Driving aroud town
13/06/22 03:11
We were walking along the bay yesterday and we saw a golf cart going down the street with golf clubs in the back. I know, there are a lot of places where such a sight would not be remarkable. And it isn’t really remarkable here, except we live in a community where it is legal to drive golf carts on the streets and we often see the vehicles used as simple transportation. There are quite a few of the carts that have been lengthened to accommodate four and six passengers that are used for general transportation around here. When we walk along the beach, it seems like we are in a tourist town. We see lots of cars with out of state license plates. We see people strolling up and down the pathway taking pictures with their cell phones. There are a few neighbors we recognize, but there are a lot of people whose names we do not know. We’ve only lived her since October, but we recognize the change in seasons in terms of the number of people.
This place, however, is off of the beaten path. We are ten miles from the Interstate highway. When we turn off of the freeway, we drive on two-lane country roads for a while before we reach our neighborhood. Our neighborhood, however, is densely packed, with the houses close together. It is a working-class neighborhood. Many of the folks who live here work at the oil refinery just south of us. Those folks don’t drive golf carts to work. In fact, there are too many cars in our neighborhood for the amount of parking that is available. Most of the houses have two-car garages, but few of the garages have cars parked in them. When we see open garage doors, we see them filled with shelves and lots of possessions. There is no room for a car in many of the garages. We keep our car in the garage, but that a doesn’t seem to be the norm around here. There are a lot of places where the cars don’t fit in the driveway. Our streets are narrow, so if there are cars parked on both sides of the street, only one land remains for driving. We drive slowly in the neighborhood anyway, so it isn’t a problem, but we do need to wait for other folks from time to time.
Tomorrow we are going to drive down to Seattle to pick up our daughter and grandson at the airport. SeaTac International Airport is about 100 miles from our home. There are commercial flights that come into Bellingham Airport, just 20 miles from us, but there are no direct flights from where our daughter lives in South Carolina to Bellingham. Changing planes with a two year old is a challenge, so it works best for our family for them to fly into SeaTac. I don’t mind the drive. When we lived in North Dakota, the nearest airport that had airline service was 150 miles away. Living in rural areas and driving seem to go hand in hand.
It surprises, me, however, how many people I’ve spoken with recently who think that it is a terrible thing that we have to drive to the airport. There are a lot of people who think that driving in Seattle traffic is a terrible burden and they avoid it as much as possible. Seattle does have heavy traffic. There is only so much space between the mountains and the ocean and it is really filled with people. Interstate 5 goes right through the middle of downtown. The 405 bypass can be just as busy as the highway through town. At certain times of the day commuters have to be prepared for heavy traffic. The drive to the airport from our home can be extended by as much as an hour when the traffic is heavy.
I’m not a city person. Except for the 4 years we lived in Chicago when we attended graduate school, we’ve always lived in small cities or rural areas. We used to joke that Rapid City is too small to be able to afford a rush hour so it makes do with a rush 15-minutes. There are very few places in the city that are more than 15 minutes from any other place in the city. Bellingham is a bit bigger, but we don’t live in Bellingham, so we go there to go to church, which in our case is also where we go to work. And we do a little shopping there. A half hour is sufficient time to allow to get from our home to any place in Bellingham. We don’t drive a golf cart and traffic on the Interstate flows at around 70 mph.
Even though we have lived in rural places, I don’t really mind driving in urban traffic. It is an acquired skill, but it isn’t all that difficult. You have to be alert and pay attention whenever driving a vehicle. Driving in a place with a lot of other cars means you have to pay attention to the vehicles around you and be prepared to respond to changes in speed and stay in your lane, but those skills are pretty basic to driving. The navigation program in my cell phone is sophisticated enough to monitor traffic problems and predict commute times. I allow a bit of extra time so that I’m not too rushed. Relaxing and realizing that there is nothing you can do about traffic slow downs is part of the skill of urban driving.
