Five nights… I mean five days!

July 27, 2009 in Uncategorized
Tags: driving, knee injury, left-hand turn, Louisiana, running

I’ve decided to add a night to my last week and leave on Sunday instead of Saturday. This gives me a third day to pack and relax before hitting the road. Also, my roommate Rachel will be driving north on Sunday. We’ll caravan and if I get tired, I can stop with her. Once again perfect plans slide into place on their own.

Five:

I will miss… running on the neutral ground. (Neutral ground = grassy median between opposite sides of traffic.) One of the most positive results of my time in New Orleans has been learning to run. Two pair of shoes, three injuries, four races and hundreds of miles later — I like running. I used to think why I didn’t run: running requires strong self discipline, a mental toughness. Those all things I like to beat myself up over on a daily basis. The problem: knee injury and boredom. In Louisiana I ran for the scenery and I raced for the free beer and jambalaya.

I can do without… the Louisiana left-hand turn. The neutral ground creates a no-man’s land of road between stoplights. Most of these intersections don’t allow a left-hand turn. Instead, cars pull through the intersection and do a U-turn at the next street that crosses through the neutral ground. Once on the same street (heading in the opposite direction) it’s possible to make a right-hand turn onto the road originally intended to turn left onto. It’s dangerous: Hesitation could mean an accident from both the rear and oncoming traffic. It’s also just plain annoying, especially if you’re going somewhere you’ve never been and don’t have GoogleMaps in front of you.