By Chuck Woodbury
ROADSIDE JOURNAL
How often have you driven by a scene like this? Reader Mark Schaffler sent this meme along. He wrote: “Too much reality in this description.”
As the proud holder of a driver’s license for more than half a century, I have seen this scene dozens of times, most often in construction zones. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Oh, yes, there are instances when there’s a reason why all these folks stand around, but there are plenty of other times when there is just a whole bunch of money being wasted, most often taxpayers’.
I even have personal experience. In my college summer vacations I fought fires for the
U.S. Forest Service. When we were not fighting fires (which was most of the time, unlike today where there’s one fire after another all summer and fall), we would perform odd jobs — repair tools, install road signs, improve campgrounds, clean pit toilets (oh, that was fun — and a bit of trivia, the women’s toilets were almost always dirtier than the men’s). But we did a lot of standing around, especially when our bosses were nowhere in sight.
So I have some experience with government work. But to defend my sometimes lazy behavior, we did work hard fighting fires.
##RVT1038
I lived in a small older travel trailer while going to college. It was wonderful as a small young woman home. No one wanted to move in or overstay. Space rent included water electricity cable and garbage. This was 55 yrs ago. Now I see at the beach that there’s a lot of undereducated meanial workers who make bare minimum. It provides warm and dry housing. Many RV parks refuse older trailers because they are abandoned due to hospitalization or incarceration. The owners of the park just pull them out and leave them roadside for free for the taking. The cost to park is $500 approximately. It provides a home to take drug addicts off the street and keeps them from squatting in someone’s vacation home. Mostly druggies in the older trailers. I see top of the line motohomes used by seniors living full-time in parks for 55 and older parks. It’s a simple lifestyle. If you don’t like where you are, moving can be done in minutes. Motorhomes parked next to the stores get free WI-FI.