TIME TO CLEAN THE ENTRANCE AND EXIT RAMPS FROM ROUTE 8!!!

 

Wilbeth Road has some really big hills, one over by the softball field and this one.

I started cleaning from the freeway west to Brown Street.  Going down the hill was pretty fun.  Going back up the other side, pulling my trash cart, was a sweaty job.

But look how great it looks!  

Three people beeped their horns, and one lady yelled, "Thank you, Debbie!"  I love that so much!

So I know I'm working in the right area now.  There's not a lot of trash, but what there is, looks really bad.

When I got to the freeway again, I started with the southbound exit ramp from Route 8 to Wilbeth Road.  It was a mess, but very easy to clean, except for the flow of cars.

If I was sitting at an exit ramp, waiting for the light to turn green, and I saw a woman picking up trash, I think I'd stare.  And that's exactly what they do.  A big long string of cars watching my every move.

I can honestly say I'm quite the expert with my trash grabber, after picking up 770,000 pieces of trash, but when people in a big line of cars are all watching me, I pick up a napkin and put it in my bucket, and it blows out, and I'm chasing it, like a fool! 

And I try to grab a plastic bottle, and it squirts out the side of my trash grabber!  It's nerve-wracking!

Nobody would ever believe I'm really good at this.

But I managed to get it done, embarrassment aside.

Most of the trash I picked up was in the tall grass, not just along the edge of the exit ramp.  It should stay clean for at least a week. 

After that, I worked on the northbound entrance ramp.  

It's not safe when there's a lot of traffic, especially big trucks, so I didn't get everything picked up.  It'll have to wait until the city mows the grass, and I can get on the other side of the guard rail.

When I got to the exit ramp northbound, where my friend, Roger, used to sit, I found a mess as big as when he was there.

But again, it didn't take five minutes to clean it all up.  That's the thing about picking up trash.  It's not hard.  Everybody wants to complain about how nasty it looks, but not many people want to pick it up.  They'd rather focus on how awful it is that people litter like this.

I don't know why people throw their trash out the window when they're sitting at an exit ramp.  Bored maybe?  Great time to clean out the car?  Who knows.

I don't care anymore.  They do it, and I clean it up.  Enough said.

I got that area all cleaned up.  

There's still more, but my trash bag was stuffed, and there's no dumpster close by.  I had to take all this trash home and throw it in my trash bin.

I try to empty my trash bag before it gets so full, but I couldn't do that tonight.  No place to empty it.

But I found a pile of quarters!  

I would get this excited if I found a pile of pennies, but quarters?

Who throws quarters on the ground like litter?  

Makes no sense to me.

I crossed the bridge, and the sun was blinding.   

I had to be really careful when I crossed the street with my heavy stuffed trash bag, my bucket that was also full, a hub cap, my trash grabber and my recycle bucket full of cans.  

What a sight I must be!  

No wonder people stare at me when I'm picking up trash.

I really feel good about what I got done tonight.  Only 1,280 pieces, but what a difference it made!