Today the Turtle Won
Oh my Gosh. Stauffer Avenue is just the sweetest place in the whole world. It is not often that Dennis had to have an appointment at the Veteran’s Clinic and Hospital in Minneapolis but today was the day. The old 18 wheeler never leaves anything to chance and is on the road far earlier than I would imagine is necessary. The appointment was for eleven this forenoon and Dennis had the car in the driveway at 7:15 and off we were off on our 129 mile trip. In my mind I could see us getting to the VA early enough to grab a cup of coffee and maybe even glance at a newspaper that always seems to be in abundance in the waiting rooms.
We don’t venture to the metro very often so it is interesting to see what has changed in the landscape in regard to additional buildings as well as checking out the crops. Farmers from another time need to check out the crops and revisit tales of “remember when.”
The traffic really began to get heavy about the time we were on Highway 169 at the Canterbury Downs exit. We were at that area at 9:00 a.m. It is approximately 10.1 miles to the 494 East ramp. We arrived at 494 East ramp at 10:35. It was the most maddening experience either Dennis or I have ever had. The two lanes of traffic merging into one and often times at a total stand still was beyond belief. I kept wondering when one of the 18 wheeled semi drivers would go ballistic and take a lot of us out as he started shifting down the gears and let it rip. Anyway, I know darn well the turtle would have won the board today — hands down.
We arrived at the VA parking lot a bit after 11:00. Getting out of the vehicle we must have looked like two people that had been folded up in a cardboard box, aka: stiff in all our joints. On the way home we stopped to see Megan and Nicholas for a bit and that made the trip very sweet indeed. After this road trip I can honestly say that Stauffer Avenue is indeed the most wonderful place to be.