In case you are wondering, yes, we did make it home safely from North Carolina and our great Family Weekend! We left the Hampton Inn, Wake Forest about 10 AM on Monday, and backed into our driveway in Ocean City, NJ at about 5:30 that afternoon. Clear sailing with good weather, and only a few slight slow downs as we went around Washington, DC. In fact, after a brief 2 night stay in Ocean City, today we headed back to Long Island, where we will stay for about a week and continue dealing with sorting stuff to take or leave, and getting closer to making the move to NJ official!

Since leaving Long Island last Thursday morning, we have driven over 1,000 miles, and spending that much time in the car has given us time to think and talk about our travels. One thing that we were talking about is the stupid stuff that mars an otherwise pleasant trip. For me, that usually entails being stuck in traffic. This then, is a look at some of the reasons we have been stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, crawling along at 5 miles an hour, or even stopped dead!

I guess one of the ones that really ticks me off, is when there are road issues because of an accident. If you are like Susie, you are probably sick and tired of me complaining about the way people drive today, so if you fall into that category, you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph! Here goes….what the hell is the matter with people today??? Have they no clue that they are hurtling through traffic in a 2 ton implement of death, and that this is real life, not Grand Theft Auto??? Oh my God, the stupid, careless, selfish stuff we have seen people do in a car! From driving at 90 miles an hour when everyone else is at 60, to cutting in and out of lanes when there is no room, to driving off the road, into an entrance lane to pass someone on the right, we have seen this and so much more! And what’s with everyones refusal to use their directional signals??? I mean, if you are going to drive like an asshole, at least give the rest of us a clue as to where you might be going!!

The results of another accident!

This past Saturday, while heading down I-95 just before Washington, the interstate almost stopped dead. We were a couple of miles from the I-495 bypass around Washington, that we were planning on taking, when we came up to a flashing digital sign that said, “ACCIDENT. Two Left Lanes Closed on I-495 Before Exit 28”. Well this accident not only impacted on I-495, but every other road surrounding Washington, as people in the know looked for alternate routes. Thousands of people were delayed and inconvenienced because one or two yahoos had the misfortune of not finding someone who would avoid hitting them. Their luck ran out, and so did the rest of ours! Back in October, when we were leaving Atlanta on I-85, we stopped dead, and sat without moving for 25 minutes, again because of an accident. That was the second time in 2 days we’d had something like that happen! No telling how much time we lose as a nation, just because folks drive like shit!

Oh, and then there’s construction. You know things like “roving pothole” repairs, which can turn a road like the Belt Parkway into a parking lot. Or one that we seem to have a lot of experience with lately, “guard rail replacement”. Yeah, I know, one of the crappy drivers probably had an accident, which took out the original guard rail, necessitating delay of thousands so it could be repaired! Then there’s the “phantom” repairs…..miles and miles of closed lanes, with nobody working! That was the case Monday in North Carolina, when we drove about 40 miles on I-85 with one lane closed for the entire stretch, and we only saw about a 1/2 mile of active construction! Of course, the selfish even get into the act when there’s construction. You see a sign that says “right lane closed 2 miles”, so you get out of the right lane, but does everybody else? Nope, some manage to stick in that lane till the barriers are at their front bumper, causing a slow down as they must now push their way in front of you. Sure, you may have done the right thing, and gotten out of the closed lane in a timely fashion, but let’s face it, they’re more important than you!!

Then there’s the road that is in such bad shape, that there is no way traffic can maintain the posted speed limit, without inflicting damage on your vehicle. There was an area like this on the eastbound Long Island Expressway, just at the fairgrounds, for many years. About a mile of the LIE was a pot-holed, moon-cratered roadway, that predictably stopped traffic, night and day. Our tax dollars at work! Oh, and how about the way we no longer seem to bother doing repairs on roadways at night, when there’d be a lot less traffic? Hey, it works for them!

