What a morning......

I live on a highway that has been under construction for close to 2 years now. Until July, it was on the OTHER side of the highway, so it didn't bother me much, other than having to dodge the orange traffic cones if they got knocked over & out into traffic. But that all changed at the end of the summer when the construction was completed on the other side of the road & moved to our side. Ugh. What a mess. Between the mud & the gravel & the giant potholes & (sometimes!) closed off roads that prevent me from getting out of the neighbhorhood & onto the highway, it's a yucky mess ALL the time. My van has been to the carwash more in the past 7 months than it has in its lifetime, I believe. It's constantly filthy. This morning was one of those mornings when I wish I knew a bunch of cuss words. Might've made me feel better. ha ha!

The construction crew tears up the road then smooths it out......tears it up & smooths it out...back & forth. Today was a "tear it up" day, I guess. There are 3 streets that I can take to get out of my neighborhood. This morning, I tried my usual route, but the street was blocked off with a big pile of dirt. :::sigh::: I backed up & went to another street. Again...big pile of dirt. Grrrrrr! I went to the third (& final!) street. The same mound of dirt was there. By this time I'm getting mad. I need to get to work & I can't get onto the highway! What am I supposed to do??

About the time I was getting aggrivated, I watched a big truck drive down the bumpy, torn up road & drive across the pile of dirt, onto the highway. Hmm....all I could figure out was 'if he can do it, I guess I can, too!'. I was very hesitant because the piled up dirt looked too deep for me to cross, but when he drove across it, it packed down flat & I figured I'd just follow him & go out the same way he did. Yeah, well......that didn't work. Apparently my tires didn't exactly follow the ruts his tires made & voila.....I was stuck. I was high centered on this huge mound of dirt.

Between being mad, embarassed & frustrated, I was in no mood to deal with a smart alecky construction crew guy. When he drove up on his bulldozer thing, I motioned to him that I didn't know what to do. He motioned the same back to me...as if he was just going to drive off & leave me stuck like that. He got down out of his tractor thing & came toward my van. I tried to open my door to explain what happened & realized that I couldn't! I was trapped. My door wouldn't even open b/c the dirt was so deep! I rolled down my window & explained that all three streets were blocked & I came out the only way I could see to do so, following a truck that seemed to have no trouble getting out. He made some smart remark & I just eyeballed him. Honestly, at this point I was at his mercy. I couldn't get out of my van. I can't move the van forward or backward. I'm STUCK. When he didn't seem to offer any help, I picked up my phone & said "I guess I'll call my husband to bring his truck & chains to pull me out." Finally, he stepped up to the plate & offered to have some of the construction guys come down with some chains & pull me out. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Within 10 minutes, a handful of men pulled up, approached the van with big chains & decided that, rather than towing me out, they would just push me out. There were 5 or 6 of them, so I put it in Reverse & hit the gas while they shoved me back over the pile of dirt & onto the flat, torn up roadway.

I was directed to drive about 1/2 a mile down the road to the high school driveway to exit my neighborhood. Umm...yeah, I would've thought of that automatically when I left my neighborhood. Seriously, if they expect people to do that, they need to put up a sign or have a flagger to point you in that direction.

I was so frustrated, but thankful that these big gorilla-sized men were there & able to get me out of a jam this morning. As all those people drove past this morning, out on the highway, I couldn't help but wonder how many were pointing & laughing at that "stupid woman driver". Talk about humiliating! Still, I am irritated with all this dumb construction & ready for it to be OVER!!!!

I was only about 15 min late to work. And of course, when I walked in the first thing I did was drop my purse into the trashcan. (accidentally of course!)

My bad morning was cured when all my sweet students began to arrive, Valentine cards in hand, psyched up about our cookie decorating party & all the candy & cards they would receive before the day was over! I got lots of hugs, bunches of chocolate & sugary treats, some bath goodies & a Sonic gift card! Yum! As the day went on, things got better, but let me just say....... if tomorrow (Friday the 13th!) is anything like this morning, I may just go back home & get back in bed!