Great Idea Day

a bailing bucket for my constantly overflowing cesspool of ways to optimize society

It occurred to me while driving out to Anna's on Saturday night that there's an underutilized segment of property in Virginia's arsenal -- the noble rest stop. Constantly under the threat of budget cuts and men with bad aim, the Virginia rest stop gets a nice little chunk of money for upkeep, but then only gets used by dirty foreigners from Maryland on their way to North Carolinan NASCAR events.

The obvious solution, then, is for more Virginians to use rest stops as picnic venues. Why pay a ridiculous sum to rent out a wasp-infested pavilion and Port-o-Potty at your local city park when the inviting fresh cut grass of the Manassas Rest Stop could be yours for free? There's plenty of shady areas for frisbee golf, top notch facilities, and a ubiquitous series of vending machines if Aunt Ida conveniently forgets that the family reunion is "potluck" again.

Sure, it might be a little loud, but no one can hear anything over shrieking kids anyhow, and the fact that there are usually rest stops on each side of the interstate means that you can "accidentally" direct your unloved in-laws to the westbound location while having a merry eastbound bacchanal. Just watch out for people with unusually wide stances and you have the perfect, free venue.