Wrong Turn

I was visiting my folks on the East Coast last weekend,and one of the things we did was pick my sister up at the airport (Reagan National, to be specific).  I was glad that we had a chance to see my sister, and, by the time we got there, I'm sure she was glad to see us.

We (Mom, Dad, and your hero behind the wheel) left my parent's house in the outskirts of Charm City at about 1630 local time, and had to be at the airport at 1830 -- plenty of cushion.  There was more traffic than usual on the road, some of which I attributed to absurd rubbernecking, some of which I couldn't account for.  The odd thing is, though, that when we got onto New York Ave., traffic was as light as I've ever seen it.  Piece of cake!

We turned onto I-395 to go through the city and to the airport, and were going to make it there with time to spare.  As we went through the last tunnel, there was a cop racing through.  I yielded for the cop, blew my stack at my father-navigator, and missed the turn onto 395.  Seething, I ended up, somehow, on the Suitland Parkway, on my way toward Andrews AFB.  Not good.

We got on the Beltway, though, about 8 miles from the Wilson Bridge and 10 miles from the exit to U. S. 1.  10 minutes to the exit, 10 minutes to the airport -- no problem!  There was a problem, though.  There was an accident about 10 and a half miles ahead.  It took us -- no lie -- one hour and ten minutes to travel the 10 miles to get to the exit.  Not exactly Happy Hour in the Buick.

As I said, I think my sister was glad to see us, even though we were an hour and 15 minutes late.  We had a meal and a fun drive back to Maryland.  All in all, an exhausting day, made more so by my, well, inanity.

Comments

[robert marta]

I was only trying to keep you in the right hand lane so you wouldn't miss the turn to 395. your dad

[mjm]

Ok, Dad, how many times do I have to admit that I was wrong?

Sheesh!