As a recent transplant to the Bay Area of California, I've come to notice some differences. One of the most striking is that entry and exit ramps for freeways are typically not placed where I expect them to be. In Texas, if I'm on the west side of a freeway and I wish to go north, I need to cross the freeway and make a left turn towards the north. This will lead to an entry ramp where I can get on the freeway.
In California, this is rarely the case. Instead, you would cross the freeway and make a right turn heading south. This puts you on a great circle which winds around and drops you quickly onto the freeway, heading north - the opposite direction that you had to turn.
Sometimes it plays out as I described for the method in Texas, but you never know beforehand unless you are familiar with the junction. My expectation to make a left turn, when that was the direction I wanted to go, initially had me in the wrong lane on several occasions causing me to have to make a mad scramble to the right hand side of the road. But sometimes it is on the left. So very odd.
The reason for this right-turn-to-go-left business, I figured out, is because there are no frontage roads for freeways in California. Frontage roads are so common in Texas that there is even a Wikipedia entry about them specifically. It is just something I'll have to get used to - when in Rome, and all that. There are benefits. The freeway isn't lined with the traffic-inducing sprawl of businesses clamoring for my attention and there is more room for lanes.
Another difference I've noticed is that there really isn't a fast lane. In Texas, the left lane is reserved for passing only, though it doesn't really play out that way. Still, the fastest traffic is most commonly in the left lane and passing is done on the left. Not so, here in California. Cars traveling at a variety of speeds can be found in any given lane. I have been passed a number of times on the right, even when the left lane was completely open and it wasn't designated as a carpool lane. I am not a slow driver.
There are no gas stations in the area where I live. I have to drive a ways before I find one. In Texas they blanket each corner of an intersection. We do love our petroleum products in Texas. Maybe I'll give up my gas guzzling Xterra for a hybrid. That said, my commute is shorter and the view is more pleasant than the one I had previously.
Finally, In-N-Out is awesome, but it's no Whataburger.
