Paddy on the Turnpike

How can you save time while driving on a long trip?

Well, let me tell you!

Sunday morning, Kathie and I left for New Jersey where we would meet other members of our family for a Hindu wedding celebration of our niece Libbie and her husband Raupya. Our travel plans were clear, and MapQuest estimated about 7 1/2 hours in travel time. We got an early start, and conversation flew between the two of us, unhindered by anyone or anything else... Well, we were on I-495 and intending to get onto I-90 Mass Turnpike but something happened (yeah, I know, it was my talking) and we missed the exit... Keeping a low stress level, we decided we'd continue on and find a way back to the highway by using the Rand McNally Road Map... That worked pretty well until we realized the small road we were on didn't directly access the highway... But it looked like we could loop around and manage it further down the road... What happened next is hilarious in retrospect (in fact, it's hard to stop laughing every time we recount the story) but at the time it was quite stressful... We got to a stop sign and we wanted to turn left, which we couldn't because it was "Right Turn Only... So we turned right, into what appeared to be a square round-a-bout (really, have you ever seen anything like this?) complete with Stop signs at every turn and everything going in a counter-clockwise direction only... At one intersection it was not clear whether there were one or two lanes, it turned out to be one lane of traffic on the right hand side of the road near the sidewalk with cars parked on the left (completely opposite of what we'd expect)... When we finally got out of the square round-a-bout we were on a very, very residential one-lane street that looked like it could go on and on so we turned around~ only to realize we didn't know where we'd started... All the buildings looked alike, all the corners looked alike... We re-entered the square round-a-bout, and decided to take what looked to be the widest most obvious way through town which was a good choice 'cause it worked (eventually)... We stopped to consult our map again, and soon we were on I-90 West, back in business... The funny thing? We arrived at our destination an hour early!

So, our advice is, when you're strapped for time, get off the highway and head for Grafton MA... Go through their square round-a-bout and then get back on the highway, you should save about an hour in travel time...

**DISCLAIMER** We cannot explain this phenomenon nor can we be responsible if your results are different...

Oh yes, the wedding was beautiful~ photos to come soon!

Paddy on the Turnpike can be found in the Fiddler's Fakebook as well as the New England Fiddler's Repertoire.