None of the pictures turned out, in the rain, so I won't share them. I warned Kenny we weren't driving for an hour just to go out to dinner ... but that's pretty much what happened.
I dressed them for the cold, three layers under their coats and two on their legs, but I hadn't counted on the rain that seemed to soak them to the bone immediately. The rain began as we reached 72, well past the turn-around point.
We were the only souls there except for some diehard fishermen, either locals or ghosts, and another family of six from Pennsylvania with "General Lee" on their license plate. I can't say that kind of companionship made me feel too bright for being there. And how did they all fit into that Pontiac coupe? It was too cold to hang around and find out. We walked a brief circuit and left for the Stafford Diner as Jeff cracked sarcasm and even Kenny muttered, "What a big waste of time."
I tried the Jambalaya from the dinner specials menu and it was more of a seafood cacciatore, no meat and even mushrooms! Whatever. Pass the Parmesan cheese.
The drive home was an unbelievable disaster.
The rain was considerable and the wind seemed to be blowing the car to the shoulder. I told Jeff that I couldn't see very well, the newly paved road had a remarkably worn center line of non-reflective paint and no edge lines at all. God damn it, no wonder there are so many tragic car accidents in NJ! That roadway, freshly paved, was unfit for travel because the job wasn't finished before the weekend/holiday/increment weather. I daresay, it seems as if traffic signs were also missing, as I went through a figure 'S' without any warning of "curve ahead."
I used night colors on TomTom for the first time ever, to cut down reflective interior glare, and had the volume too low to hear it above the kids and the LeapFrog DVD. The kids had the courtesy lights on in the back as well and the DVD generates its own light.
By the time I got past the new roadwork, I realized that nothing looked familiar from the ride down. At the circle of 70 & 72, it was clear that we'd gone way too far west. I was thinking, with some amusement at the irony, that we might end up in Berlin, a place "too far for me." It made some difference that I ran the circle wrong and didn't continue on 70 West but took a series of county routes before intersecting 206. As if seeing "Burlington County" on the blue route signs wasn't disturbing enough, coming across 206 prompted me to exclaim aloud, "I don't want to get home by way of Trenton! If we see signs for Voorhees, we're in big trouble."
Without hesitating, I turned up 206 and TomTom was no help, still trying to steer me towards the Turnpike further west. In short order, we intersected 537 and I was home free, 'though it would take another 30 minutes. Jeff had asked me where 130 was and I couldn't answer, but, looking at a map now, it doesn't come south enough.
As you can see from the map, 539 is only a couple of miles from the diner. What threw me off was that we drove almost the entire distance along route 72 to reach the diner, so after eating, I didn't take that into account and basically reset myself to drive that distance again before looking for 539. And, dimmed and muted, TomTom wasn't set up to save me from myself.
I used night colors on TomTom for the first time ever, to cut down reflective interior glare, and had the volume too low to hear it above the kids and the LeapFrog DVD. The kids had the courtesy lights on in the back as well and the DVD generates its own light.
By the time I got past the new roadwork, I realized that nothing looked familiar from the ride down. At the circle of 70 & 72, it was clear that we'd gone way too far west. I was thinking, with some amusement at the irony, that we might end up in Berlin, a place "too far for me." It made some difference that I ran the circle wrong and didn't continue on 70 West but took a series of county routes before intersecting 206. As if seeing "Burlington County" on the blue route signs wasn't disturbing enough, coming across 206 prompted me to exclaim aloud, "I don't want to get home by way of Trenton! If we see signs for Voorhees, we're in big trouble."
Without hesitating, I turned up 206 and TomTom was no help, still trying to steer me towards the Turnpike further west. In short order, we intersected 537 and I was home free, 'though it would take another 30 minutes. Jeff had asked me where 130 was and I couldn't answer, but, looking at a map now, it doesn't come south enough.
As you can see from the map, 539 is only a couple of miles from the diner. What threw me off was that we drove almost the entire distance along route 72 to reach the diner, so after eating, I didn't take that into account and basically reset myself to drive that distance again before looking for 539. And, dimmed and muted, TomTom wasn't set up to save me from myself.
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