Thankful for roads

A couple of days ago the East Valley Tribune had an article on all the road construction in Gilbert:

"With nearly 20 construction projects under way simultaneously in Gilbert, some residents say they never know whether intersections they use one day may be impassable the next.
"People are upset when the roads don’t flow, and they call the police," he said."

I know that I find myself thinking about which direction to go that has the least amount of construction, and sometimes I'm impatient with restricted lanes. But I have a slightly different perspective since a trip we took about four years ago.

We got to go to Kenya for a friend's wedding, and because we have a large family, we hired a driver and a minivan. The notable thing about driving there is that it takes the driver's FULL attention, not just because of erratic driving by others, but because of the condition of the roads themselves. Pothole is too mild a word for the large craters that we drove around - and often through - throughout the entire city of Nairobi. Only one time did we drive on a well-maintained road, and that was in front of then-President Moi's estate. The rest of the time, and not just in Nairobi, we bounced along, never thinking of trying to read a newspaper (impossible) and often wondering if a mouth guard might work to protect our teeth against the particularly jarring lurches made by the minivan. Sometime during that trip, I decided I wouldn't complain about road construction anymore; comparatively speaking, our roads are smooth as silk.

In about a month, the road widening for Highland Groves will start. I'll do my best to be thankful.