But today, we saw one that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before. Coming home from Ocean City, we came across the Verrazano Bridge, and exited onto the eastbound Belt Parkway. With all the major construction that’s been ongoing on the Belt for years, we expect that this will often be a major source of delays when we are going to or from Ocean City, but today was special. We seemed good at first, and the Belt was fine as we exited the bridge, but then the road slammed to a stop, and we crawled for probably 5 miles. Crawling along for close to 25 minutes, Susie found on a phone app, that it looked like it got a little better just after Knapp Street. We got to Knapp Street, but we were still crawling. We were wondering if the backup had to do with ongoing construction, when as we drove up one of the new bridges, we saw an NYPD car in the right lane, with it’s elevated warning lights blinking. We wondered if it was an accident, but as we got closer, we realized there were no cars in front of the police car, and the lane was open. WTF??? As we passed, Susie looked to the right and saw directly in front of the police car a huge swan with a bandage wrapped around it’s body! Well, that was a new one for us! Traffic delayed due to injured bird!

As they used to say on TV, “There are 8 Million Stories in the Naked City, this is just one of them!”

Tonight finds us in a Hampton Inn in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, having driven 392 miles since leaving Bossier City, Louisiana. We pulled out of the Horseshoe garage a little after 10 this morning, and found our way to Interstate 20 East, the first time since leaving Florida that we have been traveling east. The day was sunny, temperatures were in the high 60s, and the road was clear and level….for a bit.

After being on the road for less than 30 minutes, suddenly we came over a rise and found Interstate 20 stopped dead. We knew we were in a construction area because there were signs advising that the left lane was closed ahead, but stopped dead? We sat there for 5 minutes, and then 10, when Susie finally discovered on her iPhone that there was an accident before the next exit. After we were there for 15 minutes, several people in front of us turned, or backed up to the exit. We looked at the map and it looked like there might be a side road we could detour on to, so after having sat absolutely still for 18 minutes, we backed up a bit, made a hard right turn, and took the exit we were next to. At least we were moving!

We were driving south rather than east, but at least we were moving…oh, and we were driving the GPS nuts! “Make a U Turn in 1000 feet, Make a U Turn in .2 miles”…that was her routine for about the first 10 minutes of the detour. Finally she got with the program, and started directing us in the direction we intended to go! Everything looked good till Susie looking at Google Maps on her iPhone declared, “I think I-20 East is closed where we will intersect with it.” Oh well. As we got to our intersection with I-20, and saw the Louisiana State Police cars, and the line of traffic coming off I-20, we knew that Susie was correct. All we could do was fall in behind a double FedEx truck, and follow the crowd.

Eventually we got on US 80, which appeared to be the original route, before I-20 was built, and we were going 55 MPH, so it wasn’t bad. As we passed by farms and rural houses, the line of traffic seemed to be the main entertainment for the residents. Well, at least somebody was enjoying our detour! Turned out that the next time US 80 intersected with Interstate 20, I-20 was open, and our double detour (first an accident, then construction) was over, but it had cost us over an hour in our travels.

We’d hoped to be further along before we stopped for gas and lunch, but hadn’t counted on the detours, so we rolled with the punches, stopped and fed the car and ourselves!

After lunch, it was clear sailing, as we moved quickly through the rest of Louisiana, on a nice clear road under a sunny sky. Soon we reached the end of Louisiana and entered Mississippi for the second time in a week.

We decided to stop at the Mississippi Welcome Center for a bathroom break, and to switch drivers, and as soon as we crossed the Mississippi River again, we exited into the Welcome Center. Here are some pictures from the Welcome Center, which was right on the Mississippi River….

Then it was time to get back on Interstate-20, and head into “Sweet Home” Alabama, and our stop for the night in Tuscaloosa.

Tonight was probably the latest we’ve been on the road this trip, and we were fortunate to be driving east, with the sun at our backs, and not in our eyes. By the time we pulled into the Hampton Inn, it was close to 6:30 and fully dark. We took opportunity of a Ruby Tuesday that was just across the drive from our hotel, walked over, had a quick dinner, and now we’re back in the room, watching TV, blogging, and enjoying tonight’s vodka!

