Recently I slopped my belongings into my car, turned in my dorm key and drove 9 hours south, down the east coast to DC. This was a fitting event as this is a self proclaimed wander and wonder blog. What better place to wander to than home? And what better place to wonder but on open highway? There's something about the whiz of black pavement. Maybe it's the hypnotic effect. Maybe it's the unadulterated boredom of playing the license plate game for 9 hours.
At any rate, it's a good time to think. Profundity not guaranteed.
Without fail, two particular thoughts loop through my mind when I drive this trip.
1. How crazy to be an early American settler.
Forget the obsession with corn. Forget the really wretched Disney movie with talking raccoons.
Consider.
I can make it from Boston to DC in 9 hours. A colonist took 3 days to just get from New York to Philadelphia on a stagecoach. And forget the pre-1700 and something days of tromping along the Indian trails through the mass of native forest that was the east coast. Respect.
And fording rivers! That ain't daisy chain making, my friend. You have to think about quicksand and currents and drowning mules. And apparently sticking big sticks in the sand of the river bed is also important. Just thinking about it makes me feel cold. Wool dries so slowly. The Oregon Trail.com - very useful for this sort of colonial know-how.
2. What would happen exactly if your car were to go off a bridge?
Granted, this is a bit dramatically catastrophic. But seriously. What if? What would you do? More to the point, what would I do?
Naturally, this is a question that particularly plagues me on bridges.
I mean, you have only 2 seconds to a couple of minutes to get out of your car before it sinks all the way. -Depending on how airtight it is. And you have to consider where your engine is and which way the car will flip from the weight. ...This is not something I learned in kindergarten.
Happily others dwell upon these questions as well. And even more happily, they have answers. Worst Case Scenarios.com.
Hmmm, it got sunny around New Jersey. A good trip.
3 comments:
Ouch, what horrid thoughts. But for all its worth, get the door open before the car sinks - otherwise you won't be able to cause of the water pressure :P
It's finally sunny here. Yay.
hey you crazy thing,
when are you leaving for india?
another question to think about: what if something runs into the bridge while you're driving on it and your car goes crashing into the water? this happened a few years ago on this one bridge in arkansas a few days after i'd driven on it. several cars fell off. i still worry sometimes that it will happen to me.
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