like greater efficiency than modern GPS.