NASCAR rush-hour
Yesterday (Tuesday, November 16, 2010) we had to get up at 20-of-6; not too bad, but oh-dark-thirty for old folks like us.
We had a medical appointment at Strong Hospital at 8:30.
Strong Hospital is 40-45 minutes away, and 8:30 a.m. means driving NASCAR rush-hour, when anything can happen, and usually does.
We usually get up at 6 a.m. on Tuesdays, since that’s Trash Day, and we have to assemble recyclables into our Blue Box.
But I had already done that the night before; 20-of-6 was to allow time for breakfast.
Breakfast glommed in a big hurry, we started out about 7:45, 15 minutes later than intended — perhaps it shoulda been 5:30.
I turned north onto Route 65; oncoming traffic was over a quarter-mile distant.
But I’m accelerating from a standstill; 20-30-40-50 mph.
Within seconds the oncoming traffic was right on my bumper, glowering at me.
She had been doing at least 60 — Route 65 is posted at 40 mph past our house; it’s a residential area, with frequent deer.
Route 65 turns sharply west, then north, and then back northwest. All are turns I slow for; especially the first.
It was a white Subaru Outback; the driver was pounding her fist onto the steering-wheel.
Route 65 empties onto a long straightaway after the last curve, so Sube-lady started lunging for a place to pass, swinging her fist at me.
But the straightaway is hilly, and had oncoming traffic.
“Lady, I’m doing 60!” I shouted. Route 65 at that point is posted 55 mph.
Finally she roared past, crossing a double-yellow line.
I waved.
She would be first to the office coffee-machine, and get her free donut.
She could stand around eating her donut, and call her daughter via cellphone to complain about the old folks in the Sienna that nearly made her miss her free donut.
Past Honeoye Falls (“HONE-eee-oye”), and Rush, we get on Interstate-390, the main road into Rochester from the south.
Interstate-390 is posted at 65 mph, so I wicked up to 65.
Immediately people started blowing by; so fast they had to be doing 80-90 mph.
A NY State Trooper was in one of those turnarounds in his navy Crown Vic.
He was monitoring traffic.
No one slowed for him; I guess they felt they didn’t have to. After all he’s giving 10-15 mph over the speed-limit, or so I hear.
It’s NASCAR rush-hour; just keep it moving.
Crack up and we’ll attend; jaws-of-life if needed.
I was impeding traffic by doing the speed-limit.
• “We” is me and my wife of almost 43 years, “Linda.”
• RE: “Old folks like us.....” —We’re both 66.
• “Strong Hospital” is a large hospital in southern Rochester.
• We live on State Route 65, a rural two-lane highway, more-or-less north into the east side of Rochester.
• “Honeoye Falls and Rush” are small villages to the west of where we live. Honeoye Falls is nearest at about five miles away, and Rush about 4-5 miles northwest of that. Rush has an interchange onto Interstate-390.
• “Crown Vic” is a Ford Crown Victoria four-door sedan, the car police often use for pursuit-cruisers.
We had a medical appointment at Strong Hospital at 8:30.
Strong Hospital is 40-45 minutes away, and 8:30 a.m. means driving NASCAR rush-hour, when anything can happen, and usually does.
We usually get up at 6 a.m. on Tuesdays, since that’s Trash Day, and we have to assemble recyclables into our Blue Box.
But I had already done that the night before; 20-of-6 was to allow time for breakfast.
Breakfast glommed in a big hurry, we started out about 7:45, 15 minutes later than intended — perhaps it shoulda been 5:30.
I turned north onto Route 65; oncoming traffic was over a quarter-mile distant.
But I’m accelerating from a standstill; 20-30-40-50 mph.
Within seconds the oncoming traffic was right on my bumper, glowering at me.
She had been doing at least 60 — Route 65 is posted at 40 mph past our house; it’s a residential area, with frequent deer.
Route 65 turns sharply west, then north, and then back northwest. All are turns I slow for; especially the first.
It was a white Subaru Outback; the driver was pounding her fist onto the steering-wheel.
Route 65 empties onto a long straightaway after the last curve, so Sube-lady started lunging for a place to pass, swinging her fist at me.
But the straightaway is hilly, and had oncoming traffic.
“Lady, I’m doing 60!” I shouted. Route 65 at that point is posted 55 mph.
Finally she roared past, crossing a double-yellow line.
I waved.
She would be first to the office coffee-machine, and get her free donut.
She could stand around eating her donut, and call her daughter via cellphone to complain about the old folks in the Sienna that nearly made her miss her free donut.
Past Honeoye Falls (“HONE-eee-oye”), and Rush, we get on Interstate-390, the main road into Rochester from the south.
Interstate-390 is posted at 65 mph, so I wicked up to 65.
Immediately people started blowing by; so fast they had to be doing 80-90 mph.
A NY State Trooper was in one of those turnarounds in his navy Crown Vic.
He was monitoring traffic.
No one slowed for him; I guess they felt they didn’t have to. After all he’s giving 10-15 mph over the speed-limit, or so I hear.
It’s NASCAR rush-hour; just keep it moving.
Crack up and we’ll attend; jaws-of-life if needed.
I was impeding traffic by doing the speed-limit.
• “We” is me and my wife of almost 43 years, “Linda.”
• RE: “Old folks like us.....” —We’re both 66.
• “Strong Hospital” is a large hospital in southern Rochester.
• We live on State Route 65, a rural two-lane highway, more-or-less north into the east side of Rochester.
• “Honeoye Falls and Rush” are small villages to the west of where we live. Honeoye Falls is nearest at about five miles away, and Rush about 4-5 miles northwest of that. Rush has an interchange onto Interstate-390.
• “Crown Vic” is a Ford Crown Victoria four-door sedan, the car police often use for pursuit-cruisers.
Labels: Driving insanity
posted by BobbaLew at 6:47 AM
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