Go, go Godzilla

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I’m like most people in that I love a good highway and road system. I’m also like most people in that I’ll whine when something beyond my control gets on my nerves.

As some of you may have noticed, there’s quite a bit of work happening on Interstate 80, and seemingly every other stretch of asphalt in Northern Nevada. Well, they’re working on I-80 near the office—crushing asphalt. Every five or six seconds, my whole world shakes. I don’t recall ever having seen one of the machines they use, but I picture a guillotine on wheels, a massive one that could be used to decapitate Godzilla.

In fact, that Godzilla reference is as accurate as any metaphor I can come up with to describe the feeling. Godzilla marching right through town, his stride so big as to take five long seconds between steps. He must be a ways away because I feel the shaking more than I hear it. I’ll bet vibration-sensitive creatures, like earthworms and dogs, are just going crazy.

It’s just short of noon, now, and I think workers may have stopped for the moment, but my nerves are zinging, waiting for the footsteps to begin again.

I posted a comment on my Facebook site saying I was lucky to have a job where I could work from home if necessary. My buddy Don Vetter responded, “It’s in-place recycling, using the old road as the roadbase for the new pavement … it’s a practice toward sustainable communities and infrastructure.”

I’m all for that. I’m all for having smooth and sensible highways, too. But, mostly, I’m all for Godzilla when he battles Mothra. On the other hand, I felt a lot of sympathy for King Kong when he battled the nuclear lizard or dinosaur or whatever the heck Godzilla was.

I’m sorry about that last paragraph. It appears the Nevada Department of Transportation has finally driven me over the edge. It seems unfortunate that it happened after I made it through the worst part of the U.S. 395 work.