Tonight just after 8pm there was a 5.6 earthquake, and it occured while I was driving home.  On a very high, very long, curvy freeway cloverleaf type junction ramp, going from I-280 to Hwy 101 in South SanJose, going south.  Right here.

Here’s a picture:

I’m zooming along, probably faster than I should’ve been going, around 80 MPH, when all of a sudden the car jumps, as if I hit a huge dip in the road – the back wheels lost traction for a moment and, since I was going around a curving incline, the car jerked back and forth.  Then it felt as if there was a really, REALLY strong wind, but then I realized the whole overpass was swaying.  What a weird feeling.  Scary.  This overpass thing is really high, like, I think as high as a 10-story building.  It’s got a great view of the mountains to the east and the end of the valley (with the freeway running though it of course).  I thank the engineers who made it, cause I’m still here to tell about it.  The whole thing only lasted a few seconds.  I figured it was an earthquake when I saw several cars pull off the road at the base of the ramp.   So it wasn’t just me….

Later, closer to home, I saw worker types inspecting a small bridge over Hwy 1.  When I got home and checked the USGS site, I found that the epicenter was about 7.5 miles away, right in the hills to the east and north.