Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Line Of Traffic

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lead,
follow,or
get out
of
the
way!








Where I live in Florida, traffic and traffic jams are just not an issue.

(Every Floridian who just read that has just had their jaw hit the desk in disbelief and their eyes have popped out onto the keyboard)

I'm not kidding. The longest I've been held up around here was mistakenly getting into a watermelon festival parade stoppage once and then there was that cattle drive down county road 341. I thoroughly enjoyed that one.

Now when I go home to St. Auggie to visit my family, I am flabbergasted by the traffic which consumes every square inch of road. The sad thing is, if you just moved here from some filthy, crowded, traffic laden urban area north of the St. Marys River, you see this as normal, not as a degradation of the quality of life in the area.

Still, Florida will occasionally soften the frustration of traffic jammitis with something neat to look at as you fume.

Gridlocked on A1A last week, patrols of pelicans glided by over the beach dunes, having the last laugh at the advanced humans stuck in their metal boxes. They came, one group after another, heading north along the beach.

...smirking smug smiles.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget the emu traffic.

Anonymous said...

Don't tell people where you live or you'll end up with traffic jams 10 years from now!! lol.


I wrote about a traffic jam of a different sort today. ;)

Deb said...

I live about thirty miles from the nearest stoplight, and I like it. A few weeks ago when I went to Minneapolis, I was amazed at the line of SUV's and full size pickup trucks in the left lane of the freeway, all with one person in them, cell phone in hand, going at least 80 miles per hour.

robin andrea said...

Ah traffic. One of the reasons we left California. Way too many cars there, and never enough pelicans to make up for it.

Anonymous said...

Apparently, FC, there are some places in Florida people just don't want to go. How happy!

Same for me. As long as the majority isn't interested in traversing my area, I'm content.

Glad to hear that there still some places we don't have to worry about!

OldHorsetailSnake said...

And next? Cattle coming cleverly south?

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

No traffic jams where I live...that's why I picked it. I came from California gridlock and I wanted no part of it any longer. I came here to raise my kids in a quiet rural area, away from the hubbud of a large city.

Suzanne said...

Me too. Moved here to leave all that behind. Cracker I would love to see and photograph one of the cattle drives. I guess those "other" Floridians would be surprised to learn about that too...don't tell 'em.

My friend rode her paint horse on one of the drives a couple of years ago. I think she said they drove cattle for a whole week in rural country. They slept under the stars and she said it was a life changing experience. You posts always have something really interesting and memory jogging.

R.Powers said...

Pablo,
Apparently you didn't :)

Laura,
They will come and we will have them...sigh.
I didn't have any donuts to wave ;)


Deb,
I guess I'm about 10 miles from a traffic light, but it's just a blinking red/yellow at a lonely intersection. Nice.

DPR,
I would do the same if allowed to have tea in bed.

RD,
Love that pelican thought.

Wayne,
I agree, let most folks go around us.

Hoss,
Alliteration always alightens my attitude. (used some poetic license on alightens...)

Abandoned,
That's why I came out here too.

R.Powers said...

Zanne,
I hope there's always a place to run to. I've heard of those drives, but never been on one.

Tim Rice said...

Maybe we all need to spring wings and fly. But oh thinks of all the in air collisions then. ;)

R.Powers said...

Tim,
I thought we would all have flying Jetsons type cars by now.

doubleknot said...

Traffic jams - grrr.... We didn't used to have too much but since the area is building up the traffic is horrible. At least they are trying to widen the roads in some places to make it better - we have been going through some major road work for the last year at a really bad intersection - they widened it but now it just narrows down at the next light to two lanes again.

benning said...

Ahhh, you lucky so-and-so! Largo used to be a bit quieter, and I've only lived here since '85. Every year the crush is larger, the road delays longer.

But, why complain? It's still a nice area, which is why folks are still moving here, right?

If I had the money, I would move to Boone, NC, up in the mountains. That's where I'd love to be. But for now it's Largo, and that's okay, too!

Thanks for your great posts. You jealousy-creating so-and-so!

Anonymous said...

me and my better 3/4 walked sunday along the bayfront and around the fort then down st george st.it takes a walk like that to realize how good we have it here even with the traffic

R.Powers said...

Doubleknot,
Soon Florida will be one widened road from Atlantic to Gulf.

Benning,
We complain because we know what we've lost. The newcomer can't see that.

Rick,
That walk is still a unique experience. I agree.