Open Letter to Closed NY State Thruway Rest Areas by a Woman/Mom
We travel a lot along the New York State Thruway. My fiancee's family lives in Buffalo and we take many trips out to Western New York throughout the year. When I heard that the governor announced that they would be revamping and rebuilding the rest areas along the Thruway, I didn't really know what to expect until this past weekend. But something was clear, a man must have scheduled these upgrades.
I can't wait for this state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, and modern food choices to hit the New York State Thruway, but I am not sure they thought it through. Considering this is an open letter, I just want to go out on a limb and say that a man had to have scheduled these renovations. I mean think about it, guys can go anywhere. I mean anywhere. We ladies don't have that luxury. Guys can go at a text stop or even on the side of the road...anywhere.
Don't get me wrong, I am excited that they will be upgraded with a better variety of fast food and fresh choices. I just didn't realize the massive inconvenience it is. We travel for four and a half hours all the way across the state and rely on those rest stops. The construction began last month and they are closing every other rest area. This way they can work on one while still providing some sort of food and bathrooms.
While I understand that these upgrades are definitely needed, I don't think they took into consideration of families and older people (like me) who don't always know within seventy-five miles if I need to pee or not. It's literally a crapshoot with a ten-year-old too.
I guess all I can do from now on is just either drink less on the trip or make sure my ten-year-old son doesn't eat anything that makes him have to use the bathroom within a certain number of hours. But then again, if he needs to, I guess we can just pull over.