Another day brought to us thanks to the Eisenhower Interstate System, a road system that was imagined in the1950s with the desire to link the 48 states via a road system!

See you tomorrow!

Well, after 3 quick nights in Walt Disney World, it was time for our happy band to depart and continue our western trek. The boys were driving all the way to New Orleans today, so they were up and out by about 7:30 this morning. Susie and I were just going to Pensacola, Florida, so we left later. About 10 AM we said goodbye to rooms 7115 and 7116 and Port Orleans, The French Quarter, loaded up the car, and drove down to the main building to check out. I don’t know what elicited a sadder feeling…leaving WDW, or the 3 page bill I was handed by the hotel!

I’m just kidding. What with the free park admissions we got for 3 days, we saved well over $1400 that we’d have had to pay were I not a Disney Retiree. Then there were the discounts on the rooms, some of our meals, and stuff we bought and probably the entire stay cost us 50% of what anyone else doing it would pay, so no reason to complain! Yesterday when I was checking out at the Sassagoula Food Factory, I passed my retiree card to the cashier, and the lady behind me said, “Oh, how can I get one of those?”. I replied, “work for the company for 40 years like I did”, at which the cashier made a face and said, “No way!” Oh well, thanks for buying ABC Disney!

This time we were heading north/west out of WDW, and unlike when we came in via Interstate 4, we exited to surface streets. We quickly knew why Walt Disney wanted a huge area in Florida unlike what he had in California, so that he could protect his visitors from road side clutter. Here are just a few examples….

Funny how few cars were lining up for $5 “Disney” T-shirts!

We made a slight detour to our route today, which added less than 15 minutes to our estimated arrival time, but we think it was worth it. A slight side trip to Minneola, Florida. Okay, so they can’t spell in Florida, and it’s a city not a village, but as we get to the last months of being Mineola, NY residents, we couldn’t help but check out Florida’s version. I think we’ve got nothing to fear at home, unless our village wants a digital sign, which looks very much like the sign at the new Walgreens on Jericho Turnpike and Roslyn Road!

Susie says that she doubts if the Minneola Grill can top the old Jericho Diner, but we didn’t take time to stop and compare!

Tonight we are in what looks like a brand new Hampton Inn and Suites on the side of Interstate 10 in Pensacola. Having driven 450 miles today, and crossing into the Central Time Zone for the first time since last October, we were happy when we pulled in to see a Cracker Barrel Restaurant right across the street. The couple of times we ate at them during our trip last fall, we enjoyed the meal and the value, and we loved this one’s close location. After our customary after driving drink (a ADD), we decided to head over and have an early dinner. We then had to gas up the car, pick up a couple of things at a Walgreens, and then find a Wells Fargo bank and get some money. Just after 6:30, we headed across the street, parked the car, and entered the restaurant to find complete pandemonium!! A tour bus full of high school kids had just descended on the restaurant, and we couldn’t even get to the counter!

Despondent, we decided to do our chores and thought perhaps we might find some place else to eat during our travels. Well, we got everything done (no thanks to Susie’s phone’s GPS that led us about 3 miles in the wrong direction before telling us to “Make a U Turn”), but unfortunately found nothing but fast food that wasn’t a zoo, as it was now after 7 on a Friday night! We decided to try Cracker Barrel again and I dropped Susie off and parked the car. When I got inside, she said they said about 20 minutes, and in less than 5 they called her name, so we did eat at CB, only somewhat later than expected!

So that pretty much gets you up-to-date on today’s travels. Tomorrow morning we will leave about 9:30 and travel what the GPS says is 3 hours to NOLA, and the reunion with our twins and company. I’d like to tell you I’ll be back with an update tomorrow night, but it is Saturday in New Orleans, and we will be with Krissi, Kenny, Mike and Chris, so anything can happen!

Pray for us!!