Exploring

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This is the view as you embark on a journey across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on a cloudy day, and it is indeed a journey. Turns out New Orleans is an island. Who knew? You can't escape without going over a bridge and the Causeway had been beckoning since I arrived. Every time I opened the city map there it was, a solid straight line bisecting the big blue part at the top of the page.

Sunday is my day to explore the city (less traffic) so I found Causeway Boulevard on the map (a straight line continuation of the straight line that crosses the lake), hopped on and road it through town and onto the bridge. Then I panicked: I couldn't see the other side! I looked at my gas gauge: a quarter of a tank. That should be enough, or maybe not, how long is this thing anyway? Okay, if I get 15 miles per gallon, and the tank holds 25 gallons (or is it 30, or 20?), then 1/4 is five gallons, which will get me 75 miles, no problem. How long IS this thing?! I'm looking at the gas gauge and peering into the distance and doing calculations in my head. There are crossovers that connect the northbound and southbound lanes every few miles and as I pass one, then another, I consider turning around. But I don't and then I'm getting farther and farther away from land and I realize that I could just as easily run out of gas going back. So I forge ahead and finally convince myself that the bridge can't possibly be 75 miles long or even 60, at which point I finally relax.

"Land ho!" I shout out loud when I see the opposite shore and I think, at least Columbus didn't have to worry about running out of gas (well, I guess food is pretty important, too). I clocked it on the way back: 23.7 miles shore to shore, at a cost of $6 for the toll and $5.67 for gas and $10 for the forgetable lunch. Having my blood pressure jacked up to 160/100: priceless. Adventure! Oh boy!