Commuting part 1

My commute yesterday was not tied up in traffic. In November, I left northern Virginia after working most of the day, to drive to Cape May. I had already calculated that I would not be able to make it in time to catch the Ferry from Lewes to the Cape. So that left me one option: drive there.

This is part of my routine. My body aches from this option.

I seem to have this ability (or perversion) of driving hundreds of miles in a day to make an appointment the following morning. I neatly stack cases of gear, clothing tents and cameras into confined trunks of small hybrids just so I can get 40+ mpg. This, I tell myself, is helping to save the earth.

From Mapquest, I followed the shortest route to the interstate belt system. Living in rural Montana does Not prepare one for the concept that at 6:15 pm there are still 1,000's of people still doing this same exact thing in an urban area the size of Washington D.C. So about 2 miles from the entrance I encountered the line.

How was I to know that line- realistically- lasted for nearly 20 miles? 2 miles to get on the Beltway, and 18 miles to the exit going north into Maryland.

The quest for peace, wildlife and some level of solitude does not always simultaneously prepare one to adapt to this type of existence. Stop and start driving when conducted by a "country-friendly person" is not "urban friendly". I was victimized with because I routinely feel that it is OK to allow other people (who perhaps are taking advantage of me) cut in. People who are behind me seem to get impatient. I noted that one more than one occasion they felt the need to cut around me and wave with a certain finger upraised. Hey, I'm courteous even to them. All I wanted was a safe overpass to film this ordeal from. The thought of timelapse images of jammed highways, somehow is comforting. As if the digital capturing of this daily insanity some how makes it all better.

Eventually, the pressure of excited people wanting to join this happy throng ebbs, and space occurs between vehicles. Suddenly, movement begins.

I should mention before we move on that this concept of- listen people- of allowing space Between Vehicles, is part of creating movement. Urban people have a great deal of difficulty grasping this concept.

At the slightest sign of an opening, one of them immediately wants to fill that opening. If you think about it: this is Nature abhorring a vacuum in Hyperdrive. Behind every wheel was another Apolo Ono looking to slip into that tiny gap before speeding past into first place. The Need for Speed.

Two days ago, I began my other commute. It is a totally different: non-speed, non-pressure, non-sprint type of commute. The Marathon as a form of commuting.