Frog and Toad and Dead End Roads

Oops, We did it again.

The saying goes that in the north there are two seasons: Winter and Construction.

Well, we're deep into Construction Season. We've bumped our way over many roads that need an overhaul and wound our way through plenty of orange barrels.

Then, there is the morning local traffic report.

The TV was on as we were eating breakfast and packing up, catching glimpses of the weather and traffic reports, but not paying much attention. There was something about an accident, some road was closed.... Perhaps we should have listened more closely, but it was turning into one of those mornings.

We left later than hoped, stalled by phone calls and a malfunction in the Leveling System, which kept wanting to drop the jacks. It's really hard to move forward when the jacks that keep the camper level are on the ground. Finally, Toad was hooked, jacks were up and phone calls were ignored. We were on our way.

Ten miles after we got on I-70 traffic came to a standstill. I pulled out my phone to see what MapQuest could tell me. A black line outlining the highway was punctuated by a circle with a line through it. A section of the interstate was closed. Humph. Annoying. We were stuck in a long line that was finally funneled off onto a side road. A police officer stood at the end of the exit directing traffic; some to the left, some to the right. We wanted to go right. He took one look at us and pointed left. In hindsight, I suspect he was trying to tell us we were too big and we needed to stay on the main roads.

I grabbed the Road Atlas and started searching. OK, I told Larry. Stay on here and we can pick up US-40 and take it to Washington and get back on I-70.

Our GPS didn't like the plan. Turn left in 1/2 mile, she said. "Don't!" I said.

Larry was heading away from where he instinctively felt we should be going.

Finally, 'she' convinced him there was a better way. The road she wanted us to take did indeed go to I-70, further west from where we had exited. I didn't like it, but Larry really wanted to get back on I-70. We turned onto a ..... yes, of course.... a narrow road. A half mile in a sign warned us of lots of curves ahead. Well, we couldn't turn around. We kept going, and going, .....A car coming our way pulled over as far as it could and came to a full stop. I could imagine the driver inside sucking in his breath and leaning as far away from us as he could, as if that would make more room. We inched past.

And then we saw a Semi ahead of us! We took that to be a hopeful sign. If he could make it, we'd be ok. Hopefully. He was leaving a trail of leaves as he drove under low hanging branches, but he wasn't clearing the path completely. Tree branches whipped and snapped at us as we drove under trees not accustomed to big rigs. We kept going, and going.... Finally I-70 began to show up on my iPhone map. I was just starting to relax when we rounded a bend in the road.

There was the sign: Road Closed 1500 Feet Ahead.

?*&!@$%!!!(More Unprintable language)

Seriously, We had no where to go. We weren't facing steep cliffs, but we took up most of the road we were on. It was forward or backward.

We passed a house and crept around another curve to see two semi's stopped at the bottom of a hill at a cross road. The good news was the dreaded barrier blocking our way was on the other side of the intersection! The bad news was the turn was too tight for the semi's to make. We stopped. Thankfully, they were quite a ways ahead of us, but it was obvious they were trying to figure how to make the turn from one narrow road onto another. We had just passed a small house and I was ready to get out, disconnect Toad so we could back into their yard, and get out of there, but we watched the trucks to see what they figured out.

One driver was out talking to the other driver. Truck number two backed up a bit, so truck number one could back up. Finally, the first truck maneuvered his way around the turn, and semi number two was able to do the same thing.

It was our turn. We ventured forth, swung wide, and rumbled down the road; I-70 a few miles ahead. A few more turns, much bumping and banging over pockmarked highway, and a whole lot of construction barrels later we found ourselves back where we wanted to be. It was almost noon. We hadn't yet gone 50 miles. It was going to be a long day.

But I had a new mission. I'm not allowing him to take anymore unknown detours. From now on, it's interstate or Principal Highways as designated by our road atlas.

I've also realized taking the Grands on a trip in the RV wouldn't be a good idea...unless they are wearing earmuffs.