Alternative Routes

A bridge was hit by a ship in Baltimore yesterday. The bridge collapsed, and well, that sucks. 

It sucks for a lot of reasons. One is that six souls are missing. Six people who were just at work. Doing their jobs. It could have been much worse, of course. It could have been during rush hour. The bridge could have been loaded up with hundreds of vehicles. But luckily, it wasn't. Sadly though, folks are lost because of this. 

This bridge also is incredibly important because it is the above-ground route of transit used by tractor trailer trucks getting past Baltimore. Since Hazardous Materials and most trucks cannot be brought through the bores of the Ft. McHenry tunnel, these very important vehicles have to take the bridge.

If you look at this screenshot of Google Maps, you see the huge distance of around the way to the west they'll have to whip to go north to south. 

Additionally, the channel is closed. Nothing can get in or out. Ships are stuck that were waiting in line behind the Dali, and folks can't get in. 

Not to mention cruise ships. It may come as a surprise to know you can cruise out of Baltimore Harbor, and go to Canada/New England or the Bahamas and Caribbean. Nice. But not until further notice. Not until there is a channel to get out of. 

Companies are scrambling to get their goods shipped via truck now, to get them to other ports like Norfolk or up in Delaware. 

It's going to be wild for a while in the Baltimore area. 

My mom called me the other day and said "oh you've got a real mess down there, don't you?" Well, mom, it doesn't really impact me that much but yes, it is a mess. For a lot of people.

"You won't be able to drive north anymore." 

Well, mom. There are a lot of routes. A lot. Usually when I drive north, I go up through the City of Baltimore on 95 and through the tunnel. In fact, I've only ever gone over the bridge once, and that was when there was a horrible accident in the tunnel. There are ways. 

There are Alternate Routes. 

In fact, every time I talk to her she brings up a bridge in the Providence Rhode Island area that is closed. "I don't know how you or your sister are going to get here, you can't drive through Providence Eastbound." 

Well, the GPS can help us get around that. It isn't going to be a problem. There are a lot of roads. A lot. But she doesn't seem to get it. She used to always go one way anywhere when driving. She'd take all these convoluted back roads to get to the ferry out east on Long Island so she could avoid going through Riverhead or other towns. She would always be adventurous about alternate routes. But now, there's one way, that's the way you go, and no other roads exist. 

It's going to be a mess for a long while for a lot of people, yes. But it will all work out. And alternatives are being discovered and worked on. Folks are resilient when they need to get places. 

Digits, below.

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. no walk, in or out. Pouring rain. I almost went to the gym though. 4500+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 195
5pm: 170
10pm: 199

food:

coffee/water 
10:45am: bowl of mac&cheese w/bacon and a left over pork chop
11:15am: Metformin
1:30pm: chicken patty (pattie?) on potato roll with mayo
6:30pm: 2.5 italian sausages w/sauce and cheese, 3 dinner rolls with butter
7pm: Metformin+jardiance
red wine