Traffic iz teh suk

Wow. I mean wow. The traffic, it exploded.

I heard a report on AM radio (not sure how accurate it was) that two lanes on our normal bridge home were closed due to construction and then there was a car fire. Seriously. The newscaster said (may he simmer in heck) that we'd save a lot of time if we took the other bridge.

Really?

Because we spent an hour and a half just trying to get to the other bridge. The DH called it quits within a mile of the ramp (because the only reason we were moving at all was due to people bailing) and took a side road east. Our plan? Get completely out of Dodge and cross the river in the lovely Gorge. It would take almost an extra hour, but fine, at least we'd be moving.

Or so we thought.

See, people decided it would be easier to head on this side road east too, cut across, and get on the bridge with the car on fire on it because it must be faster than the bridge they wanted onto. I guess they didn't listen to AM radio.

So then (bear in mind this is Saturday and we aren't expecting any traffic at all) we got stuck on this two lane road behind all the people trying to get on a bridge with only one partial lane open.

It took us another hour (I think ...) to get past that. By then, we had to stop somewhere. Had to.

Now we're sitting in a bar. Just about everyone here is waiting for the traffic to clear up. There's no room at the two restaurants on the lovely McMenamin's Edgefield property, but the bars have seating and so we grabbed ourselves a lovely table for two. I had pan-seared ahi tuna with baby boc choi and jasmine rice. My DH had the Hunter's Platter--lots of dead wild animals with yummy potatoes and what I believe was swiss chard seasoned with fresh garlic slivers.

Amazing food. What luxury after being cooped up in a car for so long. We're looking at the traffic webcams and both bridges still look atrocious. Unless there's a radical change before the end of dessert, we're moving on eastward.

Just goes to show that maybe the best fix for a traffic jam is to take the next exit and wait it out in a place with excellent food and even better company.