A Night in a Commuter's Life

Miss me?

Wonder where I was? Thinking that perhaps I hung my Fool's cap up?

Well, worry not, fellow fools. I simply encountered the occasional hitch in the commuter's life. That would be the one that goes like this:

One person was killed and another was plucked from the water below the Tappan Zee Bridge this afternoon after a tractor-trailer slammed into a disabled car and started a fire, according to a state Thruway Authority supervisor.

The 3 p.m. crash in the southbound lanes shut down the Tappan Zee Bridge in both directions.

Usually, I go home after my last class, which ends just after 3PM. Today, however, I presented the school's new Freshman advisory curriculum, a new orientation course for incoming students that I had worked on with some collegues over the summer. We ran the first of two sessions of professional development to those teachers that had advisory classes on their programs.

I didn't leave the Bronx until 4PM.

Needless to say, going home in that mess was not an option. The good news is that the Bear Mountain Bridge is another option:


The trouble was, plenty of people coming home from the city had the same idea.

Can I tell you how insanely 1950s some of Westchester County's roads truly are. I drove North with scores of other irate drivers on a two lane local highway...with traffic lights! TRAFFIC LIGHTS!

Not. Good. Business.

Fortunately, the Subaru Outback is simply the greatest driving experience. I sat in my comfortablely standard apolstered bucket seat listening to the Judge Roberts Confirmation hearing. Then, after I crossed the Bear Mountain Bridge between Peekskill and Highland, I tuned to the Yankees. In time to hear them score five runs off the tantalizing Yankee-killing Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Nice!

I didn't get home until 7:30 PM. A 37 mile trip became a nearly 80 mile one. Yes, it took me three hours to get home.

The joys of commuting.