Fun, fun, fun

A gorgeous view, no?

Nothing quite like hitting traffic when you least expect it.

This is my view on I-395 northbound just after the Duke St. exit.

You'll notice the thick stream of white headlights in the center. That's I-395 southbound, still very much in the thick of rush hour.

Just to the right, you'll see another string of white headlights running a parallel course. That's part of the reason you see so many red brake lights.

OK, it's not the reason. Here's the reason. At the bottom of the hill, I-395 passes right over Sanger Ave., near where all of this was going on.

That same station is now reporting that the situation has ended peacefully, which didn't much help me.

I made my way down the hill and up to my normal exit, Seminary Rd., which was backlogged; the back end of the line of cars was actually still on the highway. I gave it the old college try, but gave up after a few minutes and not a whole lot of movement.

When an open spot came, I accelerated back onto the freeway with the idea of taking the next exit at King St. That went smoothly until I got off the freeway.

I meandered west on King St. hitting every traffic and nearly every red light. At the second red light, I heard an approaching siren and saw a fire truck come by and turn left, just as everyone had vacated their lane to make way.

I got back into the left of the two lanes with the intention of turning left onto Beauregard St. - which was still another three lights away. I think I hit two reds and had some yahoo decide that he needed to get in the left lane RIGHT THIS FREAKING INSTANT.

Finally, I made it to the turn lane to go left on Beauregard. But the green arrow is notoriously short; thanks to the numbnuts who wasn't paying attention and sat there for 10 seconds during the green arrow, I had to wait through a second cycle before proceeding.

Whew, I'm finally on Beauregard. Out of the woods? Hardly.

I approach the intersection with Seminary - my normal drive makes a giant hook-shape, this was just extending the hook - and it's all backed up because, whaddya know, Seminary connects with Sanger Ave., which is still closed.

It took me three cycles to get south of Seminary on Beauregard, all in traffic like I've never seen on that road. Fortunately, a series of parking lots runs parallel, so I was able to sneak through those. But that was about the only good thing.

A normally 20-minute drive that was about double that.

I'm reminded of an e-mail I received from Mark, my brother-in-law, a few weeks ago. Driving to work, he spotted a couple of moose roaming around a field near the road.

"Man, I live in the country," he wrote.

At this point, I'd take the country.