Gotta love gas (and travel)

In a political season like this, things are said to change rapidly. But here’s an example of what hasn’t changed in this historic year thus far: my ambivalent attitude towards the New York Times. \nWhile sifting through a June 9 article on how gas prices affect citizens across the country’s various regions, one line caught my eye.\n“With the exception of rural Maine, the Northeast appears least affected by gasoline prices because people there make more money and drive shorter distances, or they take a bus or train to work.”\nI stopped reading, not because the NYT dropped a staggering no-brainer in the middle of a poignant news story, but because it surprisingly lacked the BS in which these stories are so often embedded. It was so bereft of BS, in fact, that I suffered a flashback to one of those 13-hours car trips up the eastern seaboard to see grandma.\nIt’s a pity that of all the people not to be affected by gas prices, it had to be the group whose driving is arguably the worst you’ll find anywhere in the country. \nI remember why my father didn’t exactly look forward to passing through Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. As a result of those claustrophobic, profanity-laden hours of authentic family time, I vowed to exercise all possible patience, courtesy and vigilance behind the wheel. After five years of practice, I’m proud of how true I’ve stayed to those vows. Far more consistent and unchanging than me, however, has been this hard little fact: The drivers in those areas still deserve to be condemned with the same four-letter words that played so critical a role in my father’s driving. When I came to the Midwest, however, I was floored by the utter lack of chaotic motorists. \nI sympathize (albeit reluctantly) with my dad whenever undertaking a trip “home” with that blend of animosity and nostalgia all lovers of travel learn to overcome. Having gone to school here for two years, it’s hard to believe the disparity in basic road manners and competence between here and my home in the Northeast. For drivers, Bloomington is comparably idyllic. \nIt’s a shame that Bloomington’s calm road atmosphere has faced adversity through higher gas prices. If anyone should have to drive less, it’s my relatives on the East Coast. Yet even here, Bloomington has an advantage. We don’t seem to have suffered as much as countless other towns. Our public transportation is as good as anywhere in the region, and our city often receives awards for how “walkable” it is. Not only can you escape the pain of gas prices here just by expanding your worldview through taking alternative transportation, you can’t help but come to grips with the prevailing sense of peace in and around Bloomington in doing so. So when you indulge your next college-themed road trip, remember what you had back in B-Town.