Half getting this (novel) off my chest, half seeing if anybody out there would have succumbed to road rage (100-times worse than I did).
The back-story: My oldest daughter is "blossoming into womanhood," and is scared, grumpy, cramping, et al while having her first menstrual cycle. On top of it all, it was happening in the midst of ~1,650 miles in our van, road-tripping across the Eastern US to give them an epic end-of-summer experience that will stay in their memories forever.
The experience: My daughter needed a restroom, ASAP, as her "item" helping contain the messiness wasn't containing it. So I told her I'd take the first exit that had a gas station, so she and my wife could rectify the situation. I see one of those blue service signs with a gas station, so we take the exit. Before getting to the ramp, we saw a sign to the effect of "thru traffic left lane, race traffic right lane." Didn't know what that meant, but fine...we needed to go right to get to the gas station anyway.
I get to the top of the ramp to turn right, give a quick look both ways, and proceed to turn right. There were orange cones separating the two lanes, but that wasn't unusual (could be construction or ???). I turn right (South), and immediately am honked at by a guy in the LEFT (North-bound) lane who passes me from behind on the left across a double-yellow line...doing about 50 in a 35 MPH while heading South, right past two cops. I think "WTF?" and am a little overly-cautious when I pull in for gas. As I'm filling up (while my wife and daughter are making my daughter's day a little brighter), I notice that there are a few other cars driving South in the North-bound lane of traffic toward us. There's no signs posted...only two police cars sitting at the top of the ramp where I had turned. But the gas station parking lot was full of NASCAR fans, memorabilia, et al. Then it hit me: the locals have closed North-bound traffic in order to move more people to the Raceway more quickly. So instead of being able to go the ~300 yards back to I-80, I need to go right. Toward the Raceway. To parts unknown.
I'm frustrated. I'm sitting there, watching car after car whiz by me (in the wrong lane) doing 15-20 MPH over the limit, with my daughter still sobbing in the back seat. So when I finally see an opening, I floor it. Tires squealed a bit in my effort to speed up ASAP to go from 0 to ~40 MPH to not have oncoming traffic in my trunk doing 55-60 MPH. As the tires are squealing, about 3-4 NASCAR hillbillies yell at me and my wife. As if 90% of them don't squeal their tires on-purpose at stop lights every week in Deliverance country...probably with custom exhaust pipes, no mufflers, and custom "smokers" to thumb their noses at those hippie communist tree-hugging Obama-lovers.
Anyway, I make my way through the race traffic to the first road that turns to the West, spot a cop, pull over and ask "how do I get back on I-80?" He was nice, and told me about an alternate route. But it took us about ten MILES to get back on I-80.
I was frustrated. Frustrated with prolonging my daughter's suffering/discomfort. But mostly frustrated with the lack of warning locals (and local authorities) gave for what would be encountered when one exited on that particular off-ramp. Is that even legal?
Closing an entire direction of road with absolutely no signage or postings notifying drivers accordingly? If I had intended to turn left instead of right at the top of that off-ramp, I could have VERY easily been involved in a pretty nasty accident. All for obeying all posted signage/laws, while this town/area obviously does this the few times/year they host major events.
The back-story: My oldest daughter is "blossoming into womanhood," and is scared, grumpy, cramping, et al while having her first menstrual cycle. On top of it all, it was happening in the midst of ~1,650 miles in our van, road-tripping across the Eastern US to give them an epic end-of-summer experience that will stay in their memories forever.
The experience: My daughter needed a restroom, ASAP, as her "item" helping contain the messiness wasn't containing it. So I told her I'd take the first exit that had a gas station, so she and my wife could rectify the situation. I see one of those blue service signs with a gas station, so we take the exit. Before getting to the ramp, we saw a sign to the effect of "thru traffic left lane, race traffic right lane." Didn't know what that meant, but fine...we needed to go right to get to the gas station anyway.
I get to the top of the ramp to turn right, give a quick look both ways, and proceed to turn right. There were orange cones separating the two lanes, but that wasn't unusual (could be construction or ???). I turn right (South), and immediately am honked at by a guy in the LEFT (North-bound) lane who passes me from behind on the left across a double-yellow line...doing about 50 in a 35 MPH while heading South, right past two cops. I think "WTF?" and am a little overly-cautious when I pull in for gas. As I'm filling up (while my wife and daughter are making my daughter's day a little brighter), I notice that there are a few other cars driving South in the North-bound lane of traffic toward us. There's no signs posted...only two police cars sitting at the top of the ramp where I had turned. But the gas station parking lot was full of NASCAR fans, memorabilia, et al. Then it hit me: the locals have closed North-bound traffic in order to move more people to the Raceway more quickly. So instead of being able to go the ~300 yards back to I-80, I need to go right. Toward the Raceway. To parts unknown.
I'm frustrated. I'm sitting there, watching car after car whiz by me (in the wrong lane) doing 15-20 MPH over the limit, with my daughter still sobbing in the back seat. So when I finally see an opening, I floor it. Tires squealed a bit in my effort to speed up ASAP to go from 0 to ~40 MPH to not have oncoming traffic in my trunk doing 55-60 MPH. As the tires are squealing, about 3-4 NASCAR hillbillies yell at me and my wife. As if 90% of them don't squeal their tires on-purpose at stop lights every week in Deliverance country...probably with custom exhaust pipes, no mufflers, and custom "smokers" to thumb their noses at those hippie communist tree-hugging Obama-lovers.
Anyway, I make my way through the race traffic to the first road that turns to the West, spot a cop, pull over and ask "how do I get back on I-80?" He was nice, and told me about an alternate route. But it took us about ten MILES to get back on I-80.I was frustrated. Frustrated with prolonging my daughter's suffering/discomfort. But mostly frustrated with the lack of warning locals (and local authorities) gave for what would be encountered when one exited on that particular off-ramp. Is that even legal?
Closing an entire direction of road with absolutely no signage or postings notifying drivers accordingly? If I had intended to turn left instead of right at the top of that off-ramp, I could have VERY easily been involved in a pretty nasty accident. All for obeying all posted signage/laws, while this town/area obviously does this the few times/year they host major events.
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