Road trip suck

[Sparky]

Went to visit my daughter. It's normally a six hour drive. Took eight. I got stuck in traffic for a long time because of an accident. Oh well, happens. Then I no sooner got out of that mess and I got stuck again. Oh well, happens. Should have picked the other lane. When my lane FINALLY started moving, I could see that it had been held up because of an accident in the opposite direction. A car was on its side, blocking both lanes. (My lane had been blocked while they brough in emergency equipment.) Traffic going the other way was backed up five miles. I was just happy it wasn't my turn again, and I hoped the people in the accident were okay.

To be fair, I must point out that this happened in a construction zone. No work was being done at the time, however.

So after being blocked in for what seemed like forever, I needed to hit the restroom. Lucky me, there was a rest stop and visitors center. Hooray. So I hurried in and soon came out all refreshed. People from the backed-up cars in the other lane had crossed the median and come to the rest stop too. There was an attendant there, whose job was to answer questions about the area. She had no idea what was going on, poor thing, and some guy was giving her grief like it was her fault. "Don't you people put up signs when you do construction? Traffic is backed up five miles!!" As though she could do anything about it in any case. I interrupted him to tell him there was an accident and he shut right up.

She thanked me.

I must not have done enough to get good karma though because I still got rained on the rest of the trip. Oh well.

[Sheldonrs]

I had such high expectations when i read the title of this thread. Oh well.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I had such high expectations when i read the title of this thread. Oh well.

As the suck-er or the suck-ee?

[dalesys]

As the suck-er or the suck-ee?

Yes!!!!

[bhskittykatt]

I remember once it took me four hours to get from Seattle to Olympia. Note: this drive should normally only take me a little over an hour!

At one point, I looked over at the other lane, and this guy's face was so red I thought he was about to explode. He was beating on his steering wheel and seemed way too pissed off for what the conditions warranted.

Scary who we have to share the road with sometimes. Dude, we're not going anywhere soon, so just chill...

[eltf177]

The three that really sent my blood pressure skyrocketing...

1) The fact that VDOT, in it's infinity stupidity, had to pave northbound I-81 on a _SUNDAY_ over a Labor Day weekend, despite the fact that:

a) This is the same VDOT crying poverty. Paving on a Sunday isnt cheap and is never done!
b) It didn't need it, there are roads in Northern VA in _far_ worse shape that are ignored!

No warning of any sort, and traffic backed up for miles!

2) A tractor-trailer overturned on northbound I-95 and tumbled down a hill. Instead of waiting until that evening to work on it, it was decided that it _had_ to be dragged out now. Two of three lanes blocked on a Friday, backup's were over 10 miles long!

3) The moron who decided to commit suicide by jumping off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. All three lanes from VA to MD closed as were two of three from MD to VA. Traffic was backed up 12-15 miles! In the end they shot him off the bridge with bean bags and picked him up in 10-15 seconds. No charges were filed, 'he's got enough problems with a messy divorce.'

[elsporko]

Traffic in my town was horrible all summer because they decided to replace the nicely paved road downtown with cobblestones that make the car shake like you're on a camp road.

[XCashier]

Traffic in my town was horrible all summer because they decided to replace the nicely paved road downtown with cobblestones that make the car shake like you're on a camp road.

I've seen cobblestoned roads before, but it's usually just the middle (yellow left turn) lane, not the entire road. Yes, cobblestones are pretty, but they're not practical.

Maybe when the city has to pay the repair bills for a few thousand screwed-up car alignments, they'll reconsider their plan.

[protege]

Last summer, it took a good 8 hours to drive across Pennsylvania...which usually takes about 5. It's bad enough that I-80 is boring to begin with, but when you add in the endless road construction (almost *always* uphill, and *always* heading East!) forcing traffic down to one lane of 40mph plodding along, and it's never good. Throw in the semi that flipped over (plus the additional mess created by construction), and I was in no mood to sit outside of Scranton for 2 freaking hours.

But, the real fun came when I got into Connecticut...and dealt with their road construction. Seems they give no warning at all before they decide to take 3-4 lanes of traffic and somehow think it'll fit into a *single* lane for no apparent reason. Seriously, it seemed that occurred every freaking mile that night. Oddly enough, all of that crap was gone 3 days later when it was time to drive home

[draftermatt]

Driving from MD to FL this summer in South Carolina at 3 AM I-95 went from two lanes to one.

The right lane was blocked off, and it was wet. About 2-3 miles into this wet lane closure was because there were people power washing the freaking highway, at 3 AM.

One of them actually jumped into the lane of traffic for a second causing my friend to have to hit the brakes and swerve.

Didn't slow our trip down any, but that was an odd site.

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm not sure why a highway needs powe rwashing, but doing the work at 3 am makes perfect sense: less traffic than in the daytime.

[MadMike]

At one point, I looked over at the other lane, and this guy's face was so red I thought he was about to explode. He was beating on his steering wheel and seemed way too pissed off for what the conditions warranted.

Was it this guy?

