A good time not to be barrelling along

On the way in to work this morning, I had to slow down in a construction zone on I-99 when a traffic barrel such as pictured above got away from a worker and rolled into the traffic lane. I had plenty of time to slow down. It just so happened that I was driving about the limit of 50.  I may even have been doing 49. The barrel rolled into the lane and then right back to where the worker was standing.

Taking the long short way

The eighth grade football team had its first game yesterday, in Dubois. The last time I was there was last year's first football game, so once again, I printed out directions from Google.

I was zooming up the new section of Interstate when I realized I wasn't supposed to be on it. I was supposed to have exited. Things like that irritate me. I spoke sharply to myself and later had to apologize.

The harsh words turned out to be unnecessary, because I liked the wrong route better than the right route. It was six miles longer, Google tells me, but the roads are better. I came back that way, too, and enjoyed it. I have to hand it to myself.

Good job, Ya Goof.

The right (wrong) way

The wrong (right) way

P.S. While reviwing this post, I noticed that, fittingly, the maps shown indicate the reverse of the routes that I wanted to show. "A" should be "B" and "B" "A."

Keith, Ya Goof.

Looked who showed up for the show

A significant percentage of the readership of YaGoof.com (Okay, one person; still a big chunk of the audience) has correctly pointed out that it's high time for a post.

The thing is, out-of-town visitors got us out of our humdrum routines. But it was definitely worth it. If not for these visitors, there would be no YaGoof.

That's right, my parents came to town.

They were here to see Ethan and Emmett appear in Willy Wonka, Jr, a musical play version of Charlie and the Cholcolate Factory. Ethan played the father of Charlie; Emmett played—oh, what's his name? The character who sings "The Candy Man Can." Give me a few minutes, it'll come to me.

It was not a trip without goofs. Let the tally begin ...

WE WERE LATE TO UNION STATION
Amtrak's Vermonter line, bearing my parents, was due into Union Station in Washington, DC, at 10 pm last Thursday. That was the best mass transit option that we found. They would board in Vermont and disembark in DC after a cushy ride of only eleven hours. (Nothing to it!) One alternative was coming straight to the nearest train station, in Altoona. That sounds good, but it wouldn't have been a straight trip; with layovers in New York and Boston, it would have meant 21 hours. (A travel duration that we ended up giving a run for its money, but that's getting ahead of the story ...)

Janet and I left home at 6 pm, and had a nice drive to DC. We hit the Beltway at about 9:00. In a jiffy, we were in sight of downtown, where Union Station is.

But 45 minutes later, we were still hunting for Union Station. Curses on thee, thou steaming pile of wrong turns!

We used to drive to DC regularly several years ago, when Janet had an internship at the Library of Congress. We both remembered driving in and out as being a piece of cake.

Piece of cake. Riiiiight.

Were our navigation problems this time due to age? Changes to the streets? Fatigue? (Feel free to email other suggested excuses.) At any rate, we made it to Union Station only a couple minutes before the 10:00 train. Only to find that ...

THE TRAIN WAS LATE
As soon as we entered the lobby, the status board told us the 10:00 train would arrive at 11:00.

In reality, it came in at 11:02.

And then ...

WE COULDN'T ESCAPE THE CITY
We drove around and around and around trying to find our old favorite exit route, Connecticut Avenue. On the bright side, Janet and I renewed our tag-team mapreading skills. Meaning that whenever we'd find ourselves off track, I'd pull over and we'd scour the route and plot the next step. Then Janet would trace our progress with her finger. Get lost. Repeat.

We zigged and zagged for about an hour and a half extra and ended up depositing Mom and Daddy at their preferred motel in town at 3:00 am. A trip of only 18 hours for them. (Note: Still a savings of 3 hours over the bus route!)

FRIDAY WAS UNEVENTFUL
Except for the guys being part of a smash performance!

Well, there was one little thing ...

DADDY LOST TRACK OF HIS MOTEL ROOM
He couldn't remember the number after stepping out for a minute, so he had to stop in at the office and find out what it was. "You're not the first this has happened to," the attendant assured him.

SATURDAY WAS GOOFLESS
And there was another excellent play performance!

And it turned out that Janet's mother has a Garmin Navigator in her car that she would let us borrow for the return trip to DC. She showed us how to use it, we gave it a trial run—things were looking up! That eased our minds a little about our impending need to get up at 3:00 am to make it to Union Station on time for my parents' return train. Except that last Sunday, 3:00 am was 2:00 am because ....

WE LOST AN HOUR TO THE SWITCH DAYLIGHT SAVINGS
Sigh.

And naturally ...

THE GPS UNIT DIDN'T WORK
No matter what we tried, the screen kept telling us "GPS OFF." So we had to resort to the trace-the-route-by-the-finger-in-between-instances-of-pulling-over method.

But we did make it to the train on time.

After consulting the Garmin manual when we got home, we learned that when the unit loses its connection to the satellite, you need to take it out of the car to an open area, away from buildings and trees, to re-establish the link. That worked.

All in all, a pleasant and memorable time with ample opportunities to say ... YaGoof!

This just in

Ethan and Emmett walk to school on most days, but Ethan had to take his guitar today, so I gave them a ride.

Freezing rain, as forecast, was falling as we left the house. About halfway to the school, it occurred to me ...

"Did anyone listen to the radio for school cancellations?"

Nope.

I turned on the radio.

Steve (of the Charlie and Steve Show) was saying " ... so give us a call and report in on what the roads are like out there. Must be bad, because all of the schools are cancelling."

The guys and I looked at each other. I prepared to swing around.

Keith, Ya Goo--

But wait.

Steve continued, "--except for Altoona and Hollidaysburg."

Never was there a more rapid cycle from goof to non-goof.

I-yi-yi

A couple of Interstate stories ...

A co-worker, Dan, was driving down the Interstate with a pal. They were reflecting on their blessings: work, family, friends and agreed: "Life is good!"

Some miles further on, Dan said, "Haven't we been driving too long?" After consulting a map, they realized they should have exited at "Life is good!"

Dan and pal: Ya Goofs!

* * *

Driving to work on I-99 this morning, I came upon one of those convoys transporting huge concrete beams for constructing an overpass—trucks large and small, state police cruisers, bubble lights turning. I was in the passing lane when I realized that I was almost at my exit. Not a good idea to cut between any of those vehicles, so I had to slow down and back up traffic a little bit so that I could let the convoy pass by and then exit. I see now that I was driving beside a quarter-mile-long wall.

Keith, Ya Goof!