Adventure on the ride home
I'm too activated to sleep, so I decided to get up and post about the adventure on the ride home from Summit's tonight. See, I live up 400. Way up 400. So it was a bit of surprise and confusion for me and radiantbaby when they decided to close the ramp from 285E to 400N for construction. That's kind of... y'know... the way *home* and stuff. Fortunately she and I saw it coming when they temporarily closed the ramp from 285W to 400N. We came up with an alternate route at that point, just in case. Tonight we got to use that alternative.
Kind of.
See, our planned alternate route was to continue east on 285 and take 141 N into Cumming. We found out the hard way that 141 is having major construction, too. Not enough to *close* it, mind you, but enough to make it a serious pain. Of course, by then we needed to stop for gas, so we found the nearest place we could and got ready for the ugly trek up.
Then it got uglier.
As we were getting gas, the traffic on the already-cramped-from-construction 141 was joined by two firetrucks and a police officer, lights all flashing and sirens blaring. Meaning an accident. In the construction. Not precisely an ideal drive. Well, I thought: that sucks.
So instead of 141 I decided we'd take an alternate alternate route. We'd go back down 141 to 285 and take that further east to 85, which we'd take up to 985 to GA20 and over into Cumming. That was a tolerable plan in principle. Unfortunately as we approached 25 we found that the construction prevented us from getting onto 285E. Our only option was 285W. Toward 400. And its closed ramp.
We took 285W to the next exit -- Chamblee-Dunwoody -- where we paused in a gas station parking lot to regroup. I'm not incredibly familiar with the Dunwoody area, but I've been to Perimeter Mall before. From 400 it's a ways down off Abernathy. I'd never been there from 285, but I reasoned, if we can find Perimeter Mall, I *should* be able to find my way from there to 400. Sort of an *alternate* alternate alternate route. Well, this was Dunwoody-ish, so surely *somebody* knows how to get to Perimeter Mall. Even if it *is* 130am. So I hopped out of my car intent on asking the gas station attendant how to get to Perimeter Mall.
There was a problem, though. The lights were on in the gas station, and that had given me the impression that they were open. This impression proved incorrect. There was a sign on the door explaining that they were closed for cleaning. Nobody was visible inside the building. The lights were on, but no-one was home.
The intersection of Chamblee-Dunwoody and 285 is a bit confusing to someone wanting to get back to 285W, particularly in the dark at 130am. There isn't a clear onramp, though there is a side access street. We guessed that perhaps the access road would take us in the right direction at least. We began the trek down the access road, hoping to get eventually back to 285 and perhaps even divine the location of Perimeter Mall when we saw a Waffle House. Aha! I pulled over into the WH and boldly entered the establishment. The cashier was quite friendly. Unfortunately she didn't know how to get to 400. Fortunately, though, she *did* know how to get to the Mall. Success!
The drive to the Mall was unfamiliar but easy. Apparently Abernathy -- like all good Atlanta roads -- changes names at some point along its length, because the road we ended up turning onto right after the Mall was not identified with that name. Fortunately my marginal familiarity with the area allowed me to recognize the correct road even despite the name change, and we made it safely to 400 and up to Cumming.
And thus ended my Odyssey-style adventure for the evening. Fun fun.
Atlanta construction officially sucks.
(LJ Spellchecker Genius of the Day: Chamblee -> Shambles)
Kind of.
See, our planned alternate route was to continue east on 285 and take 141 N into Cumming. We found out the hard way that 141 is having major construction, too. Not enough to *close* it, mind you, but enough to make it a serious pain. Of course, by then we needed to stop for gas, so we found the nearest place we could and got ready for the ugly trek up.
Then it got uglier.
As we were getting gas, the traffic on the already-cramped-from-construction 141 was joined by two firetrucks and a police officer, lights all flashing and sirens blaring. Meaning an accident. In the construction. Not precisely an ideal drive. Well, I thought: that sucks.
So instead of 141 I decided we'd take an alternate alternate route. We'd go back down 141 to 285 and take that further east to 85, which we'd take up to 985 to GA20 and over into Cumming. That was a tolerable plan in principle. Unfortunately as we approached 25 we found that the construction prevented us from getting onto 285E. Our only option was 285W. Toward 400. And its closed ramp.
We took 285W to the next exit -- Chamblee-Dunwoody -- where we paused in a gas station parking lot to regroup. I'm not incredibly familiar with the Dunwoody area, but I've been to Perimeter Mall before. From 400 it's a ways down off Abernathy. I'd never been there from 285, but I reasoned, if we can find Perimeter Mall, I *should* be able to find my way from there to 400. Sort of an *alternate* alternate alternate route. Well, this was Dunwoody-ish, so surely *somebody* knows how to get to Perimeter Mall. Even if it *is* 130am. So I hopped out of my car intent on asking the gas station attendant how to get to Perimeter Mall.
There was a problem, though. The lights were on in the gas station, and that had given me the impression that they were open. This impression proved incorrect. There was a sign on the door explaining that they were closed for cleaning. Nobody was visible inside the building. The lights were on, but no-one was home.
The intersection of Chamblee-Dunwoody and 285 is a bit confusing to someone wanting to get back to 285W, particularly in the dark at 130am. There isn't a clear onramp, though there is a side access street. We guessed that perhaps the access road would take us in the right direction at least. We began the trek down the access road, hoping to get eventually back to 285 and perhaps even divine the location of Perimeter Mall when we saw a Waffle House. Aha! I pulled over into the WH and boldly entered the establishment. The cashier was quite friendly. Unfortunately she didn't know how to get to 400. Fortunately, though, she *did* know how to get to the Mall. Success!
The drive to the Mall was unfamiliar but easy. Apparently Abernathy -- like all good Atlanta roads -- changes names at some point along its length, because the road we ended up turning onto right after the Mall was not identified with that name. Fortunately my marginal familiarity with the area allowed me to recognize the correct road even despite the name change, and we made it safely to 400 and up to Cumming.
And thus ended my Odyssey-style adventure for the evening. Fun fun.
Atlanta construction officially sucks.
(LJ Spellchecker Genius of the Day: Chamblee -> Shambles)