What is it about roads named 17?
This afternoon on the way to the house of someone I knew slightly, I took the route recommended by Yahoo maps -- a simple jaunt from Vermont route 2 to 100B to 100 to 17 to 116 south and half a mile on a little side road. Fastest possible way, the mapping software said. What it didn't say was that it's fast only if you like roads that have big warning signs posted saying "NOT RECOMMENDED FOR WINTER TRAVEL BY TRUCKS OR BUSES", which translates to 2000 feet of rise from valley to pass and 180-degree switchbacks piled uphill until you lose count. Well, until you get over the top and the intermittent rain turns driving and you catch a bare glimpse (quite enough, thank you) of a beautiful gorge a few yards the other side of first hairpin turn on the downslope.
Then again, maybe I'm badmouthing the California version, which is only scary because there are alwayshalf a dozen multimillionaires in muscle cars trying to pass on the right and three or four trucks that think lane markings are purely advisory. What you should really be thinking about in California is this.
Posted by wallich at August 8, 2004 12:24 AM