Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Never drive through Lowell, Indiana

I AM TERRIBLE when driving in traffic. I have a bad attitude. I pout. Sheryl says I'm a big baby when encountering highway traffic jams.

I want to kill the bozo who cut everybody off five miles ahead and caused the major backup. Or smack the IDOT idiot who decided to close lanes off 20 miles before the bridge they are fixing.

We just got back from a glorious Labor Day weekend on Lake Michigan. Sun, family, food, music and conversation abounded. It was worth every mile to get there and back.

We got stuck in traffic in Indiana Saturday afternoon on the way up. Okay, no problem, to be expected. I-80/94 is a nightmare and should be traded to Montana for a draft pick. So should the entire city of Chicago. But it didn't cost us much time and we survived.

On the way home yesterday, traffic was miserable before we even got to the Indiana line. So we headed south from Michigan City. I have taken many alternate routes to avoid Chicago but this was a new one.

It was great for a while, until we came to Lowell, Indiana. There is only one way through Lowell. I do remember going through Lowell once a few years ago and thinking, "This place has more traffic lights than Kankakee."

There were no warning signs and little did we know that Lowell has a huge parade and festival on Labor Day. The line of traffic was several miles long to get through town. It was pure Americana - boys in high school football jerseys trying to impress girls, families on blankets watching the parade from the sidewalks, old guys in yellow Lions Club vests waving their arms around, and lots of police cars with blinking lights just sitting there amid the swelling traffic.

Finally, after inching forward for a few miles, we cut away and took a side route. We were stuck in Lowell for maybe 30 minutes, but it seemed like forever. I'm not sure the good people of Lowell know they are snarling up a state highway that runs through town, nor should they really care, but I'm not going through Lowell ever again, so it's all good.

This is yet another reason I love Quincy - a traffic jam is considered six cars waiting at 18th and State. The other day it took me 12 minutes to get to Sam's Club, not the usual 10. Boy, was I ticked off.

We were on I-55 near Lincoln yesterday when we noticed a six-car crash in the northbound lanes. Those poor people going from Springfield to Chicago were screwed, and the line was miles and miles long.

See? I can be a poor sport about sitting in traffic, AND make fun of others who are stuck in it!

Especially in Lowell, Indiana.



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