Driving Observations

So I've just arrived in Atlanta, and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts with you from the road.

The last two times I've driven to Atlanta, it has seemed like there were an inordinate number of cars stopped by the side of the road. Today, half of them seemed to have people in or around them, but the other time, they were all abandoned.

Last week on vacation, I had occasion to view a bunch of the WPA photographs taken all over the nation during the Great Depression. There were a bunch of shots of families in their cars, stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I wonder if there are more cars on the side of the road because more people are taking their chances trying to see if they can get there without getting more gas. Is this an economic indicator?

In more pleasant news, I experienced gracious drivers twice in 2 minutes. I ended up in a left turn only lane at an intersection I was hoping was my road, but which turned out not to be. I contemplated trying to get over into the next lane, but since we got a turn arrow before they got a green light, decided that would be a most annoying thing to do. So I turned left.

It was a little street, with lots of traffic. There was a parking lot up ahead on the left, where I planned to turn around. But there were lots of cars, so I resigned myself to sitting and waiting for a long time before there was a break in traffic. Suddenly, the car in the opposing lane stopped and waved me in. I was so surprised, I think I probably gave him a laugh with the look of delight on my face.

Then, as I was trying to pull back onto the little, crowded street, the same thing happened. It was lovely. Both drivers were men in expensive cars of whom I would not have expected such courtesy. How silly of me.