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Traffic through Baltimore and New Jersey was not bad at all.
Then we hit the GW bridge in New York - absolute suckage. Four lanes go down to two, why? Who knows? There are construction signs everywhere, roads are ripped up, barriers are in place but not a sign of, ya know, actual people working.
Want to know just how badly that city is run, just drive through it (actually just near it, the suckage is like a black hole).
But the Connecticut Highway Department makes NYC look like an efficient Swiss watch!
We're heading up I-95 and hit ten miles of bumper to bumper traffic. No signs to indicate what's going on, the GPS said there was a "lane closure ahead." No indication of where though.
Then we came upon it. One truck with a big flashing arrow pointing to the left is driving about two feet into the travel lane. About a half mile ahead is another similarly accoutered truck, this one is half in the travel lane and half on the shoulder.
Finally, there is a third truck, completely blocking the travel lane. In front of that truck is a street sweeper, cleaning the shoulder. Mind you, all of this equipment is traveling at about five to ten miles an hour.
Sarge, what's the big deal? They need to clean those shoulders dontcha know?
Yes, perhaps they should visit freaking New Jersey, where we saw three, yes three, street sweepers all on a similar mission. These all had one truck behind them (one!) with the flashing arrow thing. No traffic pretty much stopped for ten freaking miles, no sir. Things flowed.
Mind you, I've seen Connecticut shut down parts of I-95 so they could cut the one yard wide freaking grass strip in the center of the road adjacent to the concrete barriers dividing the highway. Yes, an entire section knocked down to one lane. Hey, here's an idea, pave that freaking strip. Save the state money that would.
Man, there are times when I think Rhode Island is poorly run then all I have to do is drive over to Connecticut to restore my faith in Rhode Island government.
Rant over, I'm going to bed.
It was a LONG day.
I use WAZE a free app on my phone. Reroutes me as needed when I run from NH to Boston, NYC and Jew Jersey.
ReplyDeleteI have little tolerance for GW Bridge.
There aren't many ways around the GW unless you want to go out of your way up by the Tappen Zee. Which I didn't this time.
DeleteBeen over the GW bridge twice, never as a driver... glad for it.
ReplyDeleteIt's an acquired taste. You get used to it, you just never like it.
DeleteEarned the Road Warrior Oak Leaf cluster you did for that routing Sarge. Rest easy sir.
ReplyDeleteIt's sometimes worse, sometimes better.
DeleteTraffic can really take it out of you, both physically and mentally. Have some rum in your coffee this morning.
ReplyDeleteI don't touch anything stronger than beer these days, and that seldom.
DeleteSarge, I do not envy you that drive, especially as you describe it.
ReplyDeleteI have become increasingly unfond of airports as air travel is not nearly what it used to be. That said, road travel in anything resembling a semi-urban environment is getting no more better.
It is not that my geographic boundaries are shrinking (I think), just my tolerance for wasted time.
Yes, I feel the same in some respects. Air travel, though faster than driving, is a terrible experience these days. Packed in like cattle, damned near strip searched going into the airport, lost baggage, airport traffic ...
DeleteIt's why I'll drive if it's eight hours or less. Also, I can take more stuff with me.
Sarge, glad you made it home safely, if not soundly.
ReplyDeleteOne of the lesser (but still valid) reasons for the upcoming move is it will no longer require us to transit Moscow on the Colorado. While stupidity is a prerequisite for a government job there, it also seems to be a requirement for a drivers license there. My blood pressure goes up several points and my wife learns new words that she should not have a need to know. A pox on them all.
juvat
Yup, they clog the roads with their idiocy and give fits to people who do know what they're doing.
DeleteHis good days were behind him, "elder" he was called, expected to teach and mentor. He did, he wasn't done. Lazy morning, chatter there may be blue solders around, a more frequent occurrence. From downstream he heard shouts, then high pitched cracks tore into the Cottonwoods, rifle bullets. Gunfire erupting... people screaming, running. He lumbers into his woman's lodge, and retrieves his tools. A short axe and his .50-70 rifle, used to hunt, but will protect as well. His lance for hunting is favored , but without his pony it's no good. Angry Bees. Thuds of bullets, drum through tents and trees. "Get to safety!"... He is armed and loping toward the gunfire, sees others going down, but more are rushing toward the guns. Firing picks up, He sees walls of blackpowder smoke, rolling with the breeze. He sees the blue troops, some are mounting their horses others are trying to form a line. Confusion. A huge slug of lead blasts through the young warrior running past him... (he'd taught that kid to straighten and feather arrows). Blue solders, rearing horses...Drop to one knee, yes the joints hurt, steady aim... BoomKick and the blue uniform disappears in a cloud of smoke. Reload, look, move, horses screaming, another blue soldier vanishes in a cloud of smoke. They're trying to ford the river, slowed, they are easy targets. They're running up the hill now, some floundering in the water, wounded horses and men...shoot the horses, use a blade on the men. His arm was starting to hurt. More fighting waited up that hill, he hoped his family was getting away.
ReplyDeleteanother off the cuff, since you asked for more
A look from the other side, I love it.
DeleteI have hundreds of these "shorts" rattling 'round my head, from pre-history to the stars and beyond. Wish I could find a time- travel story I wrote after standing ground zero at Nagasaki. (that one might be vivid enough to re-create) I can do shorts, I have a hard time tying things together.
DeleteAnytime you want to write, send it along. I love short stories (as I've demonstrated).
DeleteThank you, and I will... until told to cut the S#*t. As a good Sargent would.
DeleteI don't see that happening, carry on!
DeleteI don't miss the 5 or 95 at all and to be honest, once I got on Aquidneck I tended to stay there.
ReplyDeleteI'll camp out for long stretches, when I visit someplace, I like staying a while.
Delete