I'm pretty good when it comes to the US Interstate system. Been on them in several of the largest cities in the US (Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Boston, Miami, Dallas, ...), been on some of the most desolate stretches (historic US 66 in Arizona/Mexico, Nevada/Utah, Nebraska, ...), and places in between. I know the system:
- Odd #s run North/South
- Even #s run East/West
- Miles/Exits increment headed East/North
- Exits correlate with mile markers
- Rest areas near state lines usually have state official maps
OH WAIT. Not in New England apparently. I got on I-95 southbound and noticed it was exit 37. "Hey, that means I'm only 37 miles from Rhode Island, a state I haven't been to yet!". So I headed to RI, figuring it would be an hour or hour and a half round trip. I seems to be taking much longer than I figured it would, but don't really think about it; I'm behind the wheel. I see exit 13 but mile marker 31 but tell myself I'm just being dyslexic. I hit Rhode Island, see the first exit is 30. "Sweet, I can get to Connecticut in another half hour!".
Apparently, exit numbers don't correlate with miles in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. They're just a incremental count of exits. That 1 or 2 hour trip turned into 4 and a half. And Rhode Island's rest stop closes and locks its doors at 6pm. Not even a map for my travels!
At least I still got to drive and see some more of the US. Providence was surprisingly impressive. The "Big Dig" in Boston means you drive underneath the city for ~5 miles, not so great to take in downtown. From corner to corner, it takes 40 minutes to pass through the smallest state in the union. And I'm back to bitch about it after ~200 miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment