Up to Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving Eve
Nov. 23rd, 2023 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerThanksgiving Travelog #9
Camp Hill, PA - Wed, 22 Nov 2023. 11pm.
Wednesday afternoon/evening it was time to switch families for our Thanksgiving family visit. That meant switching locales. We left from my sister's house in northern Virginia in the late afternoon to drive to my inlaws' house outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
From years in the past I remember day-before-Thanksgiving, aka Thanksgiving Eve, road trips being brutal. Traffic was awful all up and down the major arteries. The past few years, at least, it hasn't been so bad. For example, in 2021 our Thanksgiving Eve drive was smooth sailing— even from downtown Washington, D.C.
...Okay, but in 2021 that could have been lingering reduction in traffic from the pandemic era. Well, this year record holiday travel is forecast, particularly for people driving places. What did that mean for us?
Our Thanksgiving Eve trip was not totally smooth sailing but it was still pretty easy. Traffic maps showed us the usual driving route up to Harrisburg, sticking to major highways the whole way, had slowdowns in a few areas. A backroads route around the outskirts of the DC area was faster by about 15 minutes. Of course, even that "backroads" route involved a few 6-lane highways. I still think of them as backroads because years ago they were all narrow 2-lanes... with traffic backed up for miles at commute times. What a difference better roads make.
Camp Hill, PA - Wed, 22 Nov 2023. 11pm.
Wednesday afternoon/evening it was time to switch families for our Thanksgiving family visit. That meant switching locales. We left from my sister's house in northern Virginia in the late afternoon to drive to my inlaws' house outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
From years in the past I remember day-before-Thanksgiving, aka Thanksgiving Eve, road trips being brutal. Traffic was awful all up and down the major arteries. The past few years, at least, it hasn't been so bad. For example, in 2021 our Thanksgiving Eve drive was smooth sailing— even from downtown Washington, D.C.
...Okay, but in 2021 that could have been lingering reduction in traffic from the pandemic era. Well, this year record holiday travel is forecast, particularly for people driving places. What did that mean for us?
Our Thanksgiving Eve trip was not totally smooth sailing but it was still pretty easy. Traffic maps showed us the usual driving route up to Harrisburg, sticking to major highways the whole way, had slowdowns in a few areas. A backroads route around the outskirts of the DC area was faster by about 15 minutes. Of course, even that "backroads" route involved a few 6-lane highways. I still think of them as backroads because years ago they were all narrow 2-lanes... with traffic backed up for miles at commute times. What a difference better roads make.
