WARNING: Long Post… But it’s EZ reading.

In the past when we traveled we carried along a small Tupperware container filled with coins. It was for paying tolls as we rode whatever toll roads were between us and our destination.

The whole paying toll thing is okay. The money is used to pay for usually nice smooth roads and I’m here to say that we’ve driven on some mighty smooth toll roads. The challenge sometimes is actually paying the toll. For example, approaching the toll booth area you might get a sign that says “Pay Toll – 65 cents.” We would scramble through the Tupperware and see if we had the exact change. If we did, we tossed the coins in the basket and moved on.

One time, on a Chicago area tollway, we approached the toll area with exact change. Apparently, unknown to me, I missed the basket with some of our coins. We figured that the green we’ve-counted-your-money-and-you’re-good to-go light wasn’t working, so we continued on. It just so happened, several miles down the road, the car that was behind us at the booth pulled up next to us, people grinning and holding up a sign that read, “you owe us 10 cents!”

Sometimes, we needed to deal with the toll booth person. We’ve made it a practice to try to write down the names of our TBP’s in our trip log. They’re people too after all. Let’s see… Indiana, Deb… Ohio, Frank… New York, Donna… Some took our money with a smile, some not.

Our recent trip brought us a whole new toll paying experience… the EZPass! It’s a remarkable little device that you attach to you windshield, tucked behind the rear-view mirror, no bigger than a Twix bar. By some technological wizardry it takes care of all the toll paying! All we did was slowly make our way through the tollbooth lane, waited for the green we’ve-deducted-your-money-from-a-virtual-Tupperware-container-and-you’re-good to-go light. It’s awesome!

There’s no more hunting for correct change. No more missing the basket. No more stopping. You can just keep right on rollin’. I do miss Deb and Frank, though. But the Tupperware container can now be used for its rightful purpose – storing a bit of mayonnaise or collecting that pile of change that gets emptied out of my pockets at the end of the day.