Whew, what a day! It was almost more than a poor old sea captain like me could take. Libby and I are used to life annoyances such as a bridge opening delayed or the gossip about someone who used profanity on the VHF. Today we got a dose of the land lubber's real world. They can keep it.
It was time to return my sister Marilyn to Albany, NY after the Christmas holiday. We had a great family vacation but now it's over. I set the alarm for 0600 so that we could get up early enough for the 3.5 hour drive to Charlotte, NC to meet Marilyn's plane. My day started at 0500 when my phone woke us. It was US Airways calling to tell us that her plane might be delayed by 50 minutes.
We left at 0700 for the long drive. It was a miserable morning, with cold driving rain. Just a few hundred miles north of here the rain turned to snow and blizzard warnings. The traffic was miserable, and I was stressed out. We were forced to move too fast on the interstate boxed in with cars ahead, behind and on either side of us. I tried driving slow in the right lane but that was worse. North Carolina's road designers added right lanes that turn into Exit Only lanes just before each exit, thus forcing us to merge into an already full left lane. Worse, North Carolina drivers entering from the right seem to think they have the right of way. A couple of times we had close calls as a merging car on our right just cut us off.
Two hours into the journey things got abruptly worse. First we discovered that Marilyn had no ID. The case worker who escorted her to the gate at the Albany Airport last Monday apparently pocketed Marilyn's ID. Then, a few minutes after that I got a message from US Airways -- the flight was cancelled. We turned around. At 1130 we got back to Dave's house and I was really tired from 4.5 hours of stressful driving. We saw six fresh wrecks on the highway, several of which seemed to be cars spinning out even though there was no ice.
Now we are working on getting Marilyn's ID sent here by FEDEX and on getting her a new flight booking for Friday.
The cruising life really is a dream life!!!
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That's quite a day, Dick. That's why I choose to live in rural Maine and do as little air travel as possible. It's not worth the hassle and if I can't get there by car, I don't go period. Got everything I need right here anyway.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your blog by the way
I feel your pain, Dick. I used to love driving. Now, not so much. Especially the two days of driving between upstate NY and Georgia. People texting and chatting on cell phones, unable to stay in their own lanes, are a real danger.
ReplyDeleteAnother issue are company owned tractor trailers that are governed at 65 MPH when the speed limit in much of the south is 70 MPH. One semi will be going 2 MPH faster than another and get in the passing lane, clogging up everything.
Thanks for the morning rant, Dick. :)