The Carolinas

Gizmo mostly happy in his carrier, despite the tongue :)

I started off on time this morning.  In fact, I left an hour earlier than I had anticipated.  But it ended up not making a difference because I got stuck in ridiculous stop and go traffic for about an hour.  It took me that long to go 15 miles.  It was crazy.  I couldn't figure out what the problem was.  Usually there is an accident or something that causes that kind of traffic problem, right?  Well, this just seemed to be lots of trucks.  And when I say lots, I mean tons.  There were generally several in a row in each lane.  When the traffic started moving a little faster, I kept thinking, I just gotta get ahead of these trucks and it will be faster.  But ahead of THOSE trucks, were more trucks.  It was insane.

Gluten-free Peanut Butter cookies from a friend, the only
problem is that they're really crumbly and got crumbs
all over my front seat.

So that got me thinking about an article I read in my Spanish class a couple months ago.  It was about energy use, mainly, but as it related to transportation.  It was basically saying how the transportation system is not designed to minimize the number of people on the road.

Stop and go both in the restricted lanes and the normal lanes
to the right.

Side note: I totally agree about the public transportation systems in the U.S. because the best example I have seen is the DC Metro area, and it STILL sucks.  It is expensive and unreliable.  It costs less in gas to drive then it does to take the metro.  The only difference is that with having to pay for parking, it costs more.  But I don't think it costs more when you have a large family.  For example, this past week it cost $5.40 per day to get to and from work.  Now granted, the cost depends on the time of day you are traveling.  But it also depends on how FAR you are going.  Let's just say that you were traveling during that time, or the distance where it cost about that.  If you have 2 kids, that is 4 people, it would cost over $20 dollars to use the metro!  And that doesn't include the cost of parking at the metro station if you don't live within walking distance.  If you parked at the metro, it would cost $25 per trip on the metro!  Gas is a LOT cheaper, and in this case, I'm pretty certain you could find parking that would make driving much less expensive.

After I merged back into the normal lanes of traffic, I was
met with this surprise.  Here are just four of the trucks
slowing down the traffic.  And that's just what can be
seen in a single picture.

Anyway, so one point that the article made about the public transportation system was about roads dedicated for commercial travel, that would be paid for by the companies that used them.  The author talked about how the regular person doesn't use the roads as much as these commercial companies, and that the trucks cause congestion which causes anyone on the road to use more gas (that was the connection to energy).  I started to think while I was in that traffic jam, that it really would make a lot of sense if commercial trucks had their own road system that was paid for by the companies who used them, where by some kind of toll or annual usage fee.  And it would eliminate the congestion caused by too many trucks on the road.
Well, a little later I was awed by a beautiful lightning show.  I saw lightning strike a couple times near the road.  It was amazing.  But what was even more awe-inspiring was the lightning show that was going on in the distance.  It is hard to explain, but it was like sheet lightning, but with a crackle to it.  It was almost like lightning was dancing in the sky, but not so defined.  I don't think that makes sense, but I'm not sure how else to describe it.

Raleigh, NC Temple - I stopped at a couple of temples
along the way to break up my trip.

I also got to see the sunset as I was driving.  Most of the time it was blocked by the trees, but when I got a glimpse of the horizon, the sunset was magnificent.  It was this deep red.  It was beautiful.
I made it to my hotel here in Columbia rather late.  I am so exhausted, but I'm glad I have a place to sleep for the night.  I barely made it to Columbia.  If I had had to go much further, I would have had to pull over for a nap.  And I still have a long way to go before I make it to El Paso!

Columbia, SC Temple.  Pretty even in the dark.

My new temporary home, almost like Oakwood, though not
quite as nice.

But with a bigger bed!