This June I will be attending my nephew’s wedding in Ashville North Carolina, which I am looking forward to attending. However, I am not looking forward to the drive to North Carolina. I have two choices, flying or driving, well actually three, taking the train, but the train station is nowhere near Ashville and it would be over an hour drive in a rented car.
I don’t mind flying, it’s the standing around waiting to go through security that I don’t like and sitting around the airport waiting for the plane. The last time that I flew was back in 1999 and things have changed since then. So that leaves me with driving as the lesser of evils. What I don’t like about driving is the bathroom stops, when you are trans and don’t pass that good… well bathrooms becomes an issues. You don’t think that is an issue with the trans community? Then read this booklet, “Peeing in Peace”. I read somewhere that trans-people have a high incidents of Urinary Track Infections because we hold it so long out of fear of going in to a public bathrooms. Why don’t we stop more often? We fear violence against us or the possibility of being arrested by a police officer who don’t understand the law. Ironically, it is probably safer to go the bathroom at the airport where they are use to trans-people than at a highway rest stop where you might run into a conservative hick cop who wants to teach you a lesson or make a point.
So anyhow, I’m probably worrying over nothing as usual, but it is in the back of my mind as I plan the drive down and back. It’s not the driving that I mind, it’s the length of the drive.
Hmmmm, CT to NC? That sounds like a long haul on I-95. NYC, New Jersey, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. (the Beltway, uggghhhh) down to Richmond. NOT my favorite route to travel. Just a thought, travel at night. Less traffic, miss the rush hours and fewer people at the rest areas to worry about. Time it to get past D.C. before the morning rush hour. You have my sympathy, I would not look forward to a trip like that either.
ReplyDeleteI'm taking I-81 which, from what I hear, is just as bad.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I was thinking of further east in NC. I-81 is not bad, at least from Maryland south. A lot of trucks though. In VA it gets hilly and it is easy to get stuck behind a truck that has to slow down. I seem to recall a relative lack of rest areas on 81.
ReplyDeleteI-81 is a cakewalk compared to I-95. The Scranton-Wilkes Barre section of I-81 is a little rough, but the rest of 81 is not bad and is a lot more scenic than 95. Also, less toll-ish.
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