A Three Hour Tour, Gilligan Style
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128824)
Gainesville, Florida
March 25, 2016 9:24pm CST
This afternoon, I had what seemed like a simple task: take my daughter's friend home to Orlando, about 1.5 hours away from where we live. So, all total, the round trip should have taken us 3 hours.
Just like on Gilligan's Island, what started out as a 3-hour tour went downhill from there. Just like the Skipper and crew hit stormy weather, our day started off with the same scenario. Add in heavy traffic for Easter weekend travel, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Shortly before heading south to Orlando, I received an alert on my phone stating that all southbound lanes of I-75 just south of our location were shut down due to an accident. No problem, I thought to myself, I'll just take the other main road out of Gainesville, US 441. Just as soon as I cut over to 441, I received another alert stating that all southbound lanes of 441 were now shut down due to another accident. All southbound traffic was either being diverted west to US 27, or east to US 301. I chose to go east to 301. After about 30 minutes on 301, I got another alert stating that 301 was backed up with heavy traffic due to an accident.
Five hours later, I finally arrived at my destination and dropped my daughter's friend off at her house. Before heading north again, I checked my Waze app and saw that both northbound lanes of the Florida Turnpike and I-75 were at a dead standstill. Not in a hurry to get back, my daughter and I decided to take backroads to avoid the traffic backups.
Continuing our streak of good luck, we literally hit every single red light (and there were a lot of them) on our way back home. Can you imagine how frustrating it is having to stop at a red light every half-mile for a total of 75 miles? Yeah, there were that many!
So, eight hours later, we finally made it back to our house in Gainesville. Unlike Gilligan and his fellow castaways, we made it safely, although five hours behind schedule. But throughout the entire ordeal I felt like I was never going to make it home, just as Gilligan must have thought on that fateful trip on the SS Minnow!
15 people like this
13 responses
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 Mar 16
The only problem was, 30 minutes into our trip we still weren't even outside of our own city yet! In fact, I didn't make it out of Gainesville until almost 1.5 hours after we started! If my daughter's friend didn't need to be back today, I would have just turned around and tried again tomorrow!
3 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
@T_gray It wasn't totally bad, I had 8 hours of car time with my daughter where we had some pretty good conversations.
1 person likes this
@T_gray (7772)
• Salina, Kansas
26 Mar 16
@moffittjc Yeah, that did seem like a lot of bad luck, bet you are glad it's over..
2 people like this
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
26 Mar 16
Sounds like that quick trip turned into a longer one quick. I couldn't imagine hitting every red light in a 75 mile ride. Wow. How frustrating. Sometimes I can't make it across town without hitting every red light, and our town isn't big. I'd go crazy if it were to happen to me. Well, I probably wouldn't be driving, my hubby would. He would have been using some colorful words.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 Mar 16
Had my daughter not been in the truck with me, I would have been using lots of colorful words myself! lol
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
26 Mar 16
@moffittjc I bet you muttered them under your breath!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
@ElusiveButterfly Definitely! It's funny, I am the most laid-back, even-tempered and easy-going guy ever, but when it comes to bad drivers and other traffic-related issues, I totally get road-rage! lol
1 person likes this
@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
27 Mar 16
@moffittjc
Stopping for ice cream will perk anyone up after a horrible drive home.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
@Marcyaz I would eat ice cream every day if it wouldn't make me fat! lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
We made the best of a bad situation! I took her out for ice cream as soon as we got back home, so that at least we capped off our day in a positive fashion.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502190)
• Italy
27 Mar 16
@moffittjc No, they are not travelling to Rome, but they go to the Italian beaches, mainly in Liguria and Tuscany that are two beautiful regions. From Germany, Austria and north of Switzerland this is the only way to reach Italy.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
@LadyDuck Ah, I didn't think about that! This is the time of year when millions start flocking to the beaches! A trip to the beach after a long, cold winter is almost as much of a religious experience as attending church itself!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
Where is everyone heading to in Italy? Are they travelling to Rome for Easter services?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Apr 16
Florida is a huge tourist destination, including what we call "snowbirds" (people from Canada and other parts of the US that come down to Florida to spend the winter). The snowbirds usually arrive at Thanksgiving (at the end of November), and stay through Easter. Then, on Easter weekend, you see a mass exodus of snowbirds out of Florida as they all travel north to head back to their permanent homes. Quite a lot of traffic congestion as they exit the state, clogging all our roadways.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
