Madison and ?

This morning I'm heading to Madison....Madison, WI. When I lived in SD I often went to Madison...Madison, SD, that is. I never really had the feelings about traveling to Madison, SD, that I'm experiencing today about traveling to Madison, WI.

Madison, SD, is a small, sleepy college town...I think they have 3 traffic lights total! It is the home of Dakota State University (DSU). (DSU happens to have a very fine on-line/distance learning Master's Degree in computers [information systems as well as education]) DSU - a jewell of a small university. The town is quaint, and it took me one trip to explore the entire place. Even as I sit here typing this, I can picture driving through Madison, SD, and experience the feeling of securely knowing it would be rare that I would get lost in a town of it's size.

But today I'm trying to gear myself up for entering the big city of Madison, WI, dealing with traffic, and making my way around a large community where I've never been before. I've been to Mapquest and I am armed with directions to where I'm headed. I have a meeting to attend.

When I mention Madison, WI, to folks living in my region, they seem to get a sort of dreamy look in their eyes. Madison - seems everyone has a story about going to Madison, experiencing Madison, attending things at the University of WI in Madison......the culture of Madison. I've also heard that it is pretty in Madison. Of course, WI government is in Madison.

So....it is nearing time for me to depart. That is my other difficulty. I am having a hard time figuring out how long it will take me to drive to Madison. Its about 130 miles away, and Mapquest suggests that will take me nearly 3 hours. My Western trained brain is having a bit of trouble wrapping around the idea that 130 miles takes 3 hours to cross. What I forget, however, is that whatever way I go, I have other towns and cities that I must negotiate. The "long way" on Interstate requires going thru Milwaukee...which to me seems like a strange route, when Madison is diagonal from my location. The "short way" is on mostly 2-lane highway with many small towns that require speeds of 25 to 45 mph while moving through them.

I have selected the "short way." I'd rather drive thru small towns than deal with the traffic in Milwaukee....as well as negotiating the Interstate maze and construction there. I'm a novice at getting around Milwaukee...
Spending the majority of my life in very rural places where the definition of a "City" was a place a little smaller than Green Bay means I'm not exactly wanting to throw TWO city driving frustrations into my day. Watch for the continuing story....Soozee's Big City Adventure.

Okay....take a deep breath....you can do this, Soozee....lets get going.