It’s a familiar tale. You have an appointment on the other side, but whether you make it on time lies in the hands of the f&f gods. Better known as the ferry and freeway gods.
Take last Thursday morning. I had a noon appointment in downtown Seattle, so decided to shoot for the 10:30 a.m. ferry. As I often do prior to departure, I clicked on the Clinton Ferry Cam at www.whidbey.net, noting that the line wasn’t too terribly long. That was at 9:45 a.m.
But by the time I stopped for my morning single tall nonfat latte, dropped off a DVD that I fell asleep watching the night before, picked up a package at the post office and dieseled up my 22-year-old non-SUV sedan, I arrived at the ferry line around 10:10 a.m.
A quick perusal of the parking lot splayed out in front of me and I knew it was going to be close making my boat. But how close I wasn’t sure, thanks to the constantly changing configuration of the ferry lanes during the never-ending dock enhancement construction project.
(BREAKING E-MAIL! This alert from WSFAlert@wsdot.wa.gov just landed in my in Outlook Express inbox: “On Thursday, Nov. 14, Washington State Ferries will be relocating the point of sale system at the Clinton Terminal. Credit cards will not be accepted from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. during this relocation. There may be a brief delay in processing sales. We apologize for any inconvenience.”)
But back to Thursday, Nov. 7. As my non-SUV sedan crawled toward the head of the line, I was confident I’d get on board. But that’s when the friendly ferry attendant held up her hand in the universal “HALT!” signal that we all abhor. I could tell the news was bad, as the apologetic look on her face said, “Close, but no cigar.” In fact, I missed the 10:30 sailing by just one car (OK, it was two, but missing the boat by one is so much more dramatic when retelling the story).
The plus side of being the first or second car that misses the boat that you were shooting for is that you get to go to the front of the next ferry instead of the back of the boat. As a 27-year veteran of plying the Straits of Saratoga from Clinton to Mukilteo, I’ve learned to look for the lovely lining in a lousy situation. So I sat back and read my two morning newspapers, chewed on a crisp Fuji apple and calculated that if I got off the ferry first, I could still make it to my 12 o’clock appointment in downtown Seattle on time.
All systems were sailing smoothly as my non-SUV sedan rolled onto the soil of Snohomish County. I wisely took the Boeing exit (the Speedway is a mess these days, what with all that construction — just wait ’til they put in that proposed new shopping complex). I was clipping along at a fairly good rate and even fantasizing that I might make it into town in time for a second single tall nonfat latte.
So what if the ferry gods hadn’t been riding on my shoulder, the freeway gods were givin’ me the green light all the way south on I-5. Well, until I hit NE 85th. That’s when a row of red lights brighter than a side street in Amsterdam had me banging on the brakes and hanging on tight. Drivers around me sat patiently, one hand on the wheel and the other clinging to their lifelines. “Hello, this is Sue Frause. I have an appointment at noon and just wanted to let you know that traffic sucks and I’ll most likely be a little late,” was my explanation of choice.
Things began to thin out as I neared NE 45th, and with 12 minutes to go until high noon, it was gonna be close. I got off on the Stewart Street exit and green lighted it all the way to Fourth Avenue, where I found a $3 parking spot at the Securities Building parking garage. I made it to my appointment at 12:04 p.m. Not bad for a missed ferry and freeway slowdown.
Oh, by the way. I did vote YES for Referendum 51, the 9-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase that would have raised more than $7.8 billion in the next 10 years. That’s only a small dent in the $100 billion that’s needed to straighten out this state’s transportation mess, but it was a start.
And I voted NO for Initiative 776, Tim Eyman’s attempt to limit car tabs to $30 so he can shove one or two more SUVs into his Mukilteo garage without dipping into his diverted campaign contributions fund.
I wasn’t in the majority on either issue; I never am. The voters spoke with their pocketbooks, and our transportation mess is still in the hands of the f&f gods.
Sleep tight, Timmy and friends.
Sue Frause can be reached by e-mail at
skfrause@whidbey.com.
