Traffic in the tri-state area is like an ant hill that just got rained on. Unlike the autobahn in Germany, in the US everyone feels like it's okay to drive any speed they want in ALL THREE LANES. The idea of a left lane for passing is completely unheard of. Over the weekend we had the delight of driving, with Bean, down to New Jersey with a 5x8 trailer in tow. We're in the midst of relocating to an apartment in a northern New England city moving from the house we currently are selling in the Connecticut suburbs, and it's a bit of a downsize. The trailer, fully loaded, made our car about as nimble as a drunk elephant, and on I-95, I was sure we'd either be killed by merging cars who didn't see our trailer, or totally flattened by truckers who did, but didn't give a damn.
Our usual 3 hour drive to Princeton turned into a 5 and a half hour adventure of screaming baby, high blood pressure and total traffic induced insanity. Finally, once we'd hit the Meadowlands in NJ, we started playing the alphabet game. This consisted of us trying to find billboards with a word starting with each letter of the alphabet, in order. It resulted in us saying things like "a, hmmm, appendectomy, anus, arugula, apocalyptic... " and then finally noting a sign with the words AMAZING PRICES. It kept us entertained.
On the return trip, sans trailer, there was a TWO HOUR DELAY on the George Washington Bridge, and about an hour and a half delay at the Holland Tunnel. This folks, is just one more reason we're moving North!