I’m back from my day trip to Boston. I landed there Monday morning around 10:05, well ahead of schedule. I had two hours to meet my customer, so I was thinking I was in good shape.
I was wrong. I got on the Mass Turnpike heading west when I decided to stop and check my directions. Dumb move! Turnpikes don’t easily let you back on, so I decided to see how far Route 16 took me.
As I’m driving along, I pass groups of schoolkids on the sidewalks. There were balloons tied to fences. People were sitting out on their porch steps. Planes trailing banners competed for space with F-15 Eagles flying overhead.
“Hmm,” I thought. “Must be something going on.”
That something, I soon discovered, was the Boston Marathon!
Now that I was off the beaten path of I-90 I was doomed. Roadblocks were everywhere. New England can be confusing enough to navigate without having to backtrack several miles to get around a race course. I found my way to Route 9, which took me up to 495. From there, I missed my turn and had to backtrack to 495, which thwarted me again since the exits I wanted to use to turn around were blocked by police for the race.
I wound up at the customer’s site a half hour late. Fortunately we had a good laugh about it.
I did my thing there and got back to the airport early with an eye on getting an early flight back. I was the fifth standby for four empty seats. D’oh! Oh well, at least my Boingo account got me on the Internet.
I did manage to get home in time to tell the kids goodnight, which was the highlight of my day. As much as I hate leaving the family I have a number of trips lined up for the near future.
Whatever happened to life slowing down?