THE EXIT RAMP FROM I-76 WEST TO ARLINGTON IS MY FAVORITE!

 

I made it back to the Arlington Road exit ramp from I-76.  It's my favorite ramp, because there's plenty of room to get over, and I know how to clean it now.

I start by going down the left side, and the sun is on my back.  Only problem, I'm thinking about how hot it's going to be coming back up the other side with the sun in my face.  Not fun. 

Right off the bat, I found a bolt!  

That made the whole night worthwhile.  I love it when I find dangerous things on the road and get them picked up before anybody gets hurt.

When I get to the end, I cross the ramp and clean the other side.  I can see really well that there's nothing coming through the underpass from the left side.

But I can't go back!  Cars are flying through the underpass, thinking they're still on the freeway, and if I see a piece of trash I missed, too bad.  I can't see to get back to the other side.

I also have to be really careful here, because cars aren't expecting to see a person when they shoot through that underpass.  I stay way over so they don't get surprised and run off the road.   

So as I'm working my way up the other side, sun in my face, what do I see?  Another bolt!  

Oh my goodness!  What a great day!

At the light, there's a panhandler guy in a walker.  What a pitiful life that must be.  And what a big mess he makes!  

I listened to him begging tonight.  He makes his way to a car waiting for the light to turn green and says, "Do you have any water?  Anything cold?"  And I'm thinking, "You have 19 bottles of water behind you!"   What a racket!  

I hate panhandlers at the exit ramps.  Why is that allowed?

Behind the fence, the water bottles are tossed into the tall grass.  Why do people act like pigs?  Do they think we can't see them behind the chain link fence?

After I clean both sides of the exit ramp, I head over to the other side of the fence.  As I cleaned the left side, I could see the trash over there, so I knew there was a lot, but I didn't expect this much.

I picked up 2,512 pieces of trash here tonight, but I got it all.  I don't need to go back for a few weeks.

And the trash is not just what's blown into the fence.  It's by the street too.  You can see exactly how far I got.  Why don't the people who live in this neighborhood care?

There's a guy in a little white car who thanks me every time he sees me.  I think he lives on this street.

I guess the people have just given up trying to keep it clean.  Clean it and it gets trashed up again in a week.  SO CLEAN IT EVERY WEEK!  How hard is that to understand?  It's not hard if it doesn't get this bad.  

Then it's kinda hard.  I'm tired, but it was a really good night.