Monday, January 30, 2023

Ruthless Efficiency

I drove to Ann Arbor on Sunday to give Eli 21.5 his passport (with the Liberian stamp), along with a few other things.

We'd had heavy snow for two days, including much of Saturday night, so I was expecting some difficulty on the drive. 

What I didn't expect, though, was for the first forty miles to take over an hour.

Those early miles were extremely difficult. One usable lane had been gouged out of the interstate by snowplows, but it wasn't entirely clear. In some places, there wasn't even a lane, really, just packed snow. 

A strange thing happened after the first forty miles, though. The road started getting better, and quickly. By the time I'd traveled the last twenty miles to Lansing, both lanes of the interstate were entirely clear. 

It felt like a damn miracle. 

For the last hour into Ann Arbor, the roads were perfect.

On the way home, about five hours later, I braced for what could be difficult driving after I went through Lansing. It was as if that snowstorm never happened, though--the roads were perfect until I got back into Grand Rapids.

It's incredible that a 40+ mile section of interstate went from nightmarish to pristine in five hours. No excess snow. No ice. That's how incredibly efficient the snowplow infrastructure is up here. It's staggering, really, on a scale that's difficult to even comprehend. 

The Midwest, perfected. 

Eli was terrific, as always, and his girlfriend came to breakfast with us. She's a wonderful, caring person. They're an emotional health power couple, and it makes me very happy. 

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