Mrs. PFive7 and I just managed to complete our move into the Greater Seattle Area last week towards the East side of Lake Washington. I can’t recall if any of you are in the area or not, but let me know. I’d love to maybe catch a beer with someone.
The “grid” street system that they claim to have out here is very different from what I’m used to, so I’m finding I’m getting lost a little here and there. Thankfully, we have the 5 and 405 freeways out here too, so I get to keep some things the same while driving.
All said, it went well and all our stuff made it mostly unscathed. Looking to return to work next week.
EDIT: Oh, and I just got my final bill from one of my utilities. They have a Final Bill Fee of $5.95. Sounds like horsepuckey to me.
Hah, the local utility here takes a $105 deposit fee. I asked when they gave it back and they said it comes off your last bill… That’s a nice racket.
Ever have one of those credit accounts you could never quite pay off? Send in $105, turns out you owe $111, send in $6, now you owe $@6 because it was late, send in $27 and they hold it open because you have a balance. Argh.
I lost my car in 2009 because of something like this. Every time the finance company called, they would say “if you pay this amount by the end of the week, you’ll be caught up.”
I was out there last week! We were getting the step-daughter moved to Seattle, so we drove up. Ballard area, I believe. I thought it was odd having numbered roads going both directions, just St. vs Ave., as I recall.
Yeah, I quickly learned that they love to name streets/roads just slightly different from the proceeding road. For instance, if you just past 3rd Ave, you’re more than likely going to pass 3rd Place, 3rd Road, and 3rd Street very soon. I find I’m driving more like my wife these days (by landmark), rather than by street name.
NYC does this but at least theirs makes sense. St goes east/west and Ave goes north/south. So if someone tells you they’re at 53rd and 5th it’s pretty easy to find.
Indianapolis is a true grid with States names going north and south, and numbers going east and west. And then two roads forming an X on downtown.
And then most of the places outside of town are also squares. I get lost as hell in Cincy, but can get around DC quite well. Organic vs. Planned I suppose.
There is a town just south of town that has roads named Stop 8, Stop 10, Stop 11. I assume it’s a train thing, but I never looked it up.
It went pretty well, thanks! I drove through ten states, not counting Texas, and had a couple of realllly long days. The wife stayed to visit for a while, so the return trip was solo. She’s flying back this week. I took a different route back, because I wanted to drive through Montana. The exchange in Ramius’ cabin in The Hunt for Red October stuck with me, so I had to take to opportunity. “No papers.”
Most of my family is from Cincy, so I spent a lot of summers and Christmas breaks there, and yeah, I hear ya. I always assumed the terrain was part of the cause - trying to snake up & around hills that butt right up to a river, plus on a curve.
EDIT:
Also, you were correct, it was a train thing: the stops on the old commuter lines out of Indy.
I was born there, only lived there a year. There are two or three places I can get to with my eyes closed, but I can’t get from one of them to another without GPS or going back to the highway.
I ended up on the Columbia Parkway going the wrong damn direction with a trailer. Was not happy about that, especially since so much had changed, but just enough not that I kept thinking I knew where I was, but wasn’t sure.
There’s a mnemonic for the downtown grid, if you’re there enough.
Numbered streets (originally) ran East-West, starting at the river and moving north.
Named streets (originally) run North-South.
“Originally” because there are now exceptions. Mostly, though, those rules apply and will get you most places downtown.
The named streets can be remembered with:
Big Strong Men Will Very Rarely Eat Pork, Cooked
Broadway Sycamore Main Walnut Vine Race Elm Plum… and for some of the north edge, Central.
Outside downtown… yeah… lots of winding, streets that change names when they cross other streets… mass hysteria, cats and dogs…
I’m finding out that the terrain wasn’t all that kind to the idea of straight lines. We live on a hill with 10% grade, steeper than anything I’ve experienced in the Grapevine down in California. It’s taking some getting used to. I have a feeling I’ll have to invest in more break pad replacements as time goes on. And, it’s a good thing one of my ABS wheel speed sensors just went out (the most expensive of the 4 on the car, as luck would have it). Luckily, I can replace it myself without too much trouble except my aching wallet.
As for thunderstorms, I really enjoy a good one, though the wife and kids are kinda iffy on 'em. Last big one I experienced was out in Arkansas during a very hot and humid August. It lasted most of the night and was just one strike right after another.
And it’s roughly 0.05 miles between Streets, and 0.1 miles between Avenues.
At $oldjob, I went to training in Manhattan for a week w/ a co-worker who had never been there before. She was amazed that I could tell her exactly how far it was from point A to point B just using the addresses.
She also couldn’t believe I “figured out” which train we had to get on to go from the financial district to Times Square in about 5 seconds. We’re in lower Manhattan, Times Square is midtown, we need the Bronx-bound train because midtown is between us and the Bronx.