SeaTac Airport has the world’s largest parking garage, so finding a place to park won’t be a problem. Besides the reward of getting to see our daughter and grandson is a pretty big incentive for us to hop in the car and head to the city.
I realize that the day will come when I will need to hand over my keys and quit driving, but I’m not there yet. After the sticker shock of filling up the gas tank, I’m ready to make the trip and I don’t intend to complain about it.
This place, however, is off of the beaten path. We are ten miles from the Interstate highway. When we turn off of the freeway, we drive on two-lane country roads for a while before we reach our neighborhood. Our neighborhood, however, is densely packed, with the houses close together. It is a working-class neighborhood. Many of the folks who live here work at the oil refinery just south of us. Those folks don’t drive golf carts to work. In fact, there are too many cars in our neighborhood for the amount of parking that is available. Most of the houses have two-car garages, but few of the garages have cars parked in them. When we see open garage doors, we see them filled with shelves and lots of possessions. There is no room for a car in many of the garages. We keep our car in the garage, but that a doesn’t seem to be the norm around here. There are a lot of places where the cars don’t fit in the driveway. Our streets are narrow, so if there are cars parked on both sides of the street, only one land remains for driving. We drive slowly in the neighborhood anyway, so it isn’t a problem, but we do need to wait for other folks from time to time.
Tomorrow we are going to drive down to Seattle to pick up our daughter and grandson at the airport. SeaTac International Airport is about 100 miles from our home. There are commercial flights that come into Bellingham Airport, just 20 miles from us, but there are no direct flights from where our daughter lives in South Carolina to Bellingham. Changing planes with a two year old is a challenge, so it works best for our family for them to fly into SeaTac. I don’t mind the drive. When we lived in North Dakota, the nearest airport that had airline service was 150 miles away. Living in rural areas and driving seem to go hand in hand.
It surprises, me, however, how many people I’ve spoken with recently who think that it is a terrible thing that we have to drive to the airport. There are a lot of people who think that driving in Seattle traffic is a terrible burden and they avoid it as much as possible. Seattle does have heavy traffic. There is only so much space between the mountains and the ocean and it is really filled with people. Interstate 5 goes right through the middle of downtown. The 405 bypass can be just as busy as the highway through town. At certain times of the day commuters have to be prepared for heavy traffic. The drive to the airport from our home can be extended by as much as an hour when the traffic is heavy.
I’m not a city person. Except for the 4 years we lived in Chicago when we attended graduate school, we’ve always lived in small cities or rural areas. We used to joke that Rapid City is too small to be able to afford a rush hour so it makes do with a rush 15-minutes. There are very few places in the city that are more than 15 minutes from any other place in the city. Bellingham is a bit bigger, but we don’t live in Bellingham, so we go there to go to church, which in our case is also where we go to work. And we do a little shopping there. A half hour is sufficient time to allow to get from our home to any place in Bellingham. We don’t drive a golf cart and traffic on the Interstate flows at around 70 mph.
Even though we have lived in rural places, I don’t really mind driving in urban traffic. It is an acquired skill, but it isn’t all that difficult. You have to be alert and pay attention whenever driving a vehicle. Driving in a place with a lot of other cars means you have to pay attention to the vehicles around you and be prepared to respond to changes in speed and stay in your lane, but those skills are pretty basic to driving. The navigation program in my cell phone is sophisticated enough to monitor traffic problems and predict commute times. I allow a bit of extra time so that I’m not too rushed. Relaxing and realizing that there is nothing you can do about traffic slow downs is part of the skill of urban driving.
SeaTac Airport has the world’s largest parking garage, so finding a place to park won’t be a problem. Besides the reward of getting to see our daughter and grandson is a pretty big incentive for us to hop in the car and head to the city.
I realize that the day will come when I will need to hand over my keys and quit driving, but I’m not there yet. After the sticker shock of filling up the gas tank, I’m ready to make the trip and I don’t intend to complain about it.
