Why, For The Love of Humanity?
Everytime I make the trek to New Orleans, I call upon my heritage and do a little “traffic voodoo” dance in hopes of making it there in less than 7 hours.
I guess I’m not a good dancer. Or voodoo priestess. Probably a combination of both.
Anyway, we were making excellent time for a rainy Wednesday afternoon until we hit Baton Rouge, where a few miles of Interstate 12 has been completely shut down.
Now I ask you, why, why, why would you completely shut down that much of a MAJOR roadway in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, in the middle of a time where millions of people are trying to GET somewhere? And not give them a CLEAR, marked, alternate route???
As I rolled into Baton Rouge, the highway signs warned of the impending closure and the traffic began to slow as me and the rest of the vehicular procastinators waited until the very last minute to exit. For a moment, I began to stress out; I didn’t know an alternate route, and Alex had made it through five and a half hours without a tantrum. That meant the clock was ticking…
It took me a moment to realize, “Hey, stupid, you have GPS and Google sitting in the palm of your hand. Duh.” So I looked up my position on the GPS (hey, look, I-12 is outlined in RED where it’s closed!) and started plotting an alternate route. A few minutes later I had a plan.
I think everyone in Louisiana had the same plan.
An hour later, we were stuck in a line of non-moving traffic on a backwoods Louisiana road. The rain finally cleared, so I rolled down the windows, letting the cool, wet air sweep away the smell of dog from my Jeep (and Bear was thankful as well, I’m sure). I’d forgotten how majestic the huge old oaks were that lined these types of country roads. Kudzu grew over many of the smaller trees, giving the path a feeling of tropical lushness.
“Mommy, we in the JUNGLE,” proclaimed Alex. I laughed. I guess to a 3 yr. old, this WAS the jungle.
Another hour later, we made it back to I-12… And nine hours after we left Houston, we finally made it to my parents door. Although I appreciate Louisiana’s natural beauty, I would like to implore the state to allow me to discover it through a more traditional route, instead of forcing me through it against my will.
Send me a brochure, damn it.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:35 am
Two weeks I asked the same question. There was no reason to shut down that stretch of highway in Baton Rouge. I guess it’s the same people who live here and think it’s funny to shut down the freeway for no apparent reason.
On our way back, the stretch of I-10 through Lake Charles was shut to one lane. My GPS got us off the freeway, took us through Sulphur (I think) and back past it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
There have been two MAJOR accidents there in the past couple of weeks — I”m willing to bet that Jason hit the one a few weeks ago and you hit the one that happened a couple of days ago. Both involved 18-wheelers and a whole load of other cars and closed I-12 near O’Neal down for a day or so. And, of course, the traffic diversion affected EVERYONE else, no matter what the route.
Good times…
August 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Thank God they’re keeping all the Interstate’s open during these hurricanes……….. sometimes I wonder about our “fearless leaders”– they should have to sit in the gridlock and see how it feels.