30 Minus 2 Days of Writing Challenge
Day 6: Scatterbrained
So there I was, driving back from the Bay Area to Sacramento, bored out of my mind because I hate long drives, and because I hate long boring drives, I have to find ways to entertain myself, so I daydream, which you can’t do when you want to make sure you stay on the right freeway and actually drive toward your house, but I missed my turn off and realized it about 10 seconds too late and once you do that, you are forced to stay on that freeway until the next exit, which in my case meant getting in a very long slow line to pay $5.00 to cross the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and then try to figure out how to turn around once I got into the crazy one-way street-happy city so I could drive back over the Bay Bridge and go home. Which meant adding another hour to my already long ass drive.
There is something excruciatingly unsatisfying about cursing up a storm all by yourself in the car.
So I’m parked in line, facing away from home, with a lot of time to formulate what I’m going to say to the toll booth guy to get out of paying $5.00 and is there a place right here somewhere in this 25 lane horizontal monolith of asphalt where I can turn around because I don’t want to go to the city today?
Turns out…no.
But!
He did say that I could get off at Treasure Island, a spot of now touristy land halfway across the bridge, and turn around there.
Well, that was something anyway.
And then in my steaming anger, a silver lining presented itself. I’d never been to Treasure Island before.
So I parked it and took a couple of pics to commemorate what would probably be my only visit to this tiny rock in the water.
Not today, San Francisco. But here, take 5 of my dollars because I am an idiot.
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This post is part of The 30 Minus 2 Day Writing Challenge and is hosted by We Work for Cheese.
I count fat people when I go on long trips. Passes the time nicely.
That first paragraph is one long sentence. 😉
Love the photos. Always nice to find something to break up a long drive.
You are my soul sistah! Beautiful photos, too.
Ah yes, daydreaming while driving has gotten me into some pretty no-so-good situations too. But, hey, at least you captured some cool pictures!
Also – this made me laugh, loudly:
“There is something excruciatingly unsatisfying about cursing up a storm all by yourself in the car.”
Going the wrong way? That’s how this whole 30M2DoW started for me. Turn back while you still can! I don’t care how much it costs!
I can relate to that! One year on our way to Florida on I-75, we stopped for lunch and ended up going north instead of south on the interstate. Fortunately, we didn’t go to far before I said “Aren’t we going the wrong way?”.
It’s almost surreal when that happens, trying to figure out if you’re lost or not.
While I love visiting San Francisco…I really do… but driving there makes me nuts. Thank God for the public transportation or I would never get out of the hotel.
Public Transportation is so underrated. Especially in my village.
Oh man, I’ve done the exact same thing on the Bay Bridge. It’s so frustrating driving toward that toll booth when all you want to do is head the other way.
I love your closer for this post. I got a good chuckle out of that.
Thanks, KZ!
How beautiful!!!! I was born in San Diego… I would LOVE to go back and see California!!!
It can be pretty here. 🙂
I had a similar thing happen to me in Baltimore, where I had to pay $5 to go through a tunnel that took me in the wrong direction. But I DONT live there.
See? You don’t have to feel stupid about your thing. I do.
You know, you coulda just sent me the 5 bucks and not posted today. But I’m glad you didn’t. I kinda love that first 150-word long sentence. Perfection.
Awww, thanks, Nicky! You flatter me *bats eyelashes*.
You could have just driven down to San Jose, gotten on the 880 and come to Alameda. All free! Silly girl!
Good Lord, that sounds like an extra 3 hours. If I do that, I’m bringing my sleeping bag, cuz I’d be all tuckered out by the time I got to your house!
Uhm, Margaret, don’t you think you’d be comfortable in Jayne’s “Blue Room” or Harry’s Apartment?
Sounds to me like you took a bridge too far.
Indeed, dufus.
Oops. So you had to pay $5.00 for this post? Ugh.
Wow, $5 seems steep. Come to the midwest. We have 654 inches of snow, but at least our roads are free.
654 inches of snow sounds like a lot. That’s a lot, right? You know how many inches of snow we have? Zilch. Nada. Zero. Not bragging because as you may or may not know, we’re actually in the middle of a severe drought.
Bottling up a bunch for you and sending it there. Please leave in freezer.
I sometimes take the wrong turn out of the barn and end up in Luke’s pen.
I will no longer maaa on the consequences of that
You say that as if it’s accidental winding up in Luke’s pen. 🙂