Tales from the Road

I was going to call this thread "Tales of Horror from the Road" or maybe "The Drive from Hell."

But, I thought, that might be too narrowly defined.

Truth is ... if I'm battling sleet and freezing rain to get to snow, it's an adventure.

But battling driving rain and traffic in summer is just a drag.

 

Coming from central NJ ... on the way up, the section in New Jersey is the hard part. Coming home on what was clearly a peak weekend, it's the Hudson Valley that's a killer. You know that when 30% of the cars on the northway have NJ plates, you're screwed.

Today's drive had to be the toughest ever. I knew traffic was going to be tough today when I saw the northbound volume on Friday. But I don't really watch the weather very closely in summer, and I had no idea we were looking at 3-5 inches of rain in the Hudson Valley. Gotta say the family was awesome and supportive.

Zelda and I talk all the time about relocating. More and more lately. But it's not a simple matter. Days like today make you think, it's got to be worth all the hassle and dislocation.

As I mentioned in the swimming thread, I met I:)skiing yesterday. I thought about him a bunch today. His drive to Maryland is significantly farther than mine.  Hope he's home safe.

Got a tale? Post it up.

How many years have you been doing this trip?

Have you set a proposed or hoped-for relocation date?

Yea, I got  a tale.

It's about a guy who lived far, far away from where his heart longed to be. He and his faithful family endured many a long, expensive and dangerous drive to get to their beloved area. It is a place where their happiest days were spent.

It is a magically area. Full of fun, adventure, beautiful scenery, clear lakes and many of their dearest friends. They loved visiting there.The children enjoyed rollicking in Nature's playground. The wife loved the fresh air, the smalltown values and the low crime rate that brought safety to her family. They all wanted to sample the fine dining, art galleries, live theater and many other cultural interests. The Dad, an old guy, found the mountain environment very envigorating and discovered a new randiness that empowered him to no longer need the little blue pill. Oh happy days!

".....They swam the lakes, they fished, they hiked. They rafted the rivers, they skied, they biked. They went up the mountain and down they all slid. They were all very happy and acted like kids. But before their lives became a Suess-ian Song, The Grinch would show up and make them go home!!! ".

Sadly, each visit to the magical area was few and far between. Each visit was far too short. Each drive, far too long.

The guy took to writing about their favorite area. He blogged and blogged to fill his days with thoughts and memories of his treasured mountain dream. He became famous and very popular because of this bloggin. He gathered quite a following. His fame and stature grew. Unrealised by him, his contacts did too!

Still, the months spent away from his adopted paradise left him sad. He lost his vigor. He found himself, " gasp ", reaching for those little blue pills again! Alas, what to do?

One day, a flake blew into his life. No ordinary flake, oh no! This one, was a hero.....

He fell from the sky, a long and cold flight.
He's loved far and wide, by all at first sight.
His fame you've all heard, in story and song.
Tis I, The Great Snowballs, who did come along!

Please. Save the applause. Now's not the time.
I must help the Harv and finish this rhyme.
You can thank me much later, after Harv's moved,
and needs no blue pill to get in his groove.

I told you once, before this great yarn,
Harv, slide into town, put your skis in The Barn.
The animals there, are very fond of you.
They have much to say and they know people too!

Many's the locals who follow your blog.
Some are rich and their connections have jobs.
It is what it is and you can't say it ain't.
There's coin to made with those who make paint.

Out of The Barn,  broaden your field
the people you know, connections they'll yield.
The saying is true, it's not what you know,
it's who you know that helps steal the show!

And now the post ends. You've chuckled. You've laughed.
You've thought " Snowballs is Great! " though he is a bit daft......

Come on up to the Darkside Harv! Our new yellow plates will help to combat any homesickness

I feel your pain, Harv.  We drove back from Buffalo to Poughkeepsie yesterday and it was one of the worst rides I've ever had on the Thruway.  The rain was falling laughably hard...and it was bumper to bumper the whole length of the 90.  Luckily we got thru the Mohawk 'Valley section before they shut down lanes due to flooding.

Then we hit exit 24.  Thankfully I tuned into 1610am and got the "slow/stopped traffic" warning, so we were able to get off, and jump on the free part of I-90, over to the Berkshire Spur, and then down the Taconic, avoiding the serious traffic jam on 87.  Still, it took us over 7 hours to make the trip (normal is 5:30)...

Don't know if it makes sense for you, but the Taconic is always a better option than 87.

James - been making the trip to the Adks since 1988.  I did it way less regularly then, traffic was less, and I was single, so I always traveled at off hours.  To some extent for us it's now or never.  As mattchuck would say, let's see what I can do.

Snowballs you've got some real talent. I always wonder how long it takes you to crank those things out. Seems like this popped out pretty quick. Thanks for the Ode to the Road.

Shaman- homesickness will not be an issue.

Matty - check out the rainfall map I posted at the end of the weather thread.  Insane. It looks like the Thruway was ground zero.

Our 4-year old was asking me if I could "turn the rain down." The volume was interfering with Tinkerbell. I am amazed at how much rain the interstates can handle. Glad you made it through.

I've tried the Taconic once. It's very pretty.  As I recall it added maybe an hour and 15 to our ride time - on a normal day.  We use parts of 9W and we successful used the 787 cheater method in Albany on Sunday. The problem we have is that when you get to the NY/NJ border, 87 is by far the most direct route.

87 between NJ and Albany is now overcrowded during high traffic periods. Summer Sundays headed southbound  have major slow downs due to too many cars per mile. This was not the situation even 10 years ago. In the mid 1980s then Gov of NY Mario Cuomo approved the widening of all the bridges between Albany and the Harriman toll to 3 lanes. I am pretty sure this was completed by the 1990s. This was the first step to accomodate the traffic increases. All those who drive the Thruway know that the next step increasing the road to 3 lanes has not happened. With the mess known as the Tappan Zee Bridge needing replacement, the widening between Albany and Harriman will probably never happen in our lifetime.

