I don't want to do this again,

Regular readers know that I went over to Celebration (the Disney inspired "Perfect community") last weekend, to see my friend Grace Jones and members of her family.

The journey was via Interstate 75 and Interstate 4.

As I drive north on I-75 my body and mind tensed up. There was heavy traffic. And there was those 10% of drivers who believe that it is their right and duty to weave in and out of the three lanes "to get there faster".

I was very tense (and that's not conducive to wise driving).

Then it was time to drive east on I-4. Oh hell!

I-4 is not the road to hell, it is hell.

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(I have two definitions of hell. One is an eternity of being on I-4, with next to no gas/petrol in the tank, and NEVER being able to get off.

The other is an eternity of being at Miami International Airport and NEVER being able to find the correct terminal or gate.)


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I was wise enough to take a break at the two rest areas en-route, but boy, was I glad to get off I-4 at exit 62, there to head into Celebration and meet my friends?

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I had no choice in the matter, so I had to use I-4 west and I-75 south to get back home.

On the I-4 part of the journey I ran into a monsoon. Wisdom prevailed for once. It seemed that "everyone" slowed down to about 20 mph, and kept safe distances from preceding vehicles.

After the storm we got into very slow moving bumper-to-bumper traffic for about two miles. Oh dear, we knew that there was an accident ahead, but we discovered that it was not on our west bound lanes, it was on the east bound lanes.

Despite that fact that at the point of the accident there was a very wide (very wide) median - we had been slowed by rubber-neckers.

I suppose that if the first handful of drivers slow down to "rubber-neck" at an accident, there is a ripple effect, and soon there will be (as was on Sunday) a two mile go-slow.

Pity the folks driving east. That traffic was backed up for at least five miles.

I prayed to all the gods I know (and some that I have never met) that when I entered I-75 south it would be accident free.

They answered my prayers.

I swung by my home to unload my suitcase, and to feed the cats with their afternoon treat of canned food. They greeted me at the door, and then ran away, playing hard to get.

Then I went south on Beneva to get my good dog who had been staying with her Uncle Ron and Aunt Charlotte in the Gulf Gate area.

Penne displayed her usual irrational exuberance when I arrived. But she had had a good time.

She is so used to staying with Ron and Charlotte that she settles down as soon as we arrive at their home. Then she becomes Charlotte's shadow.

They are good people, and Penne is a good dog. I am always so happy when I am out of town since I know that Penne will be perfectly happy at her home away from home (and that Ron and Char truly enjoy having her as a guest).

Back home, safe and sound - but I don't want to do this any more - i.e. drive on our crowded Interstates.

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