A lesson in Fall Foliage traffic

Editor:

This weekend of Oct. 5 and 6 marked the first weekend of the Fall Foliage Festival. The leaves are not real good yet, but they will be shortly. Anyhow, I had to go to Slatington, and since the Mansion House Hill was open, I wouldn’t have to drive the Flaggie Road or travel up over Kattner’s Mountain. I figured, why not? Well to make a long story short, it was a foolish move and I was a dope for trying to beat the odds. I figured, it was a rainy day, and before noon, so the odds were with me. Wrong!

Once I made the turn off the bridge on the west side, I realize what a dummy I was, and some say still am. Partway down before the Subway I could’ve made a U-turn, but being the safe driver I am, I figured I’d ride it out. There was no real hurry.

Well, it took 15 minutes from the bridge to the courthouse. I took a right and went around where the diner used to be, figured it would be faster. Wrong again! I was stuck at the light for another five-plus minutes. Seems a lot longer when you’re stuck in the traffic, but I was watching the clock just to see how long the simple journey would take.

The only thing moving was pedestrians, and there was an abundance of them. The signal was not working, the flaggers were in control. What a cluster! Things were that screwed up they’d have been better off letting the light control the flow. It would’ve done a better and more efficient job than the flaggers.

In the future weekends I’ll know better than to cross the bridge. I was a dumb bunny for trying to beat the odds. Still thought I was in Old Mauch Chunk!

A Native Chunker,

Pete Bott

E. Mauch Chunk