The day for the move from Edinburg to Rockport dawned cloudy and muggy, but hot. We arranged all the accouterments of peripatetic living into their travel-slots and hit the road.However, since it had been two years since we saw Port Isabel, BBBH wanted to go over to that lovely venue. I told her I had seen on the TV only the night before the crush of traffic trying to get across the causeway, but somehow the message I hoped to deliver did not penetrate her consciousness, at least at the same level as I had received it.
So, shun piking (not literally in the old-fashioned sense, but my term for avoiding the expressways) we traveled several Texas Routes and FMs (Texas talk for "farm to market roads.") It was a very pleasant drive through cane fields and flat lands, probably at no point mounting a rise more than thirty feet above sea level. But when we turned from Laguna Vista onto Texas 100, the import of what I was trying to tell her impinged itself upon Beautiful's consciousness, for sure, because the traffic for the causeway was backed up all the way through Port Isabel and into Laguna Vista. She was the first to say, "Let's turn around and go to Rockport." Which we did. We arrived in Rockport safely after a pleasant drive north on US 77. No seriously frightening incidents, but I did conclude that there are two kinds of drivers on the highways these days that make for an interesting and riveting time behind the wheel. 1) The young, fearless, impatient idiotic drivers, and 2) the old, timidly dangerous idiotic drivers.
7 comments:
We were just at South Padre last month and we were talking about how bad the Queen Isabella was going to be backed up come spring break. Glad you all made it out of that madness none the worse for the wear!
George Carlin did a routine decades ago about the two kinds of drivers on the road: idiots and maniacs. In short, idiots are anyone driving slower than you; maniacs anyone driving faster.
I think driving these days is an adventure in itself. I tell my kids that most of what the other drivers are doing (tailgating, speeding, darting in and out, not using turn signals, not stopping at stop signs, etc.) is all about control. I think folks feel in control only when they are in their cars and they use them to bully the world. Well....at least it seems that way in the city. It's CRAZY!
It's a scary time to learn to drive. Or to drive, period.
The kinds of drivers you write about are why I don't like to drive. Unfortunately, I probably fit into one of the categories. Not saying which one!
Shelly, we were in Port Isabel during Texas Week several years ago. But then we didn't have to go anywhere, so we could laugh at the traffic snarls.
Jim, I don't recall that particular Carlin schtick, but I think he had it right.
Lin, driving is an adventure, and too often a hair-raising one! It might be that anyone behind the wheel is the ruler of a little fiefdom, not to be trifled with.
Vee, I doubt you fit into either category. Unfortunately though, even the best of drivers sometimes err in judgment. Scary world.
Sounds like a good decision! Drive on... to your own drummer- mixing metaphors, but you get the drift.
Shark, also I hope to stay alert while I do that!
Post a Comment