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Au revoir

I'm going away for a few days, but I'm going to try and keep up with the daily news, so stay tuned.

Heading north for a coastal retreat reminds me of an editorial earlier this week about the impact New Hampshire and its deplorable toll layout has on the great state of Maine: "It's bad enough that you charge an exorbitant toll for your little stretch of I-95, but to jam up Maine-bound vacation traffic for two hours at your ransom plaza is unforgivable ... Keep up this idiocy and maybe Maine and Massachusetts, gracious bookends that they are will figure out a way to annex your little cash-cow patch of ground and spare vacationers the nightmare of having to pass through New Hampshire, the Greedy State."

Posted by Sebastian / August 18, 2005 /

Portsmouth

Today I went to the picture-perfect town of Portsmouth, N.H., to have coffee with a drag queen. It was fun, despite my passionate stance against the entire Granite State.

Posted by Sebastian / June 29, 2005 /

The Worst Part About Going to Maine: New Hampshire

I was never truly biased against the state of New Hampshire until I moved to Boston some years ago and began to realize that Granite Staters clog our roads to no end. But it seems they don't mind their own roads clogged, either, according to a column in the Globe by Brian McGrory. You see, virtually every summer day there are miles-long backups at the single New Hampshire toll barrier along I-95, as everyone and their mother makes a mass exodus from Maine. But there is no E-ZPass to help alleviate the tie-ups. This past weekend, returning from Memorial Day in the Midcoast, me and my useless E-ZPass transponder waited half an hour to pass through the toll booth. This is why I usually fly to Rockland instead of driving.

"Technology is a wondrous things -- a thought that comes to mind whenever I approach the Hampton toll plaza on Interstate 95 in New Hampshire," McGrory wrote. He goes on to point out how razor-thin laptops, cell phones, and automated toll collection have transformed our world for the better.

"There's no end to where it all may go, no end, anyway, until you arrive in New Hampshire, and when you arrive in New Hampshire, the whole splendid technology revolution comes grinding to a traffic-clogging halt." New Hampshire has yet to implement E-ZPass -- the only state along the eastern seaboard that has failed to do so. "The state looks at E-ZPass like some futuristic endeavor they can't possibly comprehend."

The problem, apparently, is how to get rid of the discounted tokens that New Hampshire seems so attached to. As for a start date for automated collection, the state's E-Z Pass site says, "There is no anticipated or projected date for deployment at this time."

• If you get stuck at the toll booths, blame Gov. Lynch

Posted by Sebastian / June 2, 2005 /