On the road again… (I can wait to get on the road again)

As mentioned in some previous entries, I spent the weekend of July 30 and July 31 traveling from Rhode Island to New Jersey. Since my frame of reference is Rhode Island, doing 95 percent of my driving in that tiny state, I can’t help but do a comparison in my head between that and other states during the entire drive.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest thing that took some getting used to was the sprawl in New Jersey. In Rhode Island, once you take your exit off the main highways – routes 95 and 295 in the north, routes 1 and 4 in the south – you’re almost always within five minutes of your destination. In Jersey, I got off the turnpike and still had another 40 miles to go.

I was also expecting a road similar to the aforementioned Rhode Island routes 1 and 4, namely, two-lanes in both directions with a speed limit between 35 and 50. Instead, the routes in Jersey had speed limits around 50 and 55, even though they were only one lane and through residential and commercial areas! It was kind of amazing, but also kind of terrifying, because I was driving on these roads for the first time from 1 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.

The worst stretch of road though was definitely Connecticut. Route 95 seemingly goes on for 5,000 miles, and roughly 4,995 of them are only two lanes. Other roads were more congested, but the two lanes of Connecticut created these weird, low-speed bottlenecks, especially since it was raining out.

The worst drivers though were the minivan folks in New Jersey. On the turnpike, I saw at least six of these people – I know, because I was counting. All of them were just hanging out in the high speed / passing lane, happy to go between 60 and 70, and refusing to yield when pretty much everyone else out at that time of night wanted to go between 75 and 85. My hypothesis is that they were too busy yelling at their children and trying to blame the Finding Nemo DVD for sweet, silent salvation.

For my 300-plus mile trip, I made fairly decent time. I’d estimate I spent about five to six hours driving each way – It’s hard to determine the exact time, because I did stop frequently for service plaza (Steveats) reasons. I was actually pleasantly surprised about the lack of severe traffic on my way back Sunday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. I stopped twice for soda and dinner, and checked my email and other things for about an hour, but otherwise I only hit a bit of traffic in southern Connecticut and as I got on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Final thing – My hotel / motel in New Jersey was an establishment known as the Red Carpet Inn. For $69, I wasn’t expecting much, despite the “teehee” price tag. It met my low expectations in some ways, as there was a stain on one of the two bed comforters, the lobby smelled like weed, and my phone didn’t work. However, it had its own parking lot, great AC and the room was shockingly big. So, you know, if you’re traveling in southern Jersey you can do a lot worse.

The weather and car crashes

[Left] Whatever happened to these two wild and crazy guys?

Because it is so overcast and rainy here today, I thought I'd share a personal story or two about how weather has F'ed me over in the past. About a year ago, I went through the worst month of my life, which saw me get dumped, get laid off and be forced to move back in with my parents, but it all started with a car crash.

It was during a torrential rainstorm, and while I was driving on Route 95 North, on my way to the aforementioned ex-girlfriend's place. Just as I got past the Route 4 split, my brakes gave out, and I skidded off the road and into a tree.

Luckily for me, I was driving below the speed limit, and there was also a thicket of shrubs that slowed me down considerably before I hit the tree. As I was about to hit the tree, I closed my eyes and thought, "Wow, this is going to hurt," but shockingly, my face just barely hit the deploying airbag. I didn't lose consciousness at all, and even the next day, I wasn't shore at all. I was really, really lucky from a health standpoint.

Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same thing about my car, an awesome 2002 forest green Chevy Prism. There was an angry gap right in the middle, and the windshield was completely shattered and caved-in on the passenger's side; the police said I was lucky that nobody was in the car with me. The car had to be junked and I had to file an insurance claim, which sucked, because what I got - $5,000 - was worth far less than what I could have sold the car for - around $8,000.

The other weather and driving-related incident I've had is far less spectacular. I forget the circumstances, but for some reason I was driving south on Route 1 toward Westerly in January of this year. It must have been for an important reason, because it was late at night and there was practically nobody else on the roads, and they hadn't even been plowed yet.

That night, I learned why it is such a bitch to drive on an unplowed road. About half a mile from the McDonald's, my car went into a spin, and flipped around 180 degrees, so that I was pointed the wrong way.

For some reason, the only thought in my head was, "I hope someone doesn't find me like this." The thing was, I had stayed on the road the entire time, so it was more of an embarrassing thing as opposed to something dangerous. My car was still running, so I very, very gently drove forward and looped around, so that I was the correct way on the road again. I was a bit rattled, so I pulled into McDonald's and got something to eat and read a book for about half an hour, which gave the plows time to work.