Tourists

I’m trying to be patient. I really am. I want to be a good welcoming kind of person who appreciates the amount of money tourists spend in Maine. I want to be polite and kind and smile at people from away so they will want to come back and visit us again. I really do want to be that way but today really tried my patience.

I was driving north from Kennebunk on Route 1 and people were driving so incredibly slow. We were going through a section that was posted 50 mph and the traffic was barely moving 35 mph. I was patient and figured that, when the road became two lane in Biddeford, I could pass the slow people and drive a normal speed.

This is what I did. Politely moved into the right lane and passed all the slow people when the light turned green. Then I got stuck again. Behind an SUV from Quebec. An SUV that not only insisted on driving below the speed limit, it actually slowed down to 12 mph in a 25 mph zone.

12 MPH???? Really???? There wasn’t anything to see. It was Biddeford. A grocery store, ice cream place and houses. No view of the river. No view of the ocean. No restaurants to gape at and wonder if they serve lobster. Nothing to see here, people. PLEASE accelerate to the proper speed limit.

I take comfort in the fact that it is August and the tourism season will end in a few short months. And I do want to be polite and treat people with kindness and respect. But slow drivers are really testing my good nature and starting to drive me crazy. I think, in the interest of my sanity, I am going to have to stay off the main drags and take the back roads home. It might take a little longer but I won’t be insane by the time I get home. And that is worth the extra time and effort.