8.14.2003
Okay, who couldn't succumb to Lulu's Lines?
One thing that really annoys me................ you cannot get from here to there easily. Where? Michigan!... going north or south? Fine! There's I-75. That great and wondrous interstate highway will take you anywhere you want to go, as long as it's north or south. I, however, live on the east side of the state... what some refer to as 'the sunrise shore.' My favorite places in Michigan are all on the 'sunset' side... straight across the state from where we currently make our home!
Why do i like that side of the state? For starters, 1/3 of our children live there... harboring 2/3 of our grandchildren in their homes. Michigan's best state park is on that side of the state... in Ludington... and we own property nearby the park on a smaller lake, including a little cottage that sits in about 60 feet from the water! What's not to like?
So what's so annoying?... the road trip across state takes us about 2-1/2 hours... only one of those hours is on a divided highway!!! The other 1-1/2 hours is through smallville, Michigan... one putsy little town after another where all the residents apparently resent the 'fureners' driving through so they do their best to slow us down from a 55 mph speedlimit down to a creeping 30 miles or so! How do they do this?
Relay!!! Soon as we get off the divided highway onto the two-lane 'village idiot' number one pulls in front of us... usually from the left and without stopping at the stop sign. He's not in a hurry for anything other than being in front of you however, for he putts along at a crawl until he decides to make a left turn in front of you while you wait! In order to extend the pain he usually waits until there's a lot of oncoming traffic so the wait can be considerable. Ah! he's gone... and as we slowly get up to 55 mph... enter 'village idiot' number two! We finally get to a 'passing lane' where some forward thinking townspeople wanted to move the traffic through quickly to the next town. Great! But what happens? VI#2 decides to speed up... so guess what? We can't pass him! ...and he doesn't slow down 'til he reaches the end of the passing lane where, unfortunately he drives even slower to make up the gained time!
Then there is the eternal construction area! These spots in the road were planned for the sole purpose of giving the village idiot a bit of siesta time so he can rest up for the next relay! Some of the construction areas in smallville, MI have even come up with temporary traffic lights so they can stop you even when there are no construction workers at the scene! Believe it! It's true!
My husband tells me that at some earlier point in Michigan history one enterprising soul proposed a canal running the east/west route through Michigan... what a concept! Why it didn't go through i'll never know but it sure would have made for a more enjoyable trip across state... if not faster!
One thing that really annoys me................ you cannot get from here to there easily. Where? Michigan!... going north or south? Fine! There's I-75. That great and wondrous interstate highway will take you anywhere you want to go, as long as it's north or south. I, however, live on the east side of the state... what some refer to as 'the sunrise shore.' My favorite places in Michigan are all on the 'sunset' side... straight across the state from where we currently make our home!
Why do i like that side of the state? For starters, 1/3 of our children live there... harboring 2/3 of our grandchildren in their homes. Michigan's best state park is on that side of the state... in Ludington... and we own property nearby the park on a smaller lake, including a little cottage that sits in about 60 feet from the water! What's not to like?
So what's so annoying?... the road trip across state takes us about 2-1/2 hours... only one of those hours is on a divided highway!!! The other 1-1/2 hours is through smallville, Michigan... one putsy little town after another where all the residents apparently resent the 'fureners' driving through so they do their best to slow us down from a 55 mph speedlimit down to a creeping 30 miles or so! How do they do this?
Relay!!! Soon as we get off the divided highway onto the two-lane 'village idiot' number one pulls in front of us... usually from the left and without stopping at the stop sign. He's not in a hurry for anything other than being in front of you however, for he putts along at a crawl until he decides to make a left turn in front of you while you wait! In order to extend the pain he usually waits until there's a lot of oncoming traffic so the wait can be considerable. Ah! he's gone... and as we slowly get up to 55 mph... enter 'village idiot' number two! We finally get to a 'passing lane' where some forward thinking townspeople wanted to move the traffic through quickly to the next town. Great! But what happens? VI#2 decides to speed up... so guess what? We can't pass him! ...and he doesn't slow down 'til he reaches the end of the passing lane where, unfortunately he drives even slower to make up the gained time!
Then there is the eternal construction area! These spots in the road were planned for the sole purpose of giving the village idiot a bit of siesta time so he can rest up for the next relay! Some of the construction areas in smallville, MI have even come up with temporary traffic lights so they can stop you even when there are no construction workers at the scene! Believe it! It's true!
My husband tells me that at some earlier point in Michigan history one enterprising soul proposed a canal running the east/west route through Michigan... what a concept! Why it didn't go through i'll never know but it sure would have made for a more enjoyable trip across state... if not faster!
# posted by sherle : 10:58 AM
