On our way
The next adventure starts now. We decided to pack the car and leave from work. That would save us 40 minutes and we are already at the highway. I had a 2:00 to 3:00 meeting and then we figured we would just slip out the door. Luckily, my PM was nice enough not to keep me over. I packed up my computer, told the co-workers good-bye, and headed out Roboguard.
Have I ever explained about the door they put in to replace a real person at the door I use to enter the building at Motorola? I’m sure it has a name, but everyone calls it Roboguard. It’s an automated revolving door. You swipe your badge to get entrance into the thing. A woman’s voice tells you to step into the door. If it’s just you, it works well.
During busy times, people are swiping and trying to get through the door very quickly. They tend to make mistakes. This backs the door up to spit you out on the side you entered from. What usually happens is that you swipe and start going around. Some idiot on the other side swipes, creates a problem and you get spit back out onto the wrong side of the door. Then you are bannered from entering the door for 3 to 5 minutes. Do you know how long 3 to 5 minutes is? If you try swiping too early, the clock starts all over again! I give up and walk the length of the building to the manned door and back up the hallway. Probably takes 3 to 5 minutes, but I’m moving.
Before I forget, Rick got laid off from his job for a week or so. Things were slow in the bay and I think the supervisors were planning to take off this week since it was a short week anway. They will call back the help when they get ready to start installing the new systems for Q3. Rick wasn’t too hurt. He’s got money and he can sleep late.
He came out for lunch to join at To Pho for noodle soup. He’s been wanting to try it, but his lunch is very short and they expect them to stay in the building. One of the bad things about hourly temps. Jim, one of my co-workers, came along. The guys all had a version of the noodle soup. Only Rich got it with all the parts. I had curry chicken. Really spicy today. Thanks for joing us, Rick and Jim.
Outside, it was raining. Not what I expected for my vacation. I want the windows down, my hair blowing, and my arms hanging out. Let’s just hope this isn’t the entire drive to San Antonio. I’ll be a little bit pissed. It is after all my vacation, darn it.
We are speeding down 355 to join up with 55 heading south. At about the Butterfield exit, there is a sudden stopping of all lanes. We creep forward slowly. No blowing hair going on now. Pretty soon, I hear sirens and see flashing lights behind. The ambulance is trying to cross from the far right shoulder through traffic to the far left shoulder. It’s take a while to weave through the cars. Then a full size fire truck comes up and tries the same motion.
We reach the accident and it is a cargo van lying on its side with a couple of other cars around it. The cars around me are all trying to come down from 4 lanes to 2 using the right shoulder. No one seems to be very good at picking a spot and getting into it. They are everywhere.
I get in the left lane and stick with it. There is an 80s style Firebird in front of me. As we get just about even with the accident, this idiot slows down to 3 miles per hour so he can rubberneck. I’m looking at the police officers wondering why they aren’t shooing this guy along. I’m screaming at the top of my lungs for him to keep moving and motioning with my hands to go forward.
Rich just calmly looks at me and says, “You know he can’t hear you, but I sure can.” The guy is still looking in his mirrors at the accident, but I get a space to get around him and head out. Did I ever tell you one of my worst pet peeves? Guess what it is?
Traffic lightens up and we are making good time down the road. We stop for gas and a little dinner in Bloomington. From there, it was only a couple of more hours to our first stop of the evening. We are spending the night just north of St. Louis. I figured I would brave traffic after rush hour and get through town.
Oh yeah. On the way out of town, Rich is reading his newspaper on his tablet. Then he’s playing with his phone. I look over and asking if he has any plans to talk to me on any part of this trip. With a straight face, he says, “I hadn’t thought about it, but probably not.” For 19 and a half hours? Rich doesn’t see a problem with this. I guess I’ll sign to the radio a lot and maybe a dance a little. Rich only wants Blues on the radio. I think I can dance to that. The cruise control can handle the speed. I’ll just dodge cars.
Tomorrow, we head out through Oklahoma. I wonder if everyone sings Rodgers and Hammerstein there? We’ll see.