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Excited to see....Someone else?
Yesterday I was driving into work. I was at a 4-way stop by my house. I was turning left. On my left, going straight, was a little white car.
When it was my turn, I started to go. Suddenly, the white car starting honking like crazy. I immediately slowed down, thinking something was wrong. When I looked over at them, they were both hanging out the windows with huge grins, waving like maniacs. I had no idea what was going on, I was pretty sure I didn't know them. I tentatively waved at them as they kept honking, waving, and smiling.
As I turned, there was a moment when our cars were parallel. As I passed the driver's open window, the man leaned out and with a giant smile he yelled, "Hi Sarah!"
WTF?
They thought I was someone else! But they were so unbelievably excited to see this Sarah person, I couldn't let them leave disappointed. So I slapped a huge, silly, grin on my face, waved like a maniac and yelled "hi!" as I sped up and drove away.
Hopefully, that made their day. It made mine, that's for sure. I laughed all the way to work.
"Wanna Pick Me Up at the Airport?"
I said yes, even though it was a 10 at night, hours' drive away pick up.
I kept my yes even when I found out how shitty the weather was going to be tonight. But I begged Ann (our upstairs roommate) to join me.
The weather sucked the whole way.
The conversation was good; I found out about Joey and Angie's dad.
We listened to Billy Joel on the way down, and the radio on the way back.
Ann totally knew all the words to "And Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, and I was floored.
I came within half an inch or less of getting into a car accident. We were an exit away from the one we needed, and this car spun around in the snow, and then the next car slammed into him, and I was furiously hitting the break...it felt like I wasn't even there... and I thought I felt us hit SOMETHING, but Aaron got out, and he said it was just a big pile of snow.
Wow.
My heart's STILL pounding. The song AFTER my first (and I hope LAST) almost-crash is 'monkey wrench' in case you cared.
SO happy we were able to get home without incident.
Maybe never driving again, but survived tonight.
I kept my yes even when I found out how shitty the weather was going to be tonight. But I begged Ann (our upstairs roommate) to join me.
The weather sucked the whole way.
The conversation was good; I found out about Joey and Angie's dad.
We listened to Billy Joel on the way down, and the radio on the way back.
Ann totally knew all the words to "And Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, and I was floored.
I came within half an inch or less of getting into a car accident. We were an exit away from the one we needed, and this car spun around in the snow, and then the next car slammed into him, and I was furiously hitting the break...it felt like I wasn't even there... and I thought I felt us hit SOMETHING, but Aaron got out, and he said it was just a big pile of snow.
Wow.
My heart's STILL pounding. The song AFTER my first (and I hope LAST) almost-crash is 'monkey wrench' in case you cared.
SO happy we were able to get home without incident.
Maybe never driving again, but survived tonight.
Free and Easy
"Living life like a Sunday stroll, free and easy down the road I go."
You see, I was TRYING to channel Dierks Bentley this morning, even had him on in my car, but it really didn't work out for me .
Here's what happened:
I left for work at 11:45 am. I was running late (duh!) but that's not too bad. I was driving in via I-94 when suddenly traffic comes to an abrupt stop. What the.....?
It is Sunday morning, there shouldn't be any traffic at all, much less a traffic jam. I crept along at a snail's pace trying to figure out what was going on. I knew that the MN Twins were playing their final game at the Metrodome today (of the season...for a playoff spot, but also their final game EVER bc they built a new stadium) and that the game is sold out, but even that didn't account for gridlock more than 10 miles away from the stadium.
After a few moments of thinking, I decided--and I thought this was a brilliant plan--to scoot off on I-35E south and take the side roads through town, eventually cutting across to the university. Seemed like a grand plan, and I was psyched. I got off the interstate and started my trek. I knew exactly where I was going, but traffic was unusually thick here as well. I shrugged it off as "ah well, people must have had the same thought" and kept on a-goin'.
When I hit the main street I would use to cut over to the university, all I needed to do was turn right and it would take me practically to the school's front door. So, I get in the right lane and just before I make that turn, I see (about 2 blocks ahead) "ROAD CLOSED". What the.....?
