Bridge traffic (and P.S.)

[Tad Eareckson]

To give credit where credit is due it was actually the editorial genius and
civic spirit displayed on the front page of the 2002/06/01 edition of "The
Capital" (Annapolis) newspaper that brought so much joy to the residents of the
Broadneck Peninsula and drivers smart enough to have figured it out themselves.
(Apologize to the Sun now, Cragin.) (It would also be nice if several
individuals would actually read Scott's posts and apologize to him but I won't
belabor that point.)

You can legally avoid all but the last two miles of US 50/301 bridge traffic
by navigating to arrive at Exit 29 but, as Brian says, get there by ten and
there's no problem. If you have to start prepping for the outing on Monday
evening - get there by ten.

Also - even if you're only going to use it once - get an E-ZPass. The
Maryland program (http://www.m-tag.com) is free and there is a very nice dedicated lane on
the left. I'm enough of a communist that I'd like to see them as built-in
mandated equipment on all vehicles operating within a thousand miles of a toll
facility. Glaciers would recover overnight. (Privacy advocates - forgive me.)

Once across there is occasionally a problem with Ocean City traffic
detectable prior to the 50/301 split. If you peel off towards the north and the
following intersections are punched into a route definition for your GPS receiver...

39 00.552
75 56.175
304MBR
304/Mason Branch Road

39 00.238
75 54.654
MBRCHL
Mason Branch Road/Cherry Lane

39 00.352
75 54.405
CHLCKL
Cherry Lane/Clarks Lane

38 59.402
75 53.872
CKLSKR
Clarks Lane/Sparks Road

38 59.327
75 52.544
SKR312
Sparks Road/312

you can make it across the Tuckahoe rather nicely.

Getting back home is the real problem. The timing trick that works so well
eastbound isn't much good and to get on the Bridge one must first get onto Kent
Island and there's not much in the way of options for crossing the Narrows
(note - beach traffic on MD 18 makes life hell for the locals).

I don't take the back roads route on the way home unless I've heard something
'cause after dark you kill a lot more insects that way and backups aren't
usually a problem before the split.

The only marginally useful suggestion I have for the return is to get on the
south span to cross the Bay. People tend to shy away from the two way traffic
and you can sometimes get into fifth gear a lot sooner than the rest of the
herd.

P.S. Speaking of apologies and Ridgely...

I'd like to more publicly than amongst the breakdown and pizza crowds of the
day express my appreciation for John Middleton not bashing my skull in with a
spare downtube as soon as I took off my helmet after my flight on 2004/09/12.

I was in a small kettle (they're kettles - not gaggles) climbing in light
lift. There was little vertical separation and it was a bit intense for a long
time. Approaching 4K all but one other glider had dropped out and I let my
guard down. Looked at my vario then up at a cloud to see if there might be some
clue as to eking out another couple of hundred feet and initiated a turn.

A second later when I bothered to look where I was going my field of vision
was filled with glider. Good thing he had stuffed the bar to dive under me
'cause, beyond putting my hand on my deployment handle, there wasn't shit I
could've done at that point.

The rest of that otherwise very enjoyable flight was tainted by the
aftereffects of the near lethal adrenalin overdose and I imagine John's heart was
pounding for a while too.

So, sorry 'bout that again. Will always feel bad about that one.

[CraginS]

Dear Mr. B. Sun.
I'm sorry I mis-identified and then maligned you. (Does that contract to "I'm sorry I misaligned you?")
Please buy the Annapolis Capital and fire the offending reporter and editor.
Thank you for your consideration.

cragin

[quote="Tad Eareckson"]
To give credit where credit is due it was actually the editorial genius and civic spirit displayed on the front page of the 2002/06/01 edition of "The Capital" (Annapolis) newspaper that brought so much joy to the residents of the Broadneck Peninsula and drivers smart enough to have figured it out themselves.
(Apologize to the Sun now, Cragin.)

>>SNIP<<