[Kogarashi]

I've only had two terrible trips so far. ::knock on wood::

The first was part of my honeymoon. Hubby and I were on I-80 outside of Laramie, WY, heading toward Cheyenne before changing highways to head south toward Denver. That's when we hit the traffic jam. Cars were literally stopped on the Interstate, long enough that we could sit still for several minutes before having to start it up, scoot ahead about three-four carlengths, and stop again. There was no warning about the stop, either, so we pegged it for accident rather than construction. (Though now that we've been living in CT for a while, we've gotten used to the construction-without-warning phenomenon.) Turns out we were right. There was a wrecked pile of 18-wheelers and passenger cars on the westbound side of the highway on the other side of Cheyenne, that also managed to close all the eastbound lanes on the near side of the city. Traffic was backed up as state police tried to funnel everyone off the highway via three exits before Cheyenne, but they had only one person for three lanes of traffic telling each car which exit to use. It took three hours to traverse those three exits before we were able to finally head south.

Anyway, not wanting to waste gas idling, Hubby would turn off the car each time we found ourselves sitting still for 10 minutes at a stretch. This worked fine, until the second time we turned off the car. When traffic moved the next time, the car wouldn't start again. Hubby tried, but the engine just wasn't turning over.

Finally a trucker on one side of us noticed, just as the couple in a pickup truck to the other side did. Traffic had stopped again at this point, so both drivers got out to help Hubby figure out what was wrong, right there on the Interstate. They finally determined that we had a faulty starter, and the trucker knew a trick where you rock the car while trying to start it up to get it going again. Thankfully the trick worked, and Hubby didn't dare turn the car off again until we were safely at our next stop. We had that starter replaced as soon as we were at his parents' place in Texas.


The second time was a commute rather than a road trip, while I was 7 months pregnant with my first child and working at Walmart. I'd just finished a full afternoon shift at the store, followed by a mandatory "half-hour" meeting that stretched into an hour and a half (at least I got paid for it). It was 7pm by this point, and I hadn't seen Hubby since 6am that morning when he left for work. I was tired, hungry, and cranky. Gratefully, I headed home, on what should have been a 20-minute commute.

The first warning sign was when I was halfway down the very long on-ramp for the highway and met a bunch of backed up cars. By that point, there was no way to turn around and head back, as a steep embankment on one side and a concrete median on the other kept me from getting out. Traffic inched along until we finally got to the Interstate, which was jam-packed with cars. Our ramp-ful of traffic had to drive several miles in the breakdown lane because there just wasn't any room to merge into the rightmost driving lane (not that anyone would've let us anyway; a lot of people around here don't seem to know how to merge when there are lane closures).

I finally got into the driving lanes before the bridge (where the breakdown lane temporarily disappeared, and where all the "Don't Drive in the Breakdown Lane" signs are), and continued to inch along. I got to the halfway point of the commute an hour into my drive home. At about that point, there was an off-ramp leading to US-1, the smaller highway that parallels the Interstate (but is rife with traffic signals). I tried to duck off the highway onto US-1, only to find it equally backed up as half the Interstate's traffic had the same idea. ::sigh::

I finally got across the river and to a point where I could navigate the city's back streets to get home, at which point I finished my commute...two hours after I'd left the store. I found out due to a subsequent internet search that apparently a hole had opened up in the big highway bridge that spans the river, reducing three driving lanes to one.

But, the real fun came when I got into Connecticut...and dealt with their road construction. Seems they give no warning at all before they decide to take 3-4 lanes of traffic and somehow think it'll fit into a *single* lane for no apparent reason. Seriously, it seemed that occurred every freaking mile that night. Oddly enough, all of that crap was gone 3 days later when it was time to drive home

Welcome to Connecticut, the state that hates people on principle.

[bhskittykatt]

Was it this guy?

My guy was old and white, but personality-wise, he was identical.

[Andara Bledin]

Maybe when the city has to pay the repair bills for a few thousand screwed-up car alignments, they'll reconsider their plan.

If it's your typical downtown, they put them in to make people go slower. And they're not likely to pay for anyone's car, since it's very unlikely that you can't get around that section, somehow.

But, the real fun came when I got into Connecticut...and dealt with their road construction. Seems they give no warning at all before they decide to take 3-4 lanes of traffic and somehow think it'll fit into a *single* lane for no apparent reason. Seriously, it seemed that occurred every freaking mile that night. Oddly enough, all of that crap was gone 3 days later when it was time to drive home

If it's later at night, it's probably like here. They'll close down all but one lane (or just close the entire freeway), and work all night, then open it all up again before rush hour starts in the morning.

My best roadtrip story was coming back from San Jose the first time I went to the January convention up there. We were heading down the 5 on the flat stretch before you climb up towards Tejon Pass.

That's when we hit the fog. I was down to about 35 and I really think that even that was too fast for the almost complete lack of visibility.

I was stuck behind a semi, but I wasn't about to try to pass him until we got to a passing lane, at which point I was going to head to the left when some pickup came flying up around everybody doing probably 60 before yanking his truck back into the right lane and slowing down to the same speed as the rest of us.

Once he's out of the way, I start to pull left to pass the semi again, when an SUV of some sort come barreling up and I pull back in behind the semi, knuckles as white as ever from the driving conditions.

I'm cursing the SUV as it passes when I notice that it's got state markings and is actually a Highway Patrol vehicle. That's when the behavior of the idiot in the pickup makes more sense, and I finally have the opportunity to pass the semi before the lane runs out.

As I'm pulling in front of the semi, finally, I get to watch the CHP pull the idiot in the pickup over. Turns out his little ruse was a complete failure. It's a shame I'll never know what it was the guy got tagged for. Judging by how he blew by me at the start, he was probably speeding. A lot. Possibly even instant-suspension level, with the fog.

^-.-^