Merrily we roll along

Not the slowest commute ever, but definitely in the Top Ten for the not-caused-by-my-vehicle-failures, it only took eighty minutes to travel 18.5 miles this evening. My inner calm had not so much to do with Pope Francis' voice on NPR as to the outstanding cloud-watching as I rolled forward.

On a good day the 19.2 mile drive takes 27 minutes. On Saturday mornings it's more like 18.5 minutes with NPR's Scott Simon and Tom Goldman discussing sports.

I should have exited the expressway when the ambulance went by in the HOV lane, but no, I was listening to Pope Francis in Congress. By the time I took evasive action everybody and their dog had the same urge to get off.

Rolling on over, I ended up at the annual Greek Festival traffic jam still in the early stages of gelling. Avoiding the next obstacle of closed lanes due to construction sent me smack into the pent up cars behind a two-car, center lane crash.

Last weekend pushing the grandbaby buggy on the bumpy sidewalks of Hoboken we followed a family of four. Mom with pram baby, dad, and preschooler with a dachshund doggy pull-toy. It is so clear in my memory, but I can't find the toy online. The doggy was sliced like hard salami, and the sections were a rainbow of colors. The pull-toy dachshund hit a sidewalk bump, and fell over. Block after block we followed the little guy dragging the doggy toy on its side. My ribs hurt, but they were not painted rainbow.


Study review questions:

1. "I coulda just walked." Could I? Would I? How long would that really take?

2. On a good day how long would my alternate route drive take?

3. How did that song go about roller-skating in a buffalo herd?

4. How do you get a tiny URL to a Google map of directions?

5. Is this the urban version of a fisherman's tale? How long was that commute really??

Answers:

1. 5 hours and 51 minutes.

2. 41 minutes for the 18.5 miles.

Similar, but not quite right.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egS1e0pE5pA

4. That is the coolest thing I learned this week! Get your directions on the map. Click the icon with 3 horizontal bars. Click "share and embed". Check the box for the short URL. Copy and paste the hyperlink.

5. The 18.5 miles took 80 minutes. 


© 2013-2015 Nancy L. Ruder