Virtual Gridlock

Well, I definitely think that was the worst traffic I have ever been in in my entire life. I don't know what happened really, but Atlanta's world-famous Spaghetti Junction was shut down this morning. Not the whole thing, I don't think. There was a truck overturned on I-285 North/West (something about chicken and a fire is all I know), just after the merge with the I-85 South ramp. So, 285 backed up past my house (that's 8 miles at least), and I-85 South backed up to 316 (not sure how far that is, but it's pretty far). It had been shut down since about 6 AM.

DH thankfully called me this morning to let me know. We don't take the interstate to school, so other than just being a little slow, it didn't occur to me that there would be a problem. I figured an hour to get there instead of the usual 30-40 minutes. Ha ha ha! Captain Herb, the helicopter traffic guy for WSB 750 AM, said to also avoid a bunch of back up roads. He named Chamblee-Tucker, the road Luke's daycare is on, and Henderson Mill, the road we use to get there. There is literally NO way to get to the school from our side of town without taking Chamblee-Tucker or Henderson Mill. His center is literally 1/4 mile from the bridge that crosses over the I-285/I-85 interchange, right in the heart of the chaos this morning. Traffic was moving pretty well, until I tried to get onto Henderson Mill. I wasn't even *on* Henderson Mill yet, and I wasn't moving at all. Okay, that's not true. I quite literally moved 3 car lengths in 8 minutes. I moved 2 car additional car lengths in the next 10 minutes. I "only" had half a tank of gas, which I knew would not be enough to get us to school at that rate!

It wasn't worth it. I turned around and came home (once I got to a good place to turn). So, Luke is home for the day, once again the day I have 3 conference calls. Guess one more day of rotting his brain with hours of television won't kill him. It's better than being stuck in the non-moving car with me for hours!

Currently feeling: going no where fast