Saturday, December 31, 2016

Traveling for Christmas

This year, a breakthru in family Christmas tradition.  Instead of all the children coming home to my place, I went down to spend the holidays with daughter Karen in DC.  Due to the load of Christmas presents, including a cradle for the coming child, dislike for air travel, and desire to have the car with us in DC, we drove down from NH. 
   Looks to me like the infrastructure between here and DC is a pretty good shape.  Even clapped out New York has down some work on the Cross Bronx expressway (I95) and the potholes are filled.  Looks like they resurfaced it.  Still a lot of medium bad chuckholes between the Connecticut border and the Bronx.  New York is still the infrastructure fail in the North East.  I'm thinking all the happy infrastructure talk on TV is coming from New Yorkers like Trump, who only see New York roads.  And maybe DC roads, DC has a fine herd of chuckholes and waterbars so bad I feared for my suspension.  Fortunately the Buick is pretty tough and nothing broke.   NJ has finished widening out the NH Turnpike.  The twelve lane wide part now is usable all the way to Philadelphia. 
   And the NJ tolls are fierce.  The GW bridge toll is now $15.  The NJ Turnpike toll from the bridge to Philadelphia was $11.80.  Then with the Del Mem bridge ($4), the Del TP toll ($4), the Maryland TP toll ($4) and the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Toll ($8)  toll money is getting up closer to gas money. 
   Noticed a whole bunch of new pricey electric signs flashing harmless platitudes.  More infrastructure money at work.  And the shiny new mile markers, every 0.2 miles are spreading, like kudzu.  Wanna bet each one of those mile markers costs us taxpayers $100 to buy and plant? 
   Daughter's DC neighbor hood is coming up.  New condo's for yuppies under construction.  They finally got the trendy H Street trolley car to run.  Took 'em five profitable years. Everybody loves it, it's quaint, and it's free since they haven't figured out how to collect fares in cars with front and back doors.  At least so says Daughter.  The new cars have TWO, not one but TWO hinges in them to allow the car to handle tight curves.  That's two hinged sections to leak rainwater.  When the Boston T, with the sharpest curves in the nation, bought new cars from Boeing Vertol, they only needed one hinged section.  And the hinge has leaked rainwater onto passengers for 20-30 years now.  By the Way, the H Street trolley line runs straight as an arrow, no curves at all. 

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