It took me only a moment to figure out why one of the main streets (Lexington Ave. for the curious) in St. Paul would be closed. The DAMN Twin Cities marathon. So fine, Lexington is closed at Summit, but (and here is where I get really brilliant) I figure there is NO WAY they have closed the north and south halves of the city off from one another, there simply MUST be a way across. {To be clear, I was on the south half of the city and I needed to be on the north half}
It was about this time that I called home and told my mom this saga. She advised that I stop a cop and ask where the cut across was so I could get to work. This was a great plan, except that all of the cops that I saw were on the marathon route, so in order to talk to one, I would have had to find a place to park my car (impossible!) walk two blocks to the marathon and then ask for help. Not. Happening. I figure I could figure it out. Ha! Wrong.
I decided not to backtrack because the traffic was SOOOO bad going that direction (east) that I guessed it would be smarter to head west and keep checking for a place to cross over. So that's exactly what I did. I won't bore you with the details except to say this; turns out, for the marathon, they are very much willing to shut down one side of the city from the other. There is no place to cut over. Not one. Every way I went was a dead end. Road fricking closed. There were so many road closed signs that they seemed to be funneling the traffic all in one direction. East. Back the way I came.
ARGH! So I headed back toward the interstate after my fruitless search and sat in some of the worst traffic imaginable before I even get to the interstate. Seriously, at one point, the line of cars I was in was so long it stretched from one stoplight to the next. Which meant that one or maybe two cars was getting through each rotation of the light. Finally, I got on the interstate headed back toward I-94 (where I started from) when I realized one thing. There is no way to go west on 94 from where I was. The only way to do it takes you through town and I wasn't doing that because I didn't know where the damn marathon route was and didn't want to get stuck again. So I ended up crossing OVER 94 to the north side of town and creating a route through that area. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fast, but at least I was moving and not in traffic.
Final result?
Typical mileage from home to work: 18 miles
Average drive time from home to work: 22 minutes
Today's mileage from home to work: 34 miles
Today's drive time from home to work: 90 minutes
Time work started: Noon
Time I arrived: 1:20 pm
Ability to laugh at myself after this experience......Priceless!
Would you like to see this craziness?
Exhibit A- My typical route to work, with "A" being my home and "B" being my work:
Exhibit B- My "marathon" (pun intended) route to work, with "A" being my home and "B" being my work:
And if you look closely, you can see several areas where the purple line is darker...that is the places where I was forced to double back.
"Someday I know it's gonna take me home, so...
Free and easy down the road I go"
Thanks for the advice Dierks.
Driving
I picked an exceptionally long route home from class today. It was the first time I really enjoyed driving in a while. I love driving. I hate driving to destinations. I hate driving people to their destinations like a taxi.
On my way, I intentionally missed a turn and went 10 miles out of the way, passing by the places where I used to play as a child. Eventually, I headed west again, and I was blinded by the setting sun. I couldn't see my gauges, my instruments. I couldn't see anything but the blacktop shimmering golden, slowly curving in front of me. The brightness was intense. I felt like a pilot flying blind. I felt nostalgic of my great uncle piloting his P-51 Mustang 65 years ago. I felt the guttural bark of my Mustang in what was then the here and now.
It was beautiful.
On my way, I intentionally missed a turn and went 10 miles out of the way, passing by the places where I used to play as a child. Eventually, I headed west again, and I was blinded by the setting sun. I couldn't see my gauges, my instruments. I couldn't see anything but the blacktop shimmering golden, slowly curving in front of me. The brightness was intense. I felt like a pilot flying blind. I felt nostalgic of my great uncle piloting his P-51 Mustang 65 years ago. I felt the guttural bark of my Mustang in what was then the here and now.
It was beautiful.
Traffic
Since when did driving become a practice in offensive strategy? I cannot drive 5 miles on our local "main drag" without someone trying to throw me off my game. Other drivers cut in front of me only to slow down, stay on my tail when they see I need to get over, or otherwise attempt to keep me from making a normal trip to the supermarket. My philosophy? I leave from point A and arrive at point B without anyone knowing I was there. No one will have to slow down, speed up, veer to one side, or change their driving because of me. I am a ghost on the highway. You may see me out of the corner of your eye, but you will never really know I was there. Just don't cross me or I'll mouth obsenities through my window at you.
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