We’re back home for the holidays in Massachusetts
and how delightful to wake up this morning to 16 degrees outside.
Then again, I put in my share of whining while we were in Florida for the hottest October they’ve seen in a long time.
Then again, I put in my share of whining while we were in Florida for the hottest October they’ve seen in a long time.
The
ride back - two twelve-hour days – was smooth with no weather or traffic events.
One
small snag, though. We had leased a car while in Florida, and were driving it
back. That was all well and good, except somewhere mid-South Carolina I
realized we had no transponder for the toll roads.
Frantic
web searches on my phone told me that Walmart sold them, but who wants to add
to an already twelve-hour day by exiting the highway, assuming we could find one
nearby?
We
ended up scrambling across the many lanes each time for vehicles with transponders to do the
s l o w shuffle through the cash booth. One benefit: we truly learned to
appreciate anew the efficiency of using a transponder. This also brought back
memories of our many trips to our daughter at Northeastern University in Boston.
As the years wore on, the toll tickets grew smaller and smaller, nicely
coordinating with my bigger and bigger need for reading glasses. I often seemed
to be traveling at twilight, too, so there was always a lot of squinting and
fumbling for change.
Top
of the errand list on our first day home was a trip to the Massachusetts EZ
Pass station. It was easy. Almost too easy. I went in armed with my
registration, and a photo on my phone of the license plate.
Instead
I filled out one piece of paper, showed them my driver’s license, wrote in the
license plate number of my choice, and with no proof of ownership I now had my
transponder.
transponder...you mean the sticker for the EZ pass? those things make toll roads so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI so remember getting my first transponder, back in the nineties. When I crossed into Long Island one Friday, the lanes were all cash, one EZ Pass. Returning, Sunday, the lanes were all EZ Pass and one cash. I was hours getting across the GW. The whole "deal" that weekend was to convince us to get a transponder. I did, that very week. I remember the girls in the front seat shouting EZ Pass. GO.
ReplyDelete16 degrees? Fahrenheit?? We have 18C here today and I'm shivering. That's 64F. I'd probably feel warmer sitting out in the sun, but everything I need today is inside. I'm wondering now why everyone doesn't have those transponder things instead of lining up at the cash lanes?
ReplyDeleteThere are those hold outs who are convinced it's all a plot for the government to track our movements. (Actually, I suspect I might have one of those in my family)
DeleteWhen I was a kid, some of the toll roads had baskets that you were supposed to toss quarters into. We kids used to beg for a turn tossing the quarters because we thought it was fun. It was really fun the time my sister tossed and missed the basket, and my father had to back up and go through again, and everyone started honking at us.
ReplyDeleteI know of only one toll road in our province. If you don't have a transponder, you still sail along and they track you through your licence plate. It's more expensive than a transponder, but if you only use the road rarely, it works well. There are no toll booths on this road.
ReplyDeleteI have to take my passport up and get the new ID driver's liscense for our state.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that - It took me a few trips to bring the correct documentation. Then, annoyingly, my middle name is on my new license instead of my maiden name, which I've used as a middle name for 50 (yes, really) years. It seems because it's on my birth certificate, that's what I have to use.
DeleteMeanwhile, every document I've ever signed - for the past 50 years -
has my first name, maiden name, and married name. No middle name. Sigh.
We don't have Toll Roads here... lucky us! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long time since I've had to use a toll road, but they do exist here. I do everything I can to make sure I'm not driving if we go somewhere far away. :"-)
ReplyDelete