Sunday October 7th 2018

I was out on the roads with thousands of other people today. Traffic seems to be a part of life in this modern age. Last year when I was out west in the area between the Rockies and the Sierras, heavy traffic was only occasionally an issue. I lost my tolerance for traffic and my willingness to drive in it. When I was in Las Vegas last winter I convinced my self that the traffic was a big city anomaly.

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This year I’ve been reminded that traffic is universal. I’ve encountered heavy traffic in all of the states I traveled. I still wanted to believe that traffic has increased or that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but now that I’m back in familiar territory I have to acknowledge nothing has changed. The roads in this area have the same level of heavy traffic as I am forced to remember. The amnesia aided by distance is gone. Traffic is bad everywhere. Luckily, my tolerance for the traffic and willingness to drive in it has also returned.

The other thing that I hear all the time is that one areas drivers are worse than another areas. I don’t buy it. I’ve seen idiot drivers everywhere. One universal annoyance is merging onto the highway. Drivers don’t seem to understand that the entering traffic has to yield to the traffic already on the road. Just speeding down the on ramp and expecting the faster traffic to get out of your way isn’t correct; even when you put on your directional. This is particularly annoying when I’m driving the motorhome. Big heavy vehicles can’t brake or maneuver fast enough.

Today was a warm, cloudy, and hazy day. Rain threatened to interrupter everything all day. It finally started to fall in light showers around the supper hour. It made the foliage very dull. I saw a lot of nice color along the way, but the lack of sun kept it very dull. All of the people out for the traditional Columbus day weekend leaf peeping were probably disappointed.

The blossom of the day.