Sunday, April 8, 2012

On The Road.

Before we moved to our current home in 2010, we lived in rural Sussex County, New Jersey.  There was a farm at the end of our street with horses.  You had to pass farms to get to our house.  To get anywhere from our house, you had to pass a ton of other stuff since our house was located far from everything.  Except maybe farms.

As a result, we spent a great deal of time on the road.  Now that we've moved, we don't spend nearly so much.  Here's a list of the top ten things I don't miss, to link up once again with Monday Listicles.

1.  Gas prices.  I mean honestly. Even when they go down a little, they are still awful.  And when you can't do anything without driving at least 10 miles, you spend a fortune just thinking about leaving the house.

2.  My child loved to play games where we named everything we could think of in a particular category.  And by we, I mean that I had to make these lists for his amusement.   Name all the colors!  Name everything that starts with Q!  Name all the big birds!  Name all the numbers!

3.  Since there were only 2 main roads that connected us with civilization, everyone and their mother was always on them at the same time.  There was always traffic.  Always.

4.  It seemed like there was constantly construction going on.  It didn't matter if we were driving in the dead of night, rush hour or the middle of the day, there was always a road crew exactly where I was.  

5.  The other by-product of construction was all of the flying rocks and debris that I could guarantee would hit my window while riding on Route 80.  Less than a month after getting a brand new car, I replaced that brand new windshield with an even brand newer windshield courtesy of a giant rock kicked up by a construction vehicle pulling out of the construction site as I drove past.  Thank you very much.

6.  In the span of 6 months, we had two car accidents (both times my son was in the car - he was about 2.75 the first time, 3.25 the second time).  No one was hurt, thank goodness, but the second one lead to the new car mentioned in #5 above.

7.  20 miles to the closest Trader Joe's.  40 miles to the closest Whole Foods.  Need I say more?

8.  You could not go ANYWHERE at 3pm unless you wanted to be stuck behind a school bus on a rural road for the next hour.  You might as well wait at home until 4pm and you'd still get where you wanted to go at the same time.

9.   I only went into the office 2 days every week, but it was still dreadful.  43 miles to my in-laws' house to drop off Nathan.  6.5 miles to my office.  6.5 miles back to their house, 43 miles back home.  Nearly 100 miles and 2+ hours on the road for about 5-6 hours of work.

10.  Are we there yet?  Are we there yet? Are we there yet?  Are we there yet?  I'm bored.  I'm hungry.  I'm tired.  I'm uncomfortable. It's hot in here.  It's cold in here.  I have to go to the bathroom.  Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

There you have it, the top ten things that I do not miss from my days of being on the road all the time!


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22 comments:

  1. Hi Michelle -
    we too live far away from everything. Pretty much to drive anywhere is at least 30 mins one way which means 1 hour. Although seeing all the greenery and horses is nice, I'm with you - the driving is killing me!

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    1. Hey Ado! It seemed like a good idea before we had a kid. After that, bad, bad idea.

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  2. Traffic blows!!! I'd never want to leave the house either! When you HAVE to drive so much to do anything, I can totally understand not wanting to be in the car.

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  3. the joys of rural living, I remember it well LOL

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    1. As much as I miss the scenery, we're so much happier where we are now. Thanks for reading!

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  4. i live in the city and i still find myself in the car way too friggin much. ugh!

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    1. Yeah. I'm totally spoiled now - my commute is 2 miles to my office. And I still manage to complain about it!

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  5. There is a town on our island way prettier then ours. But there is nothing there. The thought of having to drive 15 miles to pick up a burger makes me break out. Country side is so pretty until you live there :)

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    1. That was one of the worst parts - there was no where to eat! We couldn't even get pizza delivered!

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  6. I loved country living so much I am still living it---sort of. We are in weird county where just about everywhere is rural, but I do have dreams of a walking life. Great list. Erin

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    1. Thanks Erin! It had it's plusses for sure. But not spending so much time on the road now that we've moved back to an urban area has made things so much easier. We gave up some stuff moving, but all of it worth it!

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  7. OMG, I thought my commute used to be bad! Geez!

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    1. It was dreadful. When I was pregnant and commuting only 30 miles each way, I used to stop on the way home to rest because I was so exhausted!

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  8. The gas prices are killing me right now! I'm glad I live in an area where it's not too too hard to get around.

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    1. We pay more per gallon where we live now, but we drive so much less so we still make out better. Thanks for reading!

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  9. Traffic sucks! but I swear being stuck behind the bus is torture!

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    1. The bus is just sitting there. The children take their dear sweet time getting on the bus. I just want to scream at them to hurry up, but that would make me look crazy, right? Thanks for reading!

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  10. I didn't know you were a Jersey girl too (or had been)? We're in Camden county, quite the opposite of the farm lands you so described.

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    1. Yup, I'm from Jersey! Born and raised in East Rutherford (Giants Stadium?) and now I'm in Essex County. I was in Sussex County for 7 years. I don't really know much about Camden County, that's pretty far from me. Though I've been wanting to go to the aquarium down there. :)

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  11. funny, funny, funny - and I love that you know the PRECISE mileage of everything. I suspect that kids have been whining "are we there yet" from the days of getting from A to B on the back of a dinosaur...and the kids mothers were saying, "if you don't be quiet I'm going to pull over and feed you to the TRex."

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    1. when he asks if we're there I just say, "almost." doesn't matter if I'm 1 mile or 30 miles away. I figure if I don't ever answer him, maybe he'll stop asking. It hasn't worked yet, btw. :)

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