Passion and Projects

Well I had some interesting adventures the past two days that I would just like to share.

So I started my trip about 40 minutes late because taking my bike apart and the simple process of putting things in my car took longer than expected. This made me a little uneasy because I was going to hit not just the beginning of traffic at 4, but also the start of the crazy kind at 5. Off I went to visit my friend, Ali, from my Italy trip. We have only seen each other two times since the trip, so I was very excited about getting to spend the evening with her. All went smoothly until I got into the Duluth area which slowed me down until I hit John’s Creek around 5:30. John’s Creek was miserable. Every light took several rotations, and it was basically gridlocked traffic. To top it off it started to freezing rain. I chided myself for not getting off earlier, but was feeling pretty good. I was only thirty miles away, and, I mean traffic can’t be backed up that badly right? RIGHT? And so it began.

Crazy
Atlanta
Commuters

ON ICE.

My hope for humanity was destroyed. People were absolutely crazy. I have never seen traffic like this. There were several occasions were we just sat at the light because the people who previously had the green light had decided to squeeze through the red, but as the next light was backed up, there was no space for the cars, so they would be stuck in the middle of the intersection. Often the left turners would wedge themselves behind the line of cars that were coming from the opposite direction going right, so the cars going straight would have to cut into the next lane to get around them. Conveniently, the signs were fabulously helpful.

SIGN: Attention! There is a light coming up.

Well thank you sign, I could see that there was a light coming up because it is dark and I’m not an idiot. However, would you mind letting me know what intersection that is? No, well that’s fine because while I would love to turn right, nobody will let me over and seeing that it is raining, there is little visibility from the back windows. It’s cool. I’ll just go straight. Wait no I wont, because while the light is Green, the cars are backed up from the next light up and cannot move.

My favorite intersection was the road that I had been looking for for the past hour and a half. note- i had gone roughly 8 miles. Seeing that I do not know my way around, I was not in the correct lane to turn. No one let me in, so I moved through the intersection, dodging the car that was sticking out in the middle of it, made a turn into a child care center and turned around. There was a car in front of me also trying to make a left turn. The green arrow was given to us. But the cars were locked at the intersection. So the car in front of me decided, welp, this is my shot. And turned left, blocking the half of the intersection. At this point, the people going right (where I was supposed to be) would not let the left turner in. Probably because they werent really moving either. So this car just sat halfway in the intersection, and I just watched it as no one would let it in, and cars had to swerve to get around it. In the rain might I remind. As I waited to make my move, the light had turned red and I was trying to figure out if going at a different angle would best work, I noticed a man get out of his car and irately yell at the drivers window of the car behind him. Fuck this shit, says I, and go straight, turn around once again, call Ali and beg for different directions.

What should have taken maybe 20 or 30 minutes took Over Three Hours. Another personal favorite thing that people did was on the major road that everyone was going straight, cars, well mostly big asshole SUVs, would drive past all the lane of traffic in the empty right turn lane, get to the intersection, make a U turn, and get in the front of traffic. Seriously?

So what had happened was… The roads were all iced over. So this was no normal traffic. I finally got to her neighborhood and almost cried I was so happy. By this time my gas light had turned on so that made me nervous. But as I was turning into it, my car hit a patch of ice and I just slid. It wasn’t that bad and I got control of the car quickly enough, but it was pretty scary. I got to Ali’s at 8:30. I left at 3:30. She told me to park in her driveway which was inclined. So I did. Until my car slid down into the street. Cool. We had to go out again to get food, everything was closed. But we had a great time!

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

I got ansy in the morning because I had a doctors appointment at 1:45 and if traffic was anything like it was the night before, I would need to leave with plenty of time. So I got up earlier than I was going to and was out the door by 9:30 to get gas and head out. Traffic on 75 and 575. Not fun. 20mph is lightning compared to the night before with 5-10mph. But then I hit 85 and it was smoooooth sailing!

I got about 20 miles outside of Columbus, at about 12:20. I was jamming out to my chorus CD when all of a sudden! Stem started streaming out of my engine. AWESOME. So I pull over and call my dad. A guy was already pulled over (?) and he came over and tried to help. He wasn’t much help, but I appreciated the try. He left and my dad called a tow truck. I turned on my car for a second to check the heat gauge, and red transmission fluid started oozing out. My car was bleeding on the side of the road. It was so sad. I hadn’t noticed what exit I was near so I had to walk down the side of the highway to check the next exit sign. As I was walking a large truck pulled up next to me and asked if I needed help. I explained that I was just waiting for my dad and that it was ok. He was with his 13 year old son and asked if I needed a ride into Columbus. I declined, but it was nice of him. He also told me not to sit in my car while I waited, as it is more dangerous than people think, since we didnt know what was wrong with the car especially, and cars are surprisingly flammable. Nice of him.

I had just gotten back to my car when another car pulled off to the side of the road. This time a woman got out and asked if I needed help. I explained the situation and she told me that she would wait with me until my dad came. I told her that it would be another 30-40 minutes, but she was adamant. She was actually really cool. She is a professor of history at Auburn and was very interesting. She specialized in turn of the century women, so we chatted pretty indepthly about the things that I had learned in my religion class, as well as my gender and work sociology class. It was actually fun. About 20 minutes into waiting a cop pulled over and offered to stay with me while I waited, so she left. It was more fun when she was there. I pulled out a book and read, you know, on the side of a major highway. About 5 minutes later my dad pulled up and we traded cars. I drove into Columbus and got to my appointment ON TIME. The car was towed, and my dad was able to fix it (of course). The two hour trip took four.

In sum,
Things I am THANKFUL for:
-That my car broke down 20 miles away from Columbus
-It was easily fixed and did not cause any commotion when it broke
-IT DID NOT BREAK DOWN THE NIGHT BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-It did not run out of gas
-People who restored my faith in humanity by consistantly stopping to help me, and even staying to make sure I was ok

but mostly im just thankful to have gotten home safe, sound, and am now OUT OF THE CAR