The freeways that surround The Planet Ann Arbor hail from the WWII era (if I have it right). There are some areas where the “design” was never intended to be permanent. Unfortunately, those “designs” have never been updated. Enter a bazillion more automotive vee-hickles than existed in the 1940s.

In particular, if I am going north, the first couple of miles of freeway involve merging with cars entering from very short ramps, even including an entrance ramp that ends with a STOP SIGN! Yes, really. And then a left exit to leave the eastbound freeway to the northbound freeway, with a left merge onto the northbound freeway. Does any of this make sense? No, I’m sure it doesn’t. Don’t worry. All you need to know is that it’s a tangled MESS, one I have hated FOREVER, every single dad-blasted time I have to drive it, both north and south. AND NOW THERE IS CONSTRUCTION! But not to correct the terrible design. That’ll probably never change.

But hey! I can easily avoid all of this crapola. Because… I know the back roads around here like the back of my hand. So I took N. Maple up to the Huron River and across it. I continued up to Stein Rd., over to Whitmore Lake Rd., up to North Territorial Rd., and on to the freeway at a MUCH MORE SANE entrance (even after navigating two roundabouts to get there). I was on dirt roads for a bit there and the whole thing was probably slower than taking the freeway from the beginning. EXCEPT. That the freeway is almost always RED on Google Maps these days. Traveling slowly along beautiful dirt roads with very little traffic is much more pleasant than sitting in a traffic jam on a freeway. (This is all within about 10 miles or less.)

So I had a nice little zen start to my trip and it continued to be smooth. Until. The Mackinac Bridge. Construction has it down to two lanes, one in each direction, no passing (of course). The contractor had “promised” that they would have the first phase of this construction done to the point that all lanes would be open by today. That did not happen. So for all of the holiday weekend, the only way in and out of the yooperland without traveling around Lake Michigan or Lake Huron (loooooong way around in either case) is one lane on the bridge. Think that one through a bit. The only alternate routes involve going through either Chicago or Canananada. My trip across the bridge was a steady 20 mph slog. It was fine (I knew about the issue beforehand) but it will only get worse. I am so glad my beach urchins aren’t trying to travel here this weekend and I wish for patience (and a safe passage) for those who are.

So, I am here, “home”, again. It was 54 degrees when I got here but at least it was not SLEETING! like it was two years ago (also 54 degrees). This arrival featured a strong northwest wind. A facebook/high school friend asked how the skeeters were. Well, non-existent due to the wind. But I’m sure they are hunkering down lying in wait.

Love y’all, KW.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 23rd, 2024 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.