6 Apr 16
@JudyEv We have the same thing happen here during busy weekends or holidays. The prices on everything goes up, and people just blindly pay the rates with blinking an eye. I agree that it's a rip-off!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381815)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Apr 16
@moffittjc In Australian snowbirds are called grey nomads. But many families spend Easter away from home and travelling becomes a nightmare. All accommodation costs are put up too for 'peak periods'. Bit of a rip-off really.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Mar 16
Many years ago, I got stuck on the 7-mile bridge in the Keys for almost a full day. It was the old bridge, which was a dinky 2-lane road built on top of Henry Flagler's original railroad bridge to the Keys. That rickety old highway was a deathtrap, and if someone crashed or broke down, there was no way to get around them! I was very thankful when the new overseas highway was finally built!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Mar 16
@Elizaby I guess it would depend on the type of person who is working the drawbridge. Some people might love that isolation, that feeling of being out there over the open water, away from land and people. A person like that may see his/her job as heaven. On the other hand, someone who has fear of heights, fear of the open water, claustrophobia, or a need to be around people, well that person picked the wrong job! lol
1 person likes this
@Elizaby (6902)
• Pensacola, Florida
29 Mar 16
@moffittjc I remember when I was about 5 before the current 3 mile bridge was opened going across and being scared as we had to wait for the draw bridge to open and then close.. Wonder what the drawman who had a booth in the middle of the bridge felt being stuck on that narrow bridge for his shift.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (208746)
• United States
26 Mar 16
I ran into my personal favorite today, road construction! Two ways! Also, they were doing some kind of dumpster removal where I take my trash and there was a back up there too.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
It never fails that no matter where I need to travel to, it is always under construction. And the faster I need to get somewhere, the more construction there is going on! lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Mar 16
No, but my son keeps large quantities of magnets in his bedroom! Maybe I can have him put them to good use building me a large hovercraft! lol
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
26 Mar 16
I try to avoid the highways on Holidays. I have two kids driving through Toronto on the highways today and wonder how long it will take them to get through that mess. Glad you were safe, no accidents, just a big waste of time but at least you had a daughter with you...
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
I just felt bad that there were so many accidents everywhere. I just felt bad for all those people who's Easter plans were ruined because of traffic accidents. So far, I haven't heard of any fatalities in our area, so that is a bit of good news!
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
@PainsOnSlate I only had to drive about a 75-mile stretch from Gainesville to Orlando, and I've never seen so many accidents in my life. It's just crazy how so many people aren't paying attention on the highways, or else are in too big of a hurry to get somewhere.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
27 Mar 16
@moffittjc coming home from Florida to Canada I was astounded by the number of accidents we saw. it was very scary because most of them were just in rush hour and had nothing to do with weather....until we got into wind and snow farther up north..
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
26 Mar 16
@moffittjc What an auto odyssey for a day that was for you. Glad to hear that you and your daughter made it home lately.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Mar 16
Interestingly, I read an article in our local newspaper this morning about how the shutdown of all the highways through Gainesville affected our local traffic. They said that the shutdown of the interstate alone forced so many people to divert onto our local roads that our entire local traffic system became overwhelmed as well, further aggravating the delays. They said every main thoroughfare in our city was at a complete standstill all day yesterday. Glad I was able to get out of it in time and get on the road when I did. Even though my trip took forever, it would have been even longer had I got caught up in the local traffic gridlock.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
27 Mar 16
@moffittjc You were indeed fortunate!
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
7 May 16
Oh man! I'm glad that you eventually made it. Was nice of you to go through so much trouble though for your daughters friend.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
7 May 16
We made the same trip yesterday to pick up the same friend to go to a concert with us. Was able to make the trip in an hour and a half this time (the normal time it takes). Much better experience with the traffic this time!
1 person likes this
