The hell that is Thanksgiving Travel
 

An RV fire, two cars rolled off the road, nine accidents, countless broken down vehicles, clogged traffic at junctions, waiting in line for gasoline, and fighting for parking spots at the rest areas.

All this was the hell that was Interstate 75 from Atlanta to Tampa, yesterday. 480 miles, a trip that normally takes seven hours, took eleven.

Did anyone have better luck flying? Anyone have a similar experience on the road?

I intentionally didn't drive any further than Norristown (abotu 10 miles to work) on the holiday, which was actually a pretty sweet drive at 1530 hrs, much better than usual, better even than typical weekend traffic.

I flew KC to Austin on Sunday. KCI was real crowded, but everything went very, very smoothly. Flights on time, airports crowded but entirely manageable. I really expected worse. The planes were completely full, of course, but I give Southwest Airlines high marks all the way around.

I drove up to the grocery store on Thursday--a distance of about 4 blocks. Traffic seemed lighter than normal, which basically means there was no one out.

Yeah, I drove to the store on Thanksgiving, too. It was pretty empty.

Needed...Yeast, CDRs, and some face lotion for my sister. Or something like that.

We actually went to the mall on Saturday afternoon. This is something of a tradition, because we've learned that all the power shoppers are shopped out, and by this time we're ready to go somewhere. So we usually go and get the kids' picture taken with Santa for the Christmas cards. Sure enough, we got there and there was no line for Santa. Even the toy store wasn't crowded--we forgot the following day was the deadline for handing in donated toys at church, another reason we HAD to go out on Saturday.

I think all this super-early shopping on Black Friday just started recently. My mom used to moonlight at Sears about 20 years ago, and they opened at 6AM. She said hardly a single person showed up. Maybe people just hadn't been brainwashed yet.

I refuse, much against the forceful shovings of my family, to go shopping the Friday or weekend that follows Thanksgiving. The malls of Atlanta traditionally become quamires of shoppers seeping into every corner of the stores and they fight (sometimes coming to blows) over parking spaces.

Yet, they supposedly aren't the busiest shopping days of the year.

Madness.

I flew out Thursday, back Tuesday. No problems. Well, a long line at the counter on Tuesday, but that was apparently because the number of Problem Passengers exceeded the number of agents.

COP- Didn't you see me?
ME- Uh huh, talking to that other cop on the median.
COP- I clocked you at 79 in a 55mph zone, why didn't you slow down?
ME- Uh, I didn't think I was going that fast. (I couldn't very well say,"I did.... A LOT!")
He let me go with a $42 seat belt ticket.:)

Damn lucky!

I've not yet been fined for speeding, but the question I've always rolled around in my head when I do pass a speed trap: what do you answer to the standard "do you know how fast you were going" question?

1. "Yes. I was doing 70 in a 55. I'm sorry." Ticket probably happens.

2. "No, I don't." This one is tricky. If you answer 'no', do you have the possibility of getting charged for reckless? If you don't know how fast you were going, clearly you were driving dangerously.

3. "Yes, I was doing 70. What is the speed limit here?" Again, if you don't know the speed limit, this could be a really bad answer.

I did get a verbal warning, once. The area I live in is notorious for speed traps and they even have two signs in some places, the second one being a large, "oversize" speed limit sign with giant print. My answer: I knew how fast I was going, which was 45mph. Luckily I had a good excuse -- I was moving and wasn't familiar with the area, to which the cop responded by explaining that I must have been blind to not have seen the two signs reading '35'. He let me go, somehow. Maybe it was my sweet smile, or maybe I was showing some leg...

Absolutely not true. If I put a piece of tape over your speedometer, you can't drive safely? That's preposterous. As a matter of fact I'll go farther than that. You can drive more safely NOT knowing your speed. If you can see the speedometer then you rationalize. Well, I'm doing 40 mph and that should be OK for these conditions. You could very well rationalize yourself into a tree. Whereas if you go by gut feeling the car and your experience will tell you if your driving safely. The car will give you a hundred tactile sensations that you may not even be aware of but your brain processes to assess your situation. The sum total is your gut feeling which is much more trustworthy than your brain rationalizing a number. If it feels right it is right.:) But it may not be legal.