02. Trip 1: From MA to RI.

Well, that was interesting.

I suppose that before I make this post, I should confess something to you all: I love speeding in Rhode Island. There is one simple reason for this. It's because whoever designed the s-curves on 95 through Pawtucket and Providence was a daredevil with a penchant for speeding around tight corners.

Of course, then the powers that be made it so nobody's supposed to speed there, which hasn't bothered me in the past...but now, oh how it does.


At about 2 PM on September 11, I set off for Rhode Island. The beginning of my trip was mostly boring. The only thing I've noticed that makes street driving the speed limit difficult is intersections. In many places, the speed limit drops from 40 or 45 mph down to 25 for a stop sign or traffic light. I understand that this is for safety reasons, that they want you to be prepared to stop if the light changes, etc.- but BOY does it piss off other drivers!

Driving on the highway was boring for the most part as well, to be honest, because cruise control allows us to "set it and forget it", as it were. Even if you don't, it's still a slow drive, watching cars zoom by you on the left. I've always kept myself entertained by driving a bit faster than I should and by competing with other drivers in informal contests of speed, and highway driving is proving to be much less thrilling without those things.

The ramp from 495 North to 95 South has a speed limit of 25 mph, which didn't cause any problems on the trip down. My car definitely felt better taking that sharp four-leaf clover ramp going the speed limit, let me tell you. There was even someone behind me who didn't crawl up my ass! Fortunately, the acceleration back to 65 wasn't much of a challenge.

The s-curves in Pawtucket weren't a problem either- aside from making myself stick to the limit. When I test-drove this concept a few weeks ago, the first s-curve I tried to take at the speed limit in Pawtucket didn't happen quite as I'd planned, because I had a semi bearing down on me when I was still 5 mph above the limit. However, this time nobody gave me any problems.

On the next s-curve I got my first ass-rider of the day, who continued to stay on me instead of passing. Unfortunately, even when you hit a straightaway in Providence, there's no change in the speed limit- it's still 45. People continued to pass me, of course, even when I used my 5-mph allowance and upped it to 50. The flow of traffic was probably 55 mph minimum, even though it's a 45 mph zone. I was still getting passed when the speed limit finally increased to 50.


I made my return trip last night, September 13. I experienced the same feelings on the way back up to Massachusetts- everyone speeding past me on 95 while I puttered along at 45 miles per hour in the far right lane. Well, everyone except for the people who decided to stick to the back bumper of my car instead of slowing down if they didn't have the room to pass me!

I realized something interesting during this drive. There are three to four lanes on the highways I use to travel most frequently. The far left lane is supposed to be a passing lane, not a traveling one- not that that stops people, or ever stopped me, from traveling in it. However, the center lane is a traveling lane, as is the right lane. I shouldn't have to stay in the far right lane. I should be able to drive the speed limit in the center lane! But I can't. I had someone tailgating me such that I couldn't see their headlights in my rear view mirror while I was going the speed limit through Pawtucket in the far right lane. If I'd tried to drive in the center lane, I'd have had people passing me on both sides!

Hitting Massachusetts again was a relief, because the base speed limit on 95 goes up to 65. What I've found so far is that while people do tend to speed in Massachusetts, the difference between the speed limit and what they're actually driving doesn't seem to be as large as it is through the 45-50 mph zones through Northern Rhode Island.

When I exited from 95 North to 495 South, I had my last freaky driver of the trip. The speed limit was 25, I was going almost 30, and I had someone glued to my bumper so that I literally could see no part of their headlights in my mirror. The second we got to 495 they crossed over the end of the exit so that they could pass me.


This trip wasn't so terrible, though it's already been eye-opening. When my trip meter hit 150 miles, I had only used about 3/8 of a tank of gas- so if my gas gauge is correct, I got over 30 miles to the gallon during this drive. I'm doubtful that it was quite that good, but it's still nice to see that I'm not burning up fuel the way I usually do.