In the past, when I visited home in California, lodging was a bit of a problem. I either had a couch or a playroom to sleep in, and in either case, I would have to sleep and wake by the use of the rooms. The playroom was my usual choice, but early every morning, my two beloved nephews would come charging into the room at full blast, each morning forgetting that I was sleeping there. Such are the vagaries of travel!

But from last year, I started sleeping in the driveway. Well, not just in the driveway.

My folks got a small mobile home for traveling up north every year, and now when I visit, it becomes kind of a temporary apartment for me. A conversion job, the “rig” as we call it has a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, with electricity and television. The bed is the best feature, a shortened queen-size bed, surprisingly large for such a small vehicle, and quite comfy even in winter nights (though admittedly, bay area nights are not really so cold).

And to complete the convenience, a WiFi setup in the house even allows me broadband access out here in the driveway–from where I have been writing my blogs nearly every day for the past ten days. With all that, including a fridge, microwave, and the ability to play the DVDs I ordered from Amazon on my laptop, one might guess I spend a lot of time at home in the driveway. But then, that’s not exactly the reason I flew all the way from Japan!

Still, it is quite nice having a private room, at least. Where the rig comes in just as handy is the 49ers game. In a week, the Niners play their last game of the season at home against Seattle, and as my father has season’s tickets and it’s the only game I’m in town for, I get the very nice treat of going to the game.

Before we had the rig, we would have to drive to the game like everyone else, going early to get a parking space, trudging in to the stadium early to wait for the game–and when the game even seemed to be winding down, rush out ahead of time to beat the inevitable traffic jam to the freeway.

With the rig, however, we come in early to get the parking–and then we lay back in the heated space, eating lunch and watching the other games on the satellite TV. When the game is over, we can sit and wait until the game is over, go back to the rig, lay back, and much and watch TV some more while the traffic jam subsides, then just roll on out of the stadium when the coast is clear. Beats the heck out of tailgate parties, even.