Getting From Point A to Point B

Wichita is a city, but not a large one. At least half of it is in Western Kansas (By my standards, anything west of Broadway in Wichita is Western Kansas.) so it stands to reason that it is flat, uninterrupted by many bodies of water, and pretty much on a grid. This may be unexciting but does make it fairly easy to navigate. If your path is obstructed you just go a few blocks out of your way and go around the obstacle.

But sometimes the sun, moon, and stars are in a diabolical allignment and the above evasive manuever does not work. This morning was one of those times for me.

I realize that living on the west side of town and working on the east side (a very strong distinction in the culture of the city) is my own fault, so I am partially to blame for the predicament in which I found myself.

My usual route from home to work is to take 37th Street North from my neighborhood all the way across town to the east until I reach Oliver Street. What happens after that is not really relevant. This is a pretty direct route and avoids the congestion on the interestates. The one drawback to this route is that there is a train track just on the east side of Broadway, but I am usually able to use the above mentioned tactics to handle that.

This morning, as I approached Broadway I saw there was a train. When I got closer I could see that, although it was moving along, it was pretty long. I decided to turn right on Broadway, go down to either Central Ave. (the street my office is on) or First Street, which is one way going east and goes under the train tracks.

As I traveled down Broadway, I noticed that there was not only the moving train which was blocking 37th Street, but another stationary train was blocking all the intersections of Broadway with east bound streets until 21st Street. So I thought I had made a pretty good decision.

I got to Central and realized there was THIRD train coming which could quite possibly block Central so I went down to First Street, turned left and headed east only to find that First Street was closed for construction at St. Francis. So thinks I "I can go south on St. Francis to Douglas which also has an underpass and head East on that to Hydraulic, head back north on Hydraulic to Central and scoot on east to my office." (The advantage of a city on a grid.)

Imagine my surprise when, after going under the train tracks at Douglas, I found that Douglas was also closed before I got to Hydraulic. There were tents set up in the street and it appeared that either there was some kind of "festival" or troops had been moved into town.

If I knew where to lodge a complaint I would. I am sorry I work on the east and live on the west. I am sorry that I don't take the highway because the traffic backs up so badly on it I might as well walk. I am sorry that I can't get onto I235 at Broadway anyway when there is a train because I cannot make a left turn onto Boradway unless I run the indefinite red light there for east bound traffic when there is a train. I am sorry I refuse to cut across the parking lot which has potholes rivaling the Badlands. But do all the shortfalls on my part really mean that I should be almost prohibited from getting to my job? Is it really smart to close off a main street for a festival when all the other main streets are closed for either construction or trains? I might as well be in Virginia trying to get through the tunnel.

Well, I have sounded off and I don't feel the least bit better! I am still pissed.