Off peak travel has become the answer.

LMAO! Love the pome!

Today was another long ride. We certainly were traveling off peak. That wasn't the issue. South of Albany we saw the flashing lights indicating a slowdown farther south.  We dutifully tuned to WNYG - New York Thruway radio.  An accident at mile marker 50, with one lane closed. No further details.

We assumed that the accident was on the southbound side, and we also assumed that by the time we got that far down, the accident would be cleared. Still we took our time getting down the road, taking two leisurely breaks. At mile marker 56 we came to a to a dead stop.  Switching WNYG the same recording, with no time stamp, was running. We looked to be stuck.

Then something very odd happened. Cars ahead of us seemed to be leaving 87, cutting through the trees. Zelda, who was driving, looked at me like... do we do it? We went.  We ended up on a road in a neighborhood. Traveling a few feet we learned we were in Cornwall NY. We took a few left hand turns and ended up on 32 South and we were moving.  We could see 87 and it was completely stopped.

We worked our way around, and started to see major volume coming the other way including many NJ plates. Were these others trying what we only to be turned around?

We switched to 1010 WINS News Radio and learned that the accident was serious - a "church bus" had collided with a tractor-trailer.

We also learn that the collision was actually on the northbound side and ALL lanes going north were closed, and the one lane on the southbound side was shut down.  The traffic coming the other way was ALL of the northbound Thruway traffic being diverted onto 32. With about a half mile of start and stop we got onto 17 and ended up doing ok.

The accident and our lollygagging once again stretched a 5 hour drive to 7 hours> But somehow today was much less frustrating than the mess on Aug 22 that started this thread.  The factors:

It wasn't pouring rain. It was a beautiful sunny day.

There wasn't much traffic volume outside of the accident area.

It was the end of a very relaxing week of vacation.

We didn't have to work the next day.

And, probably most important were the circumstances. By txt Jamesdeluxe later confirmed that the accident had indeed been a tragedy. It put the jam in perspective.

We hope the souls who perished rest-in-peace.

That sounds like an unfortunate accident. We often travel home on Saturday evenings if we are up for a week.  The roads are usually empty.  We find that the winter traffic to and from NJ is nothing like the summer traffic on the Thruway.  The summer traffic is so guaranteed to be horrible that we avoid doing a Friday-Sunday trip at all costs during July and August.  Glad you are home safe.

Tough day at the office. More white knuckle storm chasing through the Hudson Valley.

One thing about a "super clipper"... no mixed precip. But salt on the roads led to major icing of the front end.

Here's the car after I chipped off the ice from the headlights and windshield:



BTW ... last oil change, our mechanic asked us if we wanted "winter wipers." He said they don't ice up, but were $10 more.  I totally recommend them. Didn't touch the wipers once, and lots of other drivers were pulling over to deal with ice buildup.

Tough day indeed ... my normal four hour trip to Lake Placid turned into a five and a half hour marathon. There was much in the way of liquid stress relief on arrival!!!

One great thing about living far away from metro areas is that the roads are better plowed and there are fewer cars on the road. I can't recall any really bad car trips since moving north.

My worst trips all happened before I knew how to best equip a car for the winter (snow tires, new wiper blades, deicing windshield fluid) and when I was still learning how to best handle a car in the snow. I made enough mistakes to learn from but not enough to get me or anyone else hurt. Which is to say, the perfect amount.

Now, I often leave too much extra time when storm chasing for first chair. I have gotten to the mountain an hour early because I thought the roads would be worse than they were. Never have to haul from metro to the mountains though. Even when I am going east-west on secondary roads in a storm, I'd still rather be doing that than coming up from metro.

The worst parts of storm chasing for me are getting stuck behind overly cautious drivers on secondary roads with no way to pass them. Since I day trip, that is the only thing that makes me white knuckle... the thought of getting to a ski hour half hour after opening bell because someone was doing 15 in a 55 with no way to pass.

Harv, that's what my car looked like after skiing Magic last Tuesday, only it was ALL salt and sand. I use an ice scraper to chip some of it off.

riverc0il wrote

the thought of getting to a ski hour half hour after opening bell because someone was doing 15 in a 55 with no way to pass.

Getting back to that car discussion way back when..

This is where having an AWD vehicle like a Subaru with four snow tires really makes a difference. If there is room, you can get past!

What a difference between today's drive vs Friday.

Dry roads, no traffic, singing / tunes all the way.

And on Cloud 9 from the weekend.

Glad to hear.
From the sounds of it, our flight will probably be cancelled or at least significantly delayed. OH, and out here is supposed to get snow for the next few days after we leave. I can't win.

Today's drive was notable because it was surprisingly easy. Weird too.

Temp was 60F when we left downtown flatlands.

We drove through some intense rain and the temp dropped to 40F in about 10 miles.

We started to see accumulations about 30 miles south of Albany.  

There were NO cars in the Albany rush hour. Did every get sent home early or something?

Some noisy snow/sneet in Albany and Saratoga Counties and then a bit of a blizzard in Warren County.

Did the whole thing in 5 1/2 hours which, for us, with family in tow, is good even in the summer.

287 northbound in NJ, all lanes open after a significant washout from Irene.  Local radio station that is HIGHLY skeptical of government's ability to do anything right called it a "transportation miracle."

Good news for us for sure.

Unreal drive from the Cats tonight. Accidents everywhere.

I hope everyone is ok tonight.