2002.08.16
Out of the frying pan…
Every so often, I’ll be driving up to a freeway entrance and manage to notice, before it’s too late, that it’d be a very bad idea to actually take it. This is what happened to me last night as I was attempting to leave the U District via I-5. Counting my lucky stars, I bypassed the intersection and continued westward.
Fortunately I ran right into state highway 99, the other major north-south thoroughfare into the city, and though I didn’t know the road that well, I got on. I knew it didn’t intersect with I-90 but I was fairly certain I could find my way there with little trouble.
As I drove down highway 99, which was completely clear, I could look over to my left and see the traffic nightmare on I-5 that I’d narrowly escaped. It was quite clear that nothing was going to ruin my night. I had Miyazaki’s Spirited Away DVD (rented from Scarecrow) on my passenger seat and a bellyful of Godiva chocolates. Sakamoto Chika was playing on the stereo, and the Mariners had just beaten the Red Sox 4-3. Drunk with power, I took the first exit when I knew I was in the vicinity of my interstate target…
… and emerged one block north of Safeco Field. Ten minutes after the end of the previously mentioned baseball game. A long cargo train was stalled to the east, blocking all traffic in that direction, with Puget Sound an impassable barrier to the west.
An hour later, I was home. A bit of karmic payback — it always gets you in the end.