When it’s good

[f6john]

It’s good, when it’s bad it’s really bad. Many advantages to living close to an Interstate Highway. But when things go bad as it did yesterday it gets ugly. I75 is under construction around Richmond Kentucky, a much needed repaying project. To our benefit, I75 has  been expanded to 3 lanes in both directions for a long time and they have been proven to be essential for the current traffic flow.

Yesterday, for reasons I have not learned, an accident occurred in the northbound lanes of traffic just past an on ramp which is primarily an access point for travelers to fuel up at Buc-ee’s. I was south of that point in Berea Ky and trying to get home. Knowing about the construction going on I elected to use Hwy 25 going north, so did hundreds of other travelers! While I knew traffic would slow due to the shear number of vehicles trying to use this rural two lane road, I wasn’t expecting it to come to a complete stop also. Interestingly, it didn’t take long for out of state northerners, to become impatient and start making U turns, maybe giving up and returning to Berea for have lunch and wait for things to improve.

I stuck it out and we kept creeping forward, happy that I had no where I had to be and neither I or my wife had to pee! So after about 45 minutes we saw what we expected, a wreck on our path at an intersection of a side road probably because of impatience of the person pulling out of the side road. I suppose because of the wreck on I75 personnel to work this wreck was sparse and they had the road blocked and were using the side road to divert us around this wreck, ugh! It took us over an hour to go 14 miles which I have since learned was break neck speed compared to those on I75. This all transpired around noon and it was 6 PM before even one northbound lane on 75 was reopened and 1 AM before all three lanes were open.

They call them accidents and sometimes they are, other times they are just shear stupidity, and sometimes people just get caught in the middle of a big mess. I was certainly happy to get back home and stay there until the dust settled.

[Jess from VA]

John, there's so much road construction going on in NoVA, both on all freeways and many secondary roads that you're bound to get tied up just leaving the house.  It's not too bad for me for basic shopping since all those stores are a mile or three away.

But when I go riding, I've developed a bizarre circuitous route through the most out of the way lanes and streets to avoid most of it getting out West to beautiful farm and horse country.

If only it were true.      They lie!!
 

[sandy]

It’s nice to know that northerners are impatient implying that southerners are patient.

[Rams]

It’s nice to know that northerners are impatient implying that southerners are patient.

The irony of it is, it all depends on how much one needs to pee......................

Rams   

[f6john]

It’s nice to know that northerners are impatient implying that southerners are patient.

That’s one way to look at it. The observation was made because I was in a line of traffic as far as I could see in front of me and behind me, on a two lane country road. The only cars I saw making U turns we’re out of state cars. I understood their plight and I might have made a U turn with them except I was less than 20 miles from home and no where I had to be.

The reason they were northerners was probably due to the fact that they were traveling North on a Sunday afternoon on a blocked Interstate highway, probably trying to get back home from a vacation. If the wreck had been in the southbound lanes of I75 there probably would have been a bunch of impatient southerners!

As Ron pointed out, maybe northerners have to pee more often than the rest of us!

[0leman]

I too have been stuck in moving parking lots.  Though am glade that I live 90 miles from the nearest Interstate.   Don't see it very often thankfully.  Got to love the slow two lane "town to market" roads.

[Rams]

As Ron pointed out, maybe northerners have to pee more often than the rest of us!

One could surmise that in such situations, if there happens to be a vehicle pulled over on the side of the road (angled with a door or two open and someone outside the vehicle (away from the traffic side), they couldn't hold our any longer.  

Same thing applies to motorcycle riders, which makes the situation a bit more interesting.  

Rams  

[Jess from VA]

My big van is perfect.  It's 6'2" in there, and I can just crack the side sliding door (passenger side, so always facing the side of the road) and pee out the door.  You just need to be careful the door doesn't slam shut.   

I also keep a portable urinal hung on a D-ring in the back.

This old man BPH is a giant PITA.   

Putting the male prostate right at the end of the pee tube is a huge design defect.  But who do you sue?   

[f6john]

Near miss today. Returning from a visit to see my mother and took the grandsons along with us as they had not seen her since Christmas. I take all rural two lane roads for that trip because I can avoid I75, Lexington traffic and then another jaunt on the Bluegrass Parkway.

I was 20 miles from home on a section of road that is excellent for bike travel and sporty driving when traffic is light as it was today. One exception was meeting another car in a curve where a third of the front of the oncoming car was over the center line and in my lane. I was over as far to the right as I thought I could possibly be and both my wife and myself were bracing for impact. These things happen so fast that it’s over before you have time to fully consider what just happened. At some point in those split seconds the other driver recognized the situation and managed to keep their vehicle from sideswiping me which would have been a major improvement over what I had just anticipated was going to happen. So we all live to drive another day. I drive somewhat aggressively on these twisty rural roads but my car always remains in my designated lane. But I must say more and more I see drivers who just are not paying enough attention to their job. Just because they get away with it over and over and an impact is avoided it’s just like a ticking time bomb. If we had made contact with one another today it would not have been an “accident”, it would have been negligence and piss poor judgement.

Alls well that ends well I suppose, so today was good!