A Tale of Two Accidents

[kevin_standlee]

...neither of which had me in them, but both of which affected me.

On Friday, I got way from the office by 11 AM (by dint of arriving before 6 AM and having worked 10 hour days the rest of the week) and that meant that I not only got out ahead of the Getaway Day traffic from the Bay Area, I missed most of Sacramento's heavy traffic, with only a slight slowdown at the I-5/80 interchange.

My luck changed east of Reno. As I headed through Sparks, I noticed the overhead signs said "Accident at Orchard. Expect Delays." I didn't quite fathom how much of a delay it would be. About fifteen miles east of Sparks, traffic came to a halt. I hadn't worked out how far beyond that the accident must be. Had I done so, I would have reversed at the next interchange. I didn't. Instead, I sat there for more than two hours before the accident cleared.

This afternoon, Lisa and I headed for Reno for our big shopping. As we left Fernley, the overhead signs warned of an accident ahead and said "Expect delays." Fool me twice, shame on me. I jumped back off the freeway at Wadsworth and headed north on NV-447 toward Pyramid Lake. This is not a trivial diversion. Compare the direct route from Exit 46 in Fernley to Sparks to the diversion via Nixon and Sutcliffe. It adds over 30 miles to the trip. But it's the best you can do. The other diversion (south via Silver Springs, Dayton, and Carson City) is even longer. There's only one road through the Truckee River Canyon, and when it's blocked, you're screwed. But having lost two hours do an accident on Friday, An extra 45 minutes up-and-around wasn't a big deal.

Still, the 60-mile trip up to Pyramid Lake and back down through Spanish Springs wasn't too bad. The weather isn't so blisteringly hot as it has been, and the air conditioning in my van works much better since my mechanic had the AC recharged and refurbished. (This is good as we're driving to San Antonio for Worldcon.) The scenery was pleasant. Lisa was happy to see places we hadn't seen before, or hadn't seen for some time.

We got our non-grocery shopping done, went to the Atlantis for dinner at the buffet, and then did the grocery shopping. Lisa's sleep patterns have been disrupted by the weather lately, so she was pretty zonked when we headed for home, and as soon as we got home she went straight to bed. I still have some work to do before I can sleep.

Comments

[kshandra]

When I took gridlore out to Gerlach on our anniversary trip, I took the 445/446/447 route, to give him the closer look at Pyramid Lake. I'd gone out that way once previously, but I forgot just how much more time it adds to the journey.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Are you saying you won't get fooled again?

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Yes, although I may be like Mark Twain's cat, who, when it sat on a hot stove, would never sit on a hot stove again — but wouldn't sit on a cold one, either.