The day has finally come

Well....for weeks now, I've been saying that our days are numbered as to how much longer we are going to be able to get in and out of our "roadway" from Hwy 36. You see, they are building lanes, bridges and whatnot from Hannibal to Macon. It's been a 2 lane for years and now it's becoming a 4 lane....which is good and bad. It'll definately make it busier as I think it will lessen some truck traffic from I-70 to our roads but it also makes the trip to Hannibal done in about 15 minutes!!!!! Anyhow.......last week they (they being the road crew and bridge crew) made some big accomplishments in the new overpass bridge for the unopened East bound lane right by us. Some of the lanes have already been opened but from about a mile E of our lane to another couple miles W...it's back to 2 lanes while they finish the bridge and lane right here. Well, yesterday they poured concrete on the W side of the overpass and I figured that today would be the day. Yep --- when I went to work this morning, they were pouring concrete on "our" end of the overpass (the E end) and I knew that this evening I would probably be detouring through Route J and taking the gravel to our lane thru the other side. (which the gravel way is an additional 10 minutes not counting the extra time up Route J....it's all a pain in my @$$) This afternoon, my friend Chris sent me a text message telling me that all the equipment is at our entrance and that I should plan on taking the gravel. Then, around 3:30 my friend Becky called me at work and said that there's no way that I could get in my road and was wondering what I would do! LOL I don't think she realized the gravel is there -- but we never take it as it is pointless for us to do on a normal day! It's much out of the way. I figured that Am would have called me when he went home if our entrance was completely blocked. I called him to inquire and he said he went thru but he wasn't sure if I would be able to by the time I left town or not. (great...just great) Anyhow - I asked him to call me around 6 - which is when weight watchers gets over. He called and left a message. I guess the "road man" came down here to talk to him. They are going to close it up in the morning and finish the entrance and the rest of the lane going East. They were asking if we minded being closed in - and if we did they could leave that path open and then once the other part is cured they could open it and finish the other. Am told them to finish it up and open it when it's done. We will be closed to the highway for about a week. Which isn't THAT bad..but bad enough since the highway is RIGHT THERE> Gahhhhh This is really going to "disrupt" my routine! I fly in by the seat of my pants everywhere I go so this is going to suck! lol ANyhow.....here's a few pictures of the end of our mile long lane going to the highway..... Mom knows what it looked like before - the rest of you really won't know! So just pretend! haha

This is the new bridge and rip-rap at the RR. This is looking at it from my mail box

This is the hillside of the new lane.....it used to just be a grassy hill. The road is going E

This is some of the concrete/road making equipment (don't know what it's really called) but it's all lined up on the new lane that is going to go East (towards Hannibal)

This is the entrace of our road looking at the highway and Route U across 36. This is the "path" they left open for today but will close up and finish along w/ the rest of the lane tomorrow. (I was looking N)

This is just the edge of the lane that they laid just today and the open pathway. (still looking N)

Here is the lane they poured today......this goes into the new RR Bridge Overpass. (looking W)

Just a few of the trucks they parked for the night (and the backend of my car) Looking S

And here you see a "spot" in our lane......this is due to all of the heavy trucks and things on our road the past weeks.....Ambrose says that it is just from their heaviness. (Dennis you probably know all about that kind of thing) Anyhow there are about 3 or 4 spots like this in random areas of our lane. Niiiice, ey? (eye roll)