The Portal on the Bay-Way #23

        Though I’m not a fan of real life drama or horror films, I do have a bit sci-fi edge. But this edge goes only to that which takes you into the realm of what could be possible and not too far fetched; just enough to stretch the mind. I have come to believe, very strongly, after a few experiences such as this story will tell, in portals. There are portals out there and many of you have gone through them.

A few years ago, we spent four days in Annapolis, Maryland. Annapolis is a fairly small, historical village where the town planners must have been on vacation or sleeping off a hangover when they planned for the growth of the town that hosts Annapolis Naval Academy.  It is quite evident that traffic patterns to handle the changes were totally left out of these meetings.

        We learned quickly that, in order to enjoy the quaintness and history of this bayside town, you must step outside yourself and view things objectively, especially when you became the brunt of another’s road rage. There are many portals in Annapolis, all of which overlap the car doors of native Annapolins. What is so shocking is that poor behavior, swearing, flipping the bird, and yelling at people has no social class lines. The beautiful Naval Officer whom you are admiring as he walks down the street will turn into a raging monster when he gets into his car – through the portal door.

     We saw people from every walk of life driving cars from Fords to Lamborghini's, mashing their horns, throwing fits, and making total spectacles of themselves. Then we’d see the same person park and get out and a smile would don their previously swearing face and they would walk down the street like the Queen of England, waving at everyone they met.

In an earlier post, the story was told about my first few months in Mobile and the wonder and awe I have of the Live Oaks. Because of that, I often drove looking up and, as a result, was constantly getting beeped at. Coming from New York, and having had my Annapolis experience, I fully expected to see the raging faces and fingers flying as I looked to see who was honking. Ironically, nobody was ever looking so it was hard to pinpoint who the honkers were. It was a relief to discover that Alabamians are as nice in their cars as out. That is, except for the bay way!

The bay way is shown in the background of this picture. It crosses from Mobile to Spanish Fort and Daphne. 


                                                                                                                                  It is common to hear about accidents there, whether I-10 or the Causeway and I always wondered, “What the heck?!? The roads are as straight as arrows!” The only distraction would be the beautiful view. Then one day while crossing over I saw something that I've  seen many times since, but only on the bay way: A car trying to run the another one off the road. It was shocking to see the car fighting that goes on, people whipping in front of others unnecessarily, even when there is no traffic. Drivers refuse to let others in and often cut one another off.  

It was obvious that this was a different variation of the same strange phenomenon in Annapolis. These people drive like roller derby girls, trying to knock each other out of the competition. Yet, when you try to make eye contact, they don’t look back or even acknowledge there is a problem. Perhaps the secret of this portal is that each driver has the illusion of being the only car on the bay way.

What makes it funny, though I don’t appreciate the dangerousness of it, is that, these are nice people even after entering their cars. While in Annapolis the alternative version of self happens when they enter their car, in Mobile, it happens only on the bayway. Seriously, in our newspaper ‘soundoff’ section, people actually call or write in to apologize to the person they cut off at such and such place. But not on the bayway! It’s as though they turn into killer zombies and remember nothing of it after they get to either side. It is the only place I  have seen purposeful road-rage in Alabama, though I’m still not sure it is road rage. I’m beginning to totally believe that there really is a portal on the bayway that throws people into an alternate version of themselves, and also blocks out all other drivers, only to put them back into their current life when and if they live to make it to the other side.