Holiday travel is weather. You do not argue with weather.

Labor Day travel is not a hack. It is a density. Everyone who waited until the last weekend of summer chose the same hours, then acted surprised at the same merge. The current event is not a secret route. It is the number of people who thought they found one.

Coverage that tells you to leave at dawn is not coverage. It is a proverb. The useful version names the obvious: airports are a mood, the return lanes on Monday afternoon are a tax, and a trip that exists only because the calendar said so is allowed to be skipped. If the destination is a house you already love, pay the tax. If the destination is a vague we should get out, stay put. Score the format, not a town.

If you are already in it, you are in it. If you are not, Tuesday is cheaper in every sense.