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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

Bev, like I said, California has it all, good and bad:

Massive pileup in Calif. kills 2, closes highway
Up to 100 vehicles involved in chain reaction of accidents in fog  
near Fresno

updated 1:56 p.m. CT, Sat., Nov. 3, 2007

FRESNO, Calif. - At least two people were killed in a massive multi- 
vehicle pileup on a foggy freeway just south of the city Saturday  
morning, the California Highway Patrol said.

Up to 100 vehicles, including nine big rigs, were involved in the  
collision on Northbound Highway 99 as patches of dense fog obscured  
visibility on the heavily traveled roadway, CHP Officer Scott  
Jobinger said.

“It looks like we had a chain reaction crash in that fog,”  
Jobinger said.
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Rescuers had to extract several people trapped in the wreckage, and  
paramedics transported more than three dozen patients to the hospital  
with injuries, Fresno City Fire Department spokesman Ken Shockley said.

Three hours after the 7:45 a.m. crash, the freeway was “literally a  
parking lot” as traffic backed up for several miles on Northbound  
Highway 99 south of Fresno, Shockley said.

Wrecked vehicles were scattered for at least two miles along the  
freeway as crews worked to clear the wreckage, he said.

Authorities said no hazardous materials were spilled.

The freeway’s northbound lanes around Clovis Avenue were shut down  
indefinitely as investigators worked to determine the cause of the  
crash, Jobinger said. The southbound lanes remained opened.

In the late morning, tractor trailers carrying building materials,  
live chickens and other cargo were still sitting jacknifed on the  
stretch of freeway where the accident occurred.