I seem to recall describing Road Trip 2024 as a low-stress effort. Since the theory of relativity has also been mentioned, I should perhaps note that stress has value. In simplest terms, stress can increase performance and alertness. For more than a few hours yesterday (day one), I was very alert and performed well.
Nearly 400 miles of mostly Interstate Highway driving can become boring. It can also be exciting. I have never been a fan of I-495 in Massachusetts. There are simply too many cars (and trucks), and one accepts the idea that Interstate Highway is not synonymous with high-speed travel. In fact, one has an opportunity to consider how unskilled many drivers are when it comes to limited-access highway driving. The concepts of yielding when entering and choosing lanes based on speed seem to escape many.
As luck would have it, we ended up traveling through Hartford, Connecticut, during the beginning of evening rush hour. There isn’t a word to describe it. “Organized chaos” doesn’t do it justice.”
We noted the fact that the roadsides leaving the city are replete with huge billboards, most advertising personal injury attorneys. There might be a connection between those signs and the way traffic moves. In addition to the lack of yielding and unskilled lane changes, we also experienced drag racing. If several cars leave more than a car length between them, you get treated to watching other cars weave through the traffic at double the average rate of speed by taking advantage of those openings. And motorcycles! A car length is not required.
We took some relief in the fact that we weren’t traveling in a small vehicle, although we experienced a shot of adrenalin when a larger truck towing a trailer decided to move left, the trailer missing the front of our neighbor’s car by literally inches. This happened during a few moments of relatively high-speed travel. Seconds later, when our rate of travel dropped to almost zero, we noticed our neighbor hung back and left several car lengths between her and the truck/trailer. I suspect she was relieved when someone filled it.
We survived unscathed.
Maybe. Some research has suggested that stress actually encourages the growth of neurons and stem cells, improving memory.1 Maybe we were scathed, but in a positive way.
We’ve traveled this route before. When we leave here, we often stay off the highway for a few dozen miles, poking along at a more leisurely pace until we cross the Hudson River.
This trip is about finding balance. So is life.
- The Surprising Benefits of Stress by Peter Jaret, UC Berkley ↩︎