Posted on 12/1/2021

Photo by Jared Tomasek on Unsplash Welcome to another December in Mission Viejo! As the year winds down, we're pleased to have had such a great one to look back on together. We hope this year has been the best yet for you and your family. We wish you safe journeys and happy holidays if you are traveling out of the area for Christmas. While there are loads of winter holiday events outside of Mission Viejo, we thought we would feature some of the in-town events that promise a very magical holiday season this year: South Coast Repertory's "A Christmas Carol" Dec. 1st, 12 PM – Dec. 26th, 6 PM PST ... read more
Posted on 11/1/2021

Photo by Marisol Benitez on Unsplash Sunny days and Hollywood-style perfect conditions are the norms in Mission Viejo, but as December creeps closer and closer, rainy winter conditions might be on the horizon. Now is the perfect time to examine the preparations we can make to keep our family safe on the road when dangerous conditions rear their ugly heads. California drivers spend more than their share of time in perfect driving conditions, making the rougher conditions even more dangerous. Many new drivers face their first winters at the wheel each year, with no previous experience driving in rainy conditions. With winter weather rounding the corner, now is the time to educate our newer drivers and give ourse ... read more
Posted on 10/1/2021

Photo by Tobias Tullius and Drew Tilk on Unsplash (composite by Christopher Hooker) Do you enjoy the suspense and dread of a Stephen King book? Or the growing fear in a classic horror film like The Innocents? These films, and some of the best horror films ever, employ a technique called ‘Hesitancy’. It extrapolates the same kind of journey that you might take if you began to see evidence of a ghost but questioned whether you were experiencing a real event or hallucinating. At first, you might dismiss the book falling off the shelf, or the door slamming with no open windows, or even a shadow m ... read more
Posted on 9/1/2021

Photo by Ivan Shemereko on Unsplash Being so far south, Mission Viejo feels safer from the wildfires that have become an annual issue in California. The dry heat of August in the American southwest turns our wild growth into fuel, ready to ignite. And it appears to be a problem that is growing for our state. At the time of writing this, the Dixie Fire is still raging in the north. The fire that concerns Mission Viejo would be either the Antonio Fire south of Los Angeles or the one that hasn’t been named and won’t be named until someone is careless in an already bad situation. When an emergency arises, as it did last year, you never know when you will have to pack up and evacuate. If the pandemic ha ... read more
Posted on 7/31/2021

Photo by BigBearCabins from Pixabay With summer here and travel restrictions lifting, people are making the trips they have put off for two years as a family. It’s great to see people being social again and having road adventures. But then, not everyone can get away right now. The pandemic was brutal on small businesses, and for some people, this is just not the right time for a week’s vacation across the country. They need to stay close enough to home that they can head back in a hurry. We’re in a climate where a business can go under that fast, and people have had to adjust their holiday plans accordingly. If you and your partner are looking ... read more
Posted on 6/30/2021

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash At Larry’s Independent, we're pretty excited about this summer and people traveling to new places for the first time in two years. We hope you and your family are having a wonderful time this summer. If you’re planning on traveling, and it’s been a while, we wanted to offer up a vacation travel checklist of things to remember. If it’s been a long time since you took a break, it may be helpful to have a reminder. Whether it’s a planned out trip or a spontaneous adventure, don’t forget to pack the essentials. We’ve created a checklist of items to pack for your trip: Travel pillow: Road trips can be long and tiring. If you’re sharing the ... read more
Posted on 5/31/2021

Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash Welcome to the June blog! Larry’s Independent Service hopes you and your family have held out, followed the rules, and are ready to enjoy a summer of fun travels! It’s interesting what the shutdowns, quarantines, and self-isolations did to the United States over the past year. Those who could do so began to work from home, with just a small portion of society still manning the walls of services we need (like health services, contract building, and auto repairs). With many people abandoning the office commute for home offices, few cars were on the road. With people driving their car less, many people who play the game of “I’ll fix it when it breaks&rdquo ... read more
Posted on 5/1/2021

Photo by Gijs Coolen on Unsplash Welcome to the new blog! We hope you could get around to some of the destinations we mentioned in the previous blog during April’s calm days! This month’s blog is looking into driving with anxiety and finding ways to minimize it for safety. It’s important to know that it isn’t just having a bad day. It goes further than that, with a driver unable to stop themselves from snapping, shouting, or exhibiting other fight-or-flight responses that suggest the driver is in turmoil. Several anxieties can impact safe driving. There’s also a particular anxiety called driving anxiety, where bridges, tunnels, and other spaces can terrify a driver or trigger a panic att ... read more
Posted on 4/1/2021

Welcome to the April blog! We hope spring has treated you well. With vaccinations being planned so that every American will have theirs by the 4th of July, we’re finally turning the corner on the pandemic. Many vacations had to be put off this year, with COVID-19 still an issue. So if you didn’t get your Spring Break and need an escape that’s close enough for safety’s sake, we’re happy to provide you with our top 5 Daytripping Destination in Mission Viejo! 5. Holy Jim Falls Trail, Live Oak Canyon Rd - This gorgeous hiking path includes a modest waterfall. It's been described as beautiful and a nice day trip. 4. Oso Creek Trail, 29932 Veterans Way - running along the Oso Creek, this 3.2-mile paved hiking/biking tr ... read more
Posted on 3/1/2021

The automotive industry is continually changing, and new technologies are continually being developed. Currently, Panasonic Automotive has just revealed an augmented-reality HUD that displays livetime lane edges, objects on the road, and other important information to drivers. What exactly is augmented reality (AR)? Augmented reality is used to place digital information on top of reality. For example, Mercedes-Benz’s navigation system has floating arrows that inform you where to turn. This feature isn’t just helpful but is a safer alternative because it reduces your need to look at the road. Panasonic Automotive has gone one step further and uses artificial intelligence to let the driver know about foreign objects, other vehicles, pedestrians, or other cyclists on the road. It even goes as far as to share the height of an underpass. Panasonic Automotive’s system tracks the driver’s eye movements, but regardless of where the driver is looking ... read more