- On the Menu at Bob’s Burgers and Brew
Yesterday I received one of those joke emails titled “Things I Learned in the South.” It listed a lot of amusing statements like: Onced and Twiced are words and Y’all is singular and all y’all is plural. But it also listed a few things that didn’t strike me as funny at all. Like You measure distance in minutes.
Well, yea-ah! Doesn’t everyone? It takes 25 minutes to get from Oysterville to Long Beach on the front road; 30 minutes on the back road. It’s the same mileage but the speed limits are different. So, OF COURSE you measure distance in minutes.
For the uninitiated, we north-enders who live on the east side of the Peninsula sometimes cross over to the “Front Road” at Bay Avenue which takes us through Ocean Park to the blinking red light where we turn left onto Pacific Avenue which is also State Highway 103. This, called the “Front Road” in local parlance, parallels the ocean, and is the road most travelled by tourists and by those in a hurry – or by those who live in one of the communities on the west side of the peninsula.
The “Back Road” is about a mile to the east of the Front Road and parallels the bay and is officially known as Sandridge Road. It is a County Road and, while the speed limit is 50 mph on the Front Road, it is only 45 on the Back Road and, in places, is only 35 or even 25. It slows you right down – unless you are like most of the locals and don’t pay those speed limit signs much mind. (I do and it makes my friends and loved ones mad.)
Also, the trip to Long Beach can take a different number of minutes depending on the time of year. During the Kite Festival in August, it can take 35 or even 40 minutes to get from Oysterville to Long Beach on the Front Road but it’s still 30 minutes on the back road. The traffic is all on the west side of the Peninsula during Kite Festival.
On the other hand, during the Rod Run (which is centered at Wilson’s Field on Sandridge) it might take you an hour to get from Oysterville to the other side of Bay Avenue – usually a ten minute drive even in a snowstorm. The Rod Run is always the weekend after Labor Day so you can bet your ’57 souped up Chevy that we’ll not be going south on the Back Road next Saturday or Sunday. In fact, we’ll be sitting on our lawn chairs in front of the church watching the rods cruise through Oysterville! It’ll be a first this year!
During Rod Run I’d stay at home if I were you especially if the rods will come to you. They used to cruise through Ilwaco and turn in front of our house and we sat in the yard to watch. The Back Road and Ocean Park are going to be clogged. Stock up on snacks and stay home until the last of them wheels off the Peninsula!