To Follow A Rule

Now, everyone has a set of rules, by which they govern themselves and the way they live. That is not to say rules cannot be made, changed or omitted in certain circumstances. But... there are also those rules that should be followed by everyone... always. The rule I have in mind at the moment is the following:

"Do not get off the highway in New Jersey."

Now, it is important to note that this can be omitted in the case that your final destination is in fact in New Jersey AND not on the highway. But, no exiting for gas, food, rest... anything!

I know many people have had their own experiences with this.  I myself once needed gas and thought, "There is a Pilot station. They're huge, and for cars and trucks and food and everything. It'll be fine!" ...but it wasn't... I was lead about 2 miles down a road with a huge divider down the middle where I got to the station just fine. But, I couldn't take the same road back to the highway. Instead, I was instructed to travel out the back of the station, traversing the massive pothole (yes... I think cars went missing in these holes) field, and then headding down a series of back roads. After far longer then was pleasant, there was an entrance onto the main road, in the desired direction, and things ended up working out.

My family was discussing this rule just the other day when traveling to my dad's brother's house for Easter. And without going into too much detail of who was driving, or who said what (but the decision was not mine...), it was explicitly agreed that no matter what, even should one run out of gas, it's not worth exiting. But, no more than 10 minutes later our beloved driver exclaimed the need for gas... and a need to exit. The idea was justified with, "we aren't near I-80" and "it looks like a nice suburban town". And while those may both have been true, never underestimate New Jersey's ability to make your exit as complicated as possible.

As we reached the end of the off-ramp, we saw half the road blocked off by a police car. And upon turning we saw why. Turns out a crane was rolled off a flatbed and was blocking the vast majority of the road. As far as we could tell, there were police in all directions directing traffic, and there was no way back to the highway on the ramp we had just taken. As a result, we had to drive down side roads to the following town before we were able to get back onto the highway.

So... when you are next running out of gas on the high way in good-ole-Jersey, remember, if you just run out, help will have come to you and you don't have to exit!