Mo' cars, mo' problems
Aug. 30th, 2011 12:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
barnabas_trumanWhat a day. We were a little late getting out the door this morning and were pretty much on schedule for getting in to Napa JUST in time for me to start my class, but as we pulled onto Hwy 12 a CHP car in front of us started flashing its lights and slowing down, soon coming to a complete stop and directing all traffic on a detour back to Hwy 80. We took the long way around and I arrived in class 15 minutes late. Learned from the radio that there had been a bad collision involving a bulldozer-toting truck, three cars, one death, and eight injuries a mere ten minutes before we got there, and that entire section of Hwy 12 was closed for the rest of the day.
Classes felt rushed and hectic--the first because I was late, the second because there were a lot of questions on the homework and I had a lot planned in addition to that. After finishing up we decided to wait a couple of hours before heading out to ceili in hopes that the traffic would settle down, but no luck there. Every other route out of Napa was clogged horribly by traffic detoured off of Hwy 12. Some of these ALSO had fresh collisions, presumably due to a combination of too many cars on the road and drivers suddenly forced onto an unfamiliar route. Chain-reaction disaster dominoes.
We finally got to ceili around 8:30. Had a lot of fun playing music (with a mandolin player this time!), and tasty BBQ dinner, so at least the day ended well.
Some thoughts in retrospect:
* If we'd left ten minutes earlier, that could have been us. Of course, if we'd left twenty minutes earlier, we would have missed it entirely. More pragmatically, we need to leave earlier.
* Special thanks to CHP for handling an awful situation as promptly and efficiently as possible.
* Hwy 12 really needs two lanes in each direction all the way from Hwy 80 to Hwy 29.
* The entire Napa Valley really needs a passenger train line stretching from a parking lot off of Hwy 80 up to St Helena or so, preferably with stops at every major winery so the drunk tourists don't feel like they have to drive.
* I really need to find a new job close to home so I can quit this stupid commute.
Classes felt rushed and hectic--the first because I was late, the second because there were a lot of questions on the homework and I had a lot planned in addition to that. After finishing up we decided to wait a couple of hours before heading out to ceili in hopes that the traffic would settle down, but no luck there. Every other route out of Napa was clogged horribly by traffic detoured off of Hwy 12. Some of these ALSO had fresh collisions, presumably due to a combination of too many cars on the road and drivers suddenly forced onto an unfamiliar route. Chain-reaction disaster dominoes.
We finally got to ceili around 8:30. Had a lot of fun playing music (with a mandolin player this time!), and tasty BBQ dinner, so at least the day ended well.
Some thoughts in retrospect:
* If we'd left ten minutes earlier, that could have been us. Of course, if we'd left twenty minutes earlier, we would have missed it entirely. More pragmatically, we need to leave earlier.
* Special thanks to CHP for handling an awful situation as promptly and efficiently as possible.
* Hwy 12 really needs two lanes in each direction all the way from Hwy 80 to Hwy 29.
* The entire Napa Valley really needs a passenger train line stretching from a parking lot off of Hwy 80 up to St Helena or so, preferably with stops at every major winery so the drunk tourists don't feel like they have to drive.
* I really need to find a new job close to home so I can quit this stupid commute.
