Eric’s Blog

Today was interesting. I had to drive four hours to Leesburg, VA for a two day conference for work. It had started to sleet when I left, about 20 minutes into my drive, it was full on snowing. An hour or so after I left, the sky was clear and it was a beautiful day. I wonder which is worse, people driving in bad weather, or people driving when the weather gets nice?

I crossed the bridge and got closer to Washington, DC. The people that designed the roads around DC must have been sadists, geniuses, and certifiable whackos all rolled into one! What a nightmare those roads are! I was interchanging and cloverleafing all over the place. If not for GPS, I definitely would have been lost or in an collision trying to read a map. There are actually parts of I-66 that in order to drive on them, you have to have an EZ pass. They still seem to take pictures of your license plate as you pass under the ez pass scanners though. There must be fines for not having one. And, of course with the time change, it started to get dark. I don’t know which is worse, driving after dark or driving at twilight. Added to the fact that I didn’t know where I was going made it worse.

The way people drive on these crazy roads is worse than the roads themselves. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe and not freak out about all the idiots out there. It’s really difficult to let things go when you’re an anal-retentive, control-freak. People merging, then signaling their merge. People who don’t signal. People who ride in the left lane going at the speed limit or five below. People driving without lights on. People who don’t know how to zipper in one car at a time. That one driver who needs to go from the far left lane to the far right lane right this second. And then there’s that one guy who knows exactly how the roads go, and where he’s going, so he comes flying up behind you just as you’re about to shift lanes to get to your exit all so he can get in front of you. Seriously bro?! Getting in front of one more car isn’t going to get you there any earlier. See you at the next red light. Ah well, I can’t control it, so why stress out over it? At least, that’s what I tell myself.

The nice part was being able to spend four hours in the car by myself with the radio off. Usually, I like to listen to Audible on road trips. Or, I’ll have a road trip playlist going. Today, I just wanted some quiet time to be alone with my thoughts. It was nice until the traffic got hectic and started snarling up on me.

At any rate, I made it in safe and sound and I’m winding down for bed. Two whole days of conference starting tomorrow. I hope you all have more fun than I will. Could be worse, I could be cleaning toilets for a living. Cheers!