New H.O.V. Lane? Ha!

At least that what I told John the other day as I was swiftly driving past the entrance to the new Managed HOV lane on I-30 through Grand Prairie on Tuesday morning. I was going about 72-75 with no traffic in sight. I gleefully expressed my dismay to John as to why anyone would think of putting an HOV lane on a surprisingly always clear highway. I think I made the traffic gods angry. Tuesday evening I'm driving home and passing the HOV entrance on the west bound side of the freeway laughing to myself. Then about a mile later everything comes to a complete and utter stall. I have no idea what's going on. It's not raining, I hadn't heard of an accident on the traffic reports. It was the infamous "traffic for no reason." No, I was just stuck there watching all the cars in the HOV lane passing me and laughing at my misfortune of being stuck in traffic. It's just a fluke, I say! Wednesday rolls around and I am leaving work early to make it home to see John and Ben for the 10 minutes I'd have before my first RS Presidency meeting. Luckily Jan Brinkerhoff lives really close to us. A huge storm is rolling in and I get out of downtown faster than I expect, time enough, even to stop and pick up dinner on my way in. But, noooo, the traffic gods have other things in store for me. I quickly pass the HOV entrance at a pretty quick pace considering it's POURING DOWN RAIN, but as I get past Belt Line the rain stops completely and of course, so does the traffic. For no reason other than it had JUST been raining. I groan and watch as others more fortunate than I quickly speed by in the HOV lane. I think, now, I'm looking forward to early '08 when I will be willing to pay the 75 cents per mile bypass traffic on the fantastic new Managed HOV lane once it's open to commuters!