I was scratchin' where it itched

Another weekend of absolutely horrific traffic -- volume, road closures, detours. On these PA to NC round-trip excursions, I would like to take the time to stop and smell the roses, i.e. have a ham roll at the Nottoway or a pulled pork sandwich at Chubby's, but really, who can be bothered when an 8-hour-trip is being extended for 2-3 more hours?

You just want to get where you're going.

The ordeal began about 75 miles south of D.C. (which must be mentioned in any traffic nightmare tale) with stopping and rolling for about 25 miles. Even my back way to avoid the Capital Beltway ran straight into a row of flares that signalled a closed road. I stopped at a convenience store near the scene, where I overheard a short, stocky Hispanic man talking to others about the situation. In very broken English, he described how he was going to take a back road around the the problem. It was all I could do to understand him, but I was positive he said we could all follow him. I looked at my GPS, which suggested heading back towards D.C., the Beltway and traffic.

What to do, trust the "native," or technology?

I got into my car and fell into a line of about 10-12 cars for a couple of miles until I got to to an intersection and had to make the decision which way to go.

I hesitated, looked in my rear view mirror at the cars behind me and then looked at the leader of the convoy in his beaten, weathered old F-150. I took my foot off the gas for just for a split second to look at the GPS.

I hate the Beltway. I followed him.

The caravan traveled narrow county roads that dipped up and down through beautiful horse country for what seemed like forever. The reality was, that in about 30 minutes I was back on the the extension of my original route, heading north towards Frederick, Md., and far from D.C. As I turned away from him, I saw him wave from the driver's window.

It's nice to still be able to trust someone.

The road less traveled.....really did make all the difference.

Still, another successful Taekwondo best testing for Jack, so in the end it was worth it. Trust me, Jack and Ruby are always worth it, no matter how long and far the distance -- even one that lasts about 22 hours round-trip.