Chose the scenic drive home over the highway this morning, took 18 minutes longer but saw a coyote cross the road.

Everyone I know takes the interstate to save time but I keep picking the back roads because the quiet and the random animal sightings beat sitting in bumper to bumper traffic any day, anyone else think speed isn't everything?

3 comments

3 Comments

linda1144d ago

But have you actually driven back roads enough to know how much they reset your brain after a long day? I get the time math, I really do, but 18 minutes of quiet with no brake lights and a chance to see something wild beats 18 minutes of white knuckles and road rage any afternoon. Traffic podcasts don't stop your shoulders from being tense by the time you pull in the driveway. And yeah, deer are a risk, but I've seen way more close calls on the interstate with people texting at 70 mph than I have on a 45 mph road where everybody's already paying attention. The coyote was just a bonus, the real win is arriving home not needing ten more minutes to decompress from the drive.

wilson.joseph4d ago

My cousin Jake took the back roads every day for a year and got hit by a deer coming around a blind curve near Miller's Pond at 6:15 in the evening. His truck was in the shop for three weeks and his insurance went up $80 a month. Meanwhile the interstate has guardrails, streetlights, and shoulders wide enough to pull off if something happens. I mean, yeah the coyote sounds cool and all, but that 18 minutes a day is six and a half hours a month like Avery said. That's literally two evenings with my kids that I'm trading for a chance to maybe see an animal I could watch on YouTube in ten seconds. Idk, maybe it's just me but I'd rather get home quick and decompress on my own couch instead of hoping a fox or whatever fixes my mood.

avery_jackson4d ago

Hard disagree man. Time is literally the only thing you can't get back. 18 minutes every day adds up to like 6 hours a month. That's a whole work day wasted watching trees. Animals are cool but I'd rather watch them on a screen while moving at speed limit. Traffic sucks but podcasts exist. You can zone out in bumper to bumper and still make progress. You're trading real minutes for a maybe-sighting of a coyote. That's a bad gamble. I'd rather get home faster and use that extra time to actually go see wildlife somewhere fun. Plus back roads are dangerous. Deer jump out, no shoulders, worse lighting. Highway is designed to be safe and predictable. You're rolling the dice every time. 18 minutes per trip. That's your choice to waste. Hard pass.