May 29, 2007
Since I was tired of paying to take the Greenway, and tired of dealing with Leesburg traffic, and tired of dealing with traffic at the 70-15 interchange in Frederick, I took a different route to Akron for memorial Day. Went up I-81 through Winchester and part of West Virginia. On the one hand, I took about half an hour off the travel time. On the other hand...
... I-81 was just a little bit too interesting. First I had to stand on my breaks to avoid rear-ending the guy in front of me, and the guy in teh truck behind me had to swerve into the shoulder to avoid rear-ending my car. Why all the brakes? Because some truck blew a retread and left a giant chunk of tire in the middle of the highway.
Then I had to signal an SUV that had part of said retread wedged under the vehicle and dragging on the asphalt, causing lots of smoke and burning-rubber smell. Everyone else just thought this was OK; after all, it wasn't their cars that were liable to catch on fire. Not sure how much information I was able to yell across the lane at 80 miles an hour, but I at least I conveyed "pull over" to them so they could inspect their vehicle.
Maybe.
Then I got to dodge a couch sitting in the middle of the highway. Well, it is a long drive, and maybe someone needed a rest. Got to see a bunch of teenagers running down the berm to try to retrieve the sofa (it looked like it somehow fell out of a puckup) as I passed.
All that within about a five-mile span. Not sure the time I saved was worth the added stress.
Or, maybe it was all coincidence. But that would make the story even less amusing.
