3.14.2010

Adventures in Driving…

After the last few months I propose the following equation: DC Drivers + Extreme Weather = Disaster

My first recent driving adventure occurred leaving the region before the actual snowstorm hit. Thursday night, we were heading to Wisp for a long skiing weekend. We were going the western route via US 15 North to avoid the beltway traffic which seemed like a good idea at the time. Eventually, traffic completely stopped and we figured it had to be an accident. We turned around and hit the “detour” button on the GPS which eventually took us down a narrow road to get back to 15. I took it as an ominous sign when we headed down this road and passed a car going backwards attempting to get the hell out of there. Apparently this road was back country enough that it had never been completely cleared from the last relatively small snow storm earlier that week, and there was still some hard ice pack on the surface. Luckily the Murano did fine on the first hill past a truck spinning out at the bottom. The next obstacle was a section only slightly larger than a car width plus an inordinate amount of traffic coming both ways due to the accident. There was lots of waiting and passing until we came to a complete stop. The next hill with some ice cover was causing all sorts of spinouts. A car in front of us stopped as cars coming in the other direction couldn’t make it up the hill. At this point we started to get some info from friends that the US 15 was closed for two hours due to some genius who hit a telephone pole. We didn’t know for sure if we were going to come out on the other side of the accident or if the road was even passable. Thank goodness we didn’t turn around! I ended up getting out of the car, helped push two cars out of the way and eventually got some intel that we could go north once we got back to 15. We were only 0.6 miles away from the highway, so once we played the good Samaritan we made it the rest of the way without incident.

The driving was expectantly difficult on the way back from Wisp on Sunday. The giant storm had hit Friday night and Saturday and most of the region had two feet plus. During our drive back home, I was wondering what causes the increase in stupidity the closer we got to DC: 1) Is it a familiarity thing - drivers don’t drive in snow as much the further south you go, 2) A culture thing - DC drivers have places to be, who cares if there are unsafe road conditions, or 3) A pure numbers thing - a lot more drivers means a greater chance that there will be some idiots among them which end up causing problems. For whatever the reason, the drive was pretty smooth with almost all dry pavement until we got back to Interstate 270. From there it was a bit interesting. A lot of people assumed that dry pavement would be the norm for the entire drive, which became an issue when one lane suddenly was mostly snow…several spinouts ensued. Most of the way on 495 and 270 had one shoulder plowed on the far right and one lane on the far left. The middle snow-covered lanes felt a bit like the Wild West: dangerous and fairly lawless. Luckily we made it back without incident with just enough time to dig out our parking spaces and make a path to our front door in time for Super Bowl kickoff.

Seeking some refuge from the snow we went on a trip later that month to the Midwest to visit Traci and Cassie. Unfortunately, we ran into a bit of precipitation during our trip there as well (I think it either snowed or sleeted the entire weekend, the only issue on an otherwise great trip). After arriving at Kansas City airport, we headed up north to Missouri in the middle of a pretty intense snow storm. We made it to St. Joseph without incident, but Cassie’s Ford Focus struggled a bit on unplowed roads in her neighborhood. Cassie’s house was at the top of a hill and we didn’t quite make it. Eventually I had to get out and push. That did the trick, but it was a little nerve racking to watch Cassie and Sarah drive off without me (I did eventually catch up to the car).

After all of this I think I’m ready for Spring!

Editors Note: This post was delayed in being published due to the writer’s computer having some issues the last couple of weeks. It had to be rebuilt, but it works now!

1 comment:

-blessed holy socks, the non-perishable-zealot said...

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