It's August in Southern Ct...

I am currently sitting in Mystic, Ct. And yes,  I have succumbed to the tourist call. Yes I slowed down on River Road to watch the crane putting the upper sections of the masts back on the Morgan. Yes I stopped in a store on West Main street, yes I screwed up traffic as I fought over a spot to parallel park in. But..I was there for a reason. Two weeks before I had seen a clock in one of the stores I wanted. It would go good with the wood interior and moldings I am adding to the living room. Of course the one I saw and wanted they didn't have and I bought a different one...but...eh at the hell.

Now why am I writing about my adventures in Mystic? Well, as everyone knows, the stores in Mystic, that most tourist town of tourist towns, carry nothing of real value, or use for the most part. The stores there carry tee shirts and coffee mugs and any of a million other artsy items that people buy to litter their house with.  Later the items will find their way to some forgotten nook in an attic or a basement. This weekend is the artsy useless weekend of all. Artists (so called) and artists real will descend on the town, putting up tents and awnings, blocking sidewalks and roads in order to show and sell their wares. Meanwhile, we as locals,  do our best to stay away from the town. And resort to back road short cuts to avoid the influx of art mesmerized sightseeing non participant drivers which will bury this area over the next couple days.

For my friends and those interested in getting somewhere are well advised to avoid southeastern Connecticut all together. Any roads leading into Mystic on the Groton side of the river will be bumper to bumper and the Stonington side will be even worse off. That side of the river already has Seaport and Aquarium traffic. 

As for I-95, south bound will not be bad, the two lanes coming in from Rhode Island will widen to three after passing the town. As for north bound, forget it, 95 goes from three lanes to two as it enters Mystic and the conglomerate of traffic backed up off route 27 in Mystic will bring I-95 to a stop. It always does.

A few years ago the State redesigned the exit ramp to help with the traffic, two lanes right, two lanes left, and one in the middle to go straight. Nobody goes straight so nothing was really accomplished. The only way to fix the problem would have been to bypass route 27 and extend the ramp over it for about a half mile to dump out on Coogan blvd away from the already congested Rte 27 area.

klay