small victories: Highway

Photo Credit*

 
Today I took the highway to school for the first time.

When we first moved in, B made sure I had a car and a GPS so I could make my way safely to school each day on my own. But the GPS never told me to go on the highway -- we figured since the on and off ramps to both places were not technically "on the way."

But taking the highway was SO much better.

I didn't have to deal with narrow streets, traffic lights every other 200 meters, bicyclists, mopeds, other cars parked by the road where there is no shoulder, roadwork detours, or giant 14-wheelers coming at me from the opposite direction and halfway in my lane. After driving on these kinds of roads for over a month, what really started to get to me were the amount of red lights. What could have taken me 12 minutes was taking me 30 minutes with constant stop and go while waiting for the lights to change. Plus I always felt super stressed that I was going to hit something (I did hit a parked car's rearview mirror but luckily our mirror folds in so it took the brunt of the impact) or something was going to hit me. I was about ready to pull my hair out!

So I took the highway today. And even though the distance may be longer, I have no qualms because it gets me there in the same amount of time, if not less. NO red lights, NO parked cars, NO dastardly scooters, and NO giant oncoming trucks. Plus it's better for our car and fuel mileage because I am not always alternating on the gas and brake pedals all the time.

Win!