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I was stuck in the loop of Chicago on a 90 degree day with my dog in the car. We had just been to the dog beach and I needed some cheering up because I was on yet another round of a three month cycle of toxic antibiotics for the super bug. I needed to go to the bathroom before we started for home but thought I could hold it for the 45 minute ride that turned into 4 hours of hell. The cramps got worse and I knew if I tried to break wind something else would come out as well.
I couldn't exit because I was in the center lane with wall to wall cars as far as the eye could see. I was worried about the car over heating so I would turn it off until my dog started to get hot and I would start the car and run the air for him. I saw lots of cars over heat. We would literally just travel for inches for the first two hours. Had I stayed on Lake Shore Drive I would have been home hours earlier, but the Eisenhower had several other exits I could take to get off early if the traffic was bad. I did exit the first chance I got but so did everyone else. I had to drive through some sketchy areas and I couldn't go to a gas station and leave my dog locked in the car in the heat so I had to just hold it until I got home. It was horrendous. I'll never forget it.
Well, I lived in Jakarta for 9 years and the L.A. area for 4, so who really knows...? Then there were all those trips to New Delhi...
One snowstormy February (2 years ago, I think), it took me 3 hours to drive 27 miles from my home to work (yes, I still had to go to work while the rest of the city shut down). That was pretty stupid.
Multiple times one or two hours was added on to a 3 hour Austin to Dallas trip home from college (OU weekend is the worst!)...
I was stuck in the loop of Chicago on a 90 degree day with my dog in the car. We had just been to the dog beach and I needed some cheering up because I was on yet another round of a three month cycle of toxic antibiotics for the super bug. I needed to go to the bathroom before we started for home but thought I could hold it for the 45 minute ride that turned into 4 hours of hell. The cramps got worse and I knew if I tried to break wind something else would come out as well.
I couldn't exit because I was in the center lane with wall to wall cars as far as the eye could see. I was worried about the car over heating so I would turn it off until my dog started to get hot and I would start the car and run the air for him. I saw lots of cars over heat. We would literally just travel for inches for the first two hours. Had I stayed on Lake Shore Drive I would have been home hours earlier, but the Eisenhower had several other exits I could take to get off early if the traffic was bad. I did exit the first chance I got but so did everyone else. I had to drive through some sketchy areas and I couldn't go to a gas station and leave my dog locked in the car in the heat so I had to just hold it until I got home. It was horrendous. I'll never forget it.
That had to have been awful! I had a similar situation once and ended up using one of my daughter's disposable diapers to pee in because I was so desperate and there was no place to even get out of the car at all. Luckily, we were in a van and my ex was driving!
Reminds me of this hilarious scene from the movie, "Two Weeks Notice."
think the worst one i was stuck in was in Manchester , got stuck about 17.30 , finally got out of it about 19.00
A 180 mile detour after sitting still for more than an hour, after someone wiped out their fifth wheel in the Bumble Bee pass on the I-17 going back to Phoenix. (This is not uncommon, by the way). Those things practically explode into a million pieces when they go over, so it called for a truck crane, a front end loader, a dump truck, and two flatbeds to clean up the mess.
It was a blunder on my part, too, because I had previously passed the massive fifth wheel that crashed, then I stopped into the Sunset Point rest area briefly, which I didn't even need to do, but I thought "ah, I'll just stop in here for a quick break". SO then I get on the road and while I was in the rest area, the accident vehicle had JUST gone past and crashed, but I couldn't see traffic backing up because it hadn't backed up that far yet. I got on the 17 and started down the mountains, and traffic stopped. After more than an hour I was able to thread through all the RVs that were having an impromptu party off of the Bumble Bee exit, and I got back on the I-17 north all the way back to Camp Verde, up the Mogollon Rim (again), then over to Payson, and finally back to Phoenix. And I still beat everyone sitting in that traffic jam.
I remember watching the news that night and seeing pictures of the fifth wheel, which is when I found out that it was the one I passed. I think it was a mobile estates or mobile suites or whatever model towed by a black Ram truck. Then I remembered--I passed that goddamned thing at Bloody Basin Road and if I hadn't stopped at the rest area I would have been home long ago
Last edited by 43north87west; 03-26-2016 at 06:46 PM..
I was going from Manchester to Boston Logan airport. Left Manchester at 11am to catch a plane that departing at 7PM. I needed every min of that time. The traffic was bumper to bumper with a speed of less then 5mph. I was the last one through the door on the plane and they slammed it shut after I was 5 feet inside the plane.
To the people that think that LA traffic is bad. I have been to LA at least a dozen times and have never seen traffic as bad as several other areas of the country. San Francisco is much worse the LA.
I live in Los Angeles. My first thought was...do I have to pick just one?
That said, I was once stuck in my own driveway for 45 minutes. A plane crash landed on a freeway at rush hour and the traffic was being diverted directly past my house. I took a photo, sent it to my boss and gave up actively trying to get into traffic after about 15 minutes, as there was no way I was going anywhere...
I was going from Manchester to Boston Logan airport. Left Manchester at 11am to catch a plane that departing at 7PM. I needed every min of that time. The traffic was bumper to bumper with a speed of less then 5mph. I was the last one through the door on the plane and they slammed it shut after I was 5 feet inside the plane.
To the people that think that LA traffic is bad. I have been to LA at least a dozen times and have never seen traffic as bad as several other areas of the country. San Francisco is much worse the LA.
It depends where you are and what time of day. There are parts that it is rarely awful...and others, bring a book.
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