Stuck on the GWB

Construction is the curse of late night driving. Last night , or rather this morning, when I was driving home from NYC I was making great time until I hit the George Washington Bridge. Usually when I hit the road I make sure to listen to the traffic reports to try and avoid the major problems but at 1:30am, who thinks about traffic reports. There are barely enough cars on the road to keep you company. So I continued onto the upper level when I came to a complete standstill as I merged. So I stopped, turned on the music, and chatted with my sister as I waited to start moving. Five minutes later I realized the problem was construction in the left lane. Ok, so I figured once the cars merged into the remaining three lanes I would be on my way. But, we sat some more. Twenty minutes more (after merge 1). As the minutes ticked by I started getting tired and frustrated. I had no caffine with me. I rolled down the window instead trying to enjoy the beautiful 60-degree breeze. I had waitied a long time for this weather so why not enjoy it. (And for those of you that don't know, when you are at a standstill on a suspension bridge filled with cars you can feel the bridge shaking, not fun for a long period of time with no where to go). Then I began flipping through stations, but at that time of night there wasn't much on. So next I took out my phone and began flipping through names trying to figure out who would be up at 1/2am. I called my friend and spoke to her for about 5 minutes then miraculously the cars in front of me began to creep foward. Quickly, I said my goodbyes and hung up. I moved to about midpoint on the bridge then stopped again. Now what, I thought. If it's only construction , then after the merge we should move again. But, the I saw that another two lanes were closed right ahead of me. In total three lanes closed and only one open. that would seem to explain the backup so far, but this merge should put me past the traffic. Well it didn't work out that way. Slowly the traffic merged into two lanes. Ok, I though the worst was over. I could see the end of the bridge ahead. But, once again traffic stopped. This time I shut off my engine instead of burning more gas. By then I was thoroughly bored. There were no interesting people in cars to watch or talk to, no one up to call, no good music, my book in the trunk, no drinks, and no caffine. But, I did have most of my bag of chocolate and caramel popcorn from (Popcorn Indiana) left. So even though I was not in the mood, I munched for lack of anything better to do. I was in the front of the second lane right before the merge, but there was no whwre to go as the right lane was not budging. There must ahve been something else going on, but I'll never know what. My camera was also in the trunk so I could not document it for memory. More than twenty minutes later I turned on the car again as the traffic merged into one lane. After 50 minutes my imprisonment was over. But, then with less than 500 feet left to go traffic stopped yet again. Oh no, I thought, I would be here all night. At 1/2:25 (depending on whether you count by regular time or daylight savings which was already in effect) I finally got off the bridge after an hour of waiting and frustration. Crossing the bridge normally takes less than two minutes without traffic and usually no more than 15 even during horrendous rush hour. My ordeal lasted and hour. If only I had the foresight to take the lower level. My sister was already conked out in the front seat and I still had a ways to go. So I turned on the CD again with the volume loud enough so I could hear it and low enough so it would not wake my sister. I could not speed during the last leg of my journey because of the cops I had seen hiding by the trees with their lights off. After my long night I did not want to risk a ticket. But, because of the bag of sugar and chocolate coated popcorn I had consumed I felt extremely nauseous. I made it home at 2/3am without further incedent and an exausting two-hour trip. Construction is a curse to the unsuspectiong night driver. (The other side of the bridge had the same problem , but all the cars had to merge before they got on to the bridge making for a nasty backup, but no imprisonment on the bridge.)

Just some food for thought. During daylight savings time I bet most of us don't give much thought to changing the time on our watches or clocks. Sure it's something we must rememeber to do, and an hour less of sleep is no minor detail. But, what about stores that carry hundreds and thousands of watches? All their time pieces on display must have the accurate time. So all the employees get together and spend the day setting the time to an hour later. Sounds like fun, no?!

The Yankees opening day is tomorrow :-) :-).........