I have been pretty out of touch lately…but I have an excuse, honestly! We went to the beach at Topsail Island, NC! We typically go to a beach somewhere in NC but this was our first year at Topsail (pronounced Top-sul). Anyhow, I’ll get to the pics of me in a bikini later but first, let me tell you about the trip there. From Charleston, we have to travel south on the WV turnpike which is a toll-road. Typically we pay our 6 bucks each way and forget about it, but this year, we discovered something new…E-Z Pass! I always figured those lanes that nobody used were for decoration only…or maybe WV got extra booths because they were on sale. My sister-in-law educated us about the E-Z Pass system which is what those always-empty lanes are really for!
Emily went on down to the West Virginia Parkways Authority and bought our transponder. Basically we just had to load a $20 credit on our device (which required a $5 refundable deposit). The device hangs on the windshield behind the mirror and is out of sight. Now get this, it took Emily mere minutes to fill out the paperwork (at a government agency) and walk out of the building with our very own you-can-use-the-empty-lane-on-the-toll-roads transponder. Instead of the typical $2 per stop, with the E-Z Pass system, the toll is only $1.30…so on our trip, we saved$4.20 which almost covered my recommended daily allowance of Mountain Dew for the trip down.
Do you ever feel that special happy feeling down in your belly when you get to do something cool that puts you in front of other cars, saves you some money and speeds you on to the beach faster than normal? Yeah, me too. We took pictures of cars around us and the empty lanes each time we came upon a toll booth…I was like a kid in a toll booth shop!
I wondered where you’d gone. Who took care of the beloved, Seph while you were galavanting around at the beach??? Kidding. 🙂
There really is nothing better than ‘cutting in line’. The Fast Pass at Disney World makes me feel like a celebrity. You should try it!
Welcome to the E-Z Pass world! Love that thing. Never ever have to worry about not having enough cahs. If your account is low, you can still go through, it will just flash and say call E-Z Pass but all you have to do is to go online and add more money.
As a counselor who has to do lunch duty, it goes against my very core to “cut line”. However, it is a really nice feeling when you can wave to that jerk who just cut you off a mile ago as you whiz right on by in the E-Z Pass lane!
LOVE IT, Love It, love it! I’ve had mine since MA installed the system… late 90’s maybe? I forget… but it’s called FastLane up there and EZ Pass here in PA where we live now.
Each and every time I go through the booth and the little green light says “Thank You”… I say out loud… “Oh No… Thank YOU!” My husband always looks at me sideways and my kids think I’m nuts… but each and every time I am thankful to just go tooling through… no window, no money, no problems… Thank You Very Much! LOL
A toll booth shop? That sounds pretty awful…
I’ve always wondered about those extra lanes. Now I know why I’m not special enough!
Goodness I wouldn’t know what to do with toll roads… would take some getting used to! Folks here would revolt or something 🙂
Love automatic toll-booth payment tags. Love ’em!
I figured you were gone. It is unlike you to be so quiet!
Hope you had a blast!