Take the Long Way Home
May. 23rd, 2023 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeYesterday, we tried once again to establish a new dentist for Lisa. Traffic into Reno was light.
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This roughly 60 km trip took us only about 45 minutes from our home to the dental office.
Unfortunately, once again the description and assurances about preserving patient health did not match the reality, as everyone seems convinced that COVID is over and moreover, it never existed in the first place, so let's all forget everything we ever learned about keeping people safe. Lisa walked out.
Trying to make the most of having made the trip, we went to two grocery stores, ending with the Raley's at McCarran and Pyramid in Sparks. We got away from the store about 3:30 PM and I hoped that we'd be able to get home as fast as we'd come to town. However, as soon as we got on the freeway, traffic ground to a halt. At first we thought it was just a short backup, but things got worse. Having spent 45 minutes to go the roughly 6 km from Raley's, I turned on the radio to hear the traffic report. There had apparently been multiple accidents starting just past Vista Blvd (where I-80 leaves Sparks and enters the Truckee River Canyon) and continuing as far as Mustang (another roughly 8 km east). Traffic was at a standstill.
Alternative routes are long, but at the rate we were going, it would have been faster to walk home, so we decided to bail out. Thanks to Lisa catching the eye of a friendly truck driver in the lane to our right, we were able to exit at the last possible Sparks exit (Vista Blvd.), and from there we went on a very roundabout alternative route.
We headed up Vista and then over to the Pyramid Highway, then up to the Paiute nation, then back down NV-447 to Wadsworth and then home. This is roughly twice the distance as the trip in to Reno was earlier in the day, but once we got clear of Spanish Springs, we were moving the whole time. From the amount of traffic around us (albeit moving at full speed), we weren't the only people who decided that going along the two long sides of the triangle was the better bet. Even with a slowdown at the NV-445/447 junction south of Sutcliffe caused by a big rig having difficulty making the very sharp turn, it was still a much better trip.
There was a surprisingly large amount of traffic coming the other way. I don't know if there was a corresponding problem westbound I-80 that sent people the long way around.
I did not learn whether the multiple accidents on eastbound I-80 between Vista and Mustang were cleared by the time we got home, but even if they did, I know I liked that drive up to Pyramid Lake and back home much better than I would have liked sitting in stalled traffic for two hours.
<
This roughly 60 km trip took us only about 45 minutes from our home to the dental office.
Unfortunately, once again the description and assurances about preserving patient health did not match the reality, as everyone seems convinced that COVID is over and moreover, it never existed in the first place, so let's all forget everything we ever learned about keeping people safe. Lisa walked out.
Trying to make the most of having made the trip, we went to two grocery stores, ending with the Raley's at McCarran and Pyramid in Sparks. We got away from the store about 3:30 PM and I hoped that we'd be able to get home as fast as we'd come to town. However, as soon as we got on the freeway, traffic ground to a halt. At first we thought it was just a short backup, but things got worse. Having spent 45 minutes to go the roughly 6 km from Raley's, I turned on the radio to hear the traffic report. There had apparently been multiple accidents starting just past Vista Blvd (where I-80 leaves Sparks and enters the Truckee River Canyon) and continuing as far as Mustang (another roughly 8 km east). Traffic was at a standstill.
Alternative routes are long, but at the rate we were going, it would have been faster to walk home, so we decided to bail out. Thanks to Lisa catching the eye of a friendly truck driver in the lane to our right, we were able to exit at the last possible Sparks exit (Vista Blvd.), and from there we went on a very roundabout alternative route.
We headed up Vista and then over to the Pyramid Highway, then up to the Paiute nation, then back down NV-447 to Wadsworth and then home. This is roughly twice the distance as the trip in to Reno was earlier in the day, but once we got clear of Spanish Springs, we were moving the whole time. From the amount of traffic around us (albeit moving at full speed), we weren't the only people who decided that going along the two long sides of the triangle was the better bet. Even with a slowdown at the NV-445/447 junction south of Sutcliffe caused by a big rig having difficulty making the very sharp turn, it was still a much better trip.
There was a surprisingly large amount of traffic coming the other way. I don't know if there was a corresponding problem westbound I-80 that sent people the long way around.
I did not learn whether the multiple accidents on eastbound I-80 between Vista and Mustang were cleared by the time we got home, but even if they did, I know I liked that drive up to Pyramid Lake and back home much better than I would have liked sitting in stalled traffic for two hours.
