To Travel or Not To travel
When one decides to travel, usually a couple of factors are taken into account before the actual travelling begins. Primarily the destination is needed and then the time needed to accomplish the said primary task.
Other minor factors that fall into play are the presence of additional vehicles on the road, which may or may not slow one’s progress, the ever important human waste disposal breaks and the always important uncontrollable weather. It’s this last factor that I wish to address. Not to say that the human waste disposal break are not important enough to discuss, it’s just I will wait for another time.
Now I’m not one to drastically alter my destination or plans due to weather but I am sure to take into account the delay weather can have on one’s journey. Now granted, should the travel plans start out with the weather in my favour and remain there, all is great. It’s when the weather takes a drastic turn do we have ourselves an adventure. I’m not talking about an Indiana Jones type of adventure but more like I’m stuck in a room watching paint dry adventure.
Recently I was a participant in what could best be described as an adventure into the Twilight Zone of endurance. In this episode the narrator would enter and casually start his introduction.
“It started out a normal day for one man and his passenger aboard one vehicle, travelling down one road towards their single destination. A path well travelled by many, would today experience it in a whole new way. All looked pleasant and normal enough until he entered the Twilight Zone.”
The rain made it’s appearance at the beginning of the adventure, producing in some moments a beautiful rainbow brought on by the sun punching through the clouds. As the sun slowly set, a chill is felt in the air. More moisture is gathering as the middle of the journey is at hand. Then it hits. A cascading flurry of snowflakes envelope the vehicle as it speeds down the highway. Like a ship travelling through hyper-space, this was no dusting crops boy.
We sped on as the snow gathered. Pushing ever so forward, the vehicle made its way to the foothills beyond the glow of the city lights, to the darkness of the mountain forests. Up ahead we could make out a glimmer of lights weaving its way into the hills, like a large red snake. Then our forward motion slowed and we came to a halt. Quickly we were joined by many others at the tail end of this red snake, knowing full well that many others were somewhere ahead in the midst of the snake. We were not that far from our destination and having met this momentary delay, we figured on still arriving within our targeted time frame. So we thought, but this is the Twilight Zone of endurance.
I have a tough time putting into words the sheer scale of what lay ahead of us as we slowly inch our way northwards. Ahead lay hundreds of little red lights, glowing as far as the curving road would let us see. Each set representing one if not more equally frustrated vehicle passenger, eagerly waiting for that little spurt forward. Each time the vehicle moves forward is a gentle tease. You notice a few vehicles ahead have some movement or in some cases dimming of the little red lights. Slowly one by one this movement extends towards your vehicle. “It has started to move”, you exclaim, as your hope in seeing your warm bed returns. Only to have been teased as the vehicle ahead applies the brakes, bringing itself and yourself back to your least favourite stationary position. At first this becomes a game, which lane progresses the farthest, how far can you go each time and is it possible to hit the 10 mph mark once again. It has become your worst nightmare, a slow moving train to a snowy grave. It reminded me of the long lines cutting into the snow up the Chilkoot Trail during the Gold Rush. We were moving just as fast.
Then after what seemed like an eternity and probably the closest I would come to one, the tease turned into something more. The slight movement continued and continued as we slowly snaked our way through the mountains and on into Bellingham. A snow and ice covered road with nicely placed ruts to guide us through. A wonderful steady 30 mph was achieved at this point. It was at this moment that the warm bed at the end of the trip was once again within reach. It was also at this moment that I realised that the butt was not meant to be sat on for this long and along with frozen butt syndrome my legs were not very pleased with me. By the snow covered sign to my right, it was only 12 more miles to Blaine.
All in all I found the adventure disappointing. For if I was to be delayed then there should have been a pay off somewhere down the road. A few vehicles were pushed or slid off to one side of the road. No carnage, no tangled metal, no real visible reason for a 5 hour delay. This was definitely not an E ticket ride home.
Other minor factors that fall into play are the presence of additional vehicles on the road, which may or may not slow one’s progress, the ever important human waste disposal breaks and the always important uncontrollable weather. It’s this last factor that I wish to address. Not to say that the human waste disposal break are not important enough to discuss, it’s just I will wait for another time.
Now I’m not one to drastically alter my destination or plans due to weather but I am sure to take into account the delay weather can have on one’s journey. Now granted, should the travel plans start out with the weather in my favour and remain there, all is great. It’s when the weather takes a drastic turn do we have ourselves an adventure. I’m not talking about an Indiana Jones type of adventure but more like I’m stuck in a room watching paint dry adventure.
Recently I was a participant in what could best be described as an adventure into the Twilight Zone of endurance. In this episode the narrator would enter and casually start his introduction.
“It started out a normal day for one man and his passenger aboard one vehicle, travelling down one road towards their single destination. A path well travelled by many, would today experience it in a whole new way. All looked pleasant and normal enough until he entered the Twilight Zone.”
The rain made it’s appearance at the beginning of the adventure, producing in some moments a beautiful rainbow brought on by the sun punching through the clouds. As the sun slowly set, a chill is felt in the air. More moisture is gathering as the middle of the journey is at hand. Then it hits. A cascading flurry of snowflakes envelope the vehicle as it speeds down the highway. Like a ship travelling through hyper-space, this was no dusting crops boy.
We sped on as the snow gathered. Pushing ever so forward, the vehicle made its way to the foothills beyond the glow of the city lights, to the darkness of the mountain forests. Up ahead we could make out a glimmer of lights weaving its way into the hills, like a large red snake. Then our forward motion slowed and we came to a halt. Quickly we were joined by many others at the tail end of this red snake, knowing full well that many others were somewhere ahead in the midst of the snake. We were not that far from our destination and having met this momentary delay, we figured on still arriving within our targeted time frame. So we thought, but this is the Twilight Zone of endurance.
I have a tough time putting into words the sheer scale of what lay ahead of us as we slowly inch our way northwards. Ahead lay hundreds of little red lights, glowing as far as the curving road would let us see. Each set representing one if not more equally frustrated vehicle passenger, eagerly waiting for that little spurt forward. Each time the vehicle moves forward is a gentle tease. You notice a few vehicles ahead have some movement or in some cases dimming of the little red lights. Slowly one by one this movement extends towards your vehicle. “It has started to move”, you exclaim, as your hope in seeing your warm bed returns. Only to have been teased as the vehicle ahead applies the brakes, bringing itself and yourself back to your least favourite stationary position. At first this becomes a game, which lane progresses the farthest, how far can you go each time and is it possible to hit the 10 mph mark once again. It has become your worst nightmare, a slow moving train to a snowy grave. It reminded me of the long lines cutting into the snow up the Chilkoot Trail during the Gold Rush. We were moving just as fast.
Then after what seemed like an eternity and probably the closest I would come to one, the tease turned into something more. The slight movement continued and continued as we slowly snaked our way through the mountains and on into Bellingham. A snow and ice covered road with nicely placed ruts to guide us through. A wonderful steady 30 mph was achieved at this point. It was at this moment that the warm bed at the end of the trip was once again within reach. It was also at this moment that I realised that the butt was not meant to be sat on for this long and along with frozen butt syndrome my legs were not very pleased with me. By the snow covered sign to my right, it was only 12 more miles to Blaine.
All in all I found the adventure disappointing. For if I was to be delayed then there should have been a pay off somewhere down the road. A few vehicles were pushed or slid off to one side of the road. No carnage, no tangled metal, no real visible reason for a 5 hour delay. This was definitely not an E ticket ride home.
posted by Spiny Norman at 6:51 PM
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