Three into 4...

 

If you said, "1 1/3," you have an analytical mind.  If you said, "I need more information," you are practical.  If you said, "Driving in the corridor between Georgetown (north of Austin) and San Antonio," you have been there and done that.  No bonus points because this wasn't the kind of entertainment I want to encourage.

Heading south today, the most expeditious routing keeps us on I-35 through Austin.  It has been a few years since we've been on this stretch of Interstate.  Back in the 90s, it was in a constant state of construction... the population grew so fast that the infrastructure of roads couldn't keep up with it.

Nothing has changed.

Texas road engineers have a sick sense of humor: "We need to expand from our three lanes on each side to four lanes."  The normal person would say: "They should have planned ahead and allowed space for more lanes."

The Texas road engineer says, "Let's take the space we allowed for three lanes and divide it into four lanes."

Being normal, you would say, "But doesn't that narrow each lane down by a significant amount?  Is that even safe for big rigs?"

To which Texas road engineers would reply, "What are you, some kind of candy-ass safety nut?  They drive faster than that on NASCAR tracks, and they don't even paint lanes on there!"

And then a second Texas road engineer who was eavesdropping says, "We can save the state a bunch of money if we just add some extra lane lines and don't remove the old lines."

To which the first Texas road engineer would say, "That's a great idea, and let's rip the shit out some of the lanes for no reason!"

Then, they all laugh their sick laughs and take a 3 hour lunch break.

That's what we dealt with today.  Well, it is what I dealt with... Rufus kept nudging me and saying, "Is it time for lunch, yet" and Joan helpfully pointed out, "You have a semi coming up on the right and you are close to that white line."

So, that was fun.

On the bright side, we are down early.  We'll start gathering stuff to make it easier to unload tomorrow... yes, if all goes as planned, we'll be home tomorrow.

No photos today... I guess I was feeling lazy while piloting the circus train.