Winter Adventure

that I could have lived without....

There was no getting around the fact the we were to get 8 to 12 inches of snow today. Not one of my better days! Before I left for my morning tuning, 'A' had a call from her job asking if she could come in earlier than scheduled. 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. ( instead of 3 - 8). I liked this a lot more than the anticipated 8 p.m. drive in the snow covered world to pick her up. The snow was due to begin at 2 p.m. and continue through the night. The heaviest to be about 3 - 9 p.m. in our area.

On cue the snow started at 2 p.m. (well, a few minutes before) and got a bit heavier by three. I decided that I wanted to make my first snow sojourn in mom's new car in the daylight. Just a few minutes before 4 p.m. I bundled up and headed out to clear off her car. She has 4 wheel drive on demand. Much better than my little truck, even with it's extra 300 pounds over the rear axle. Mom rode along to keep me company (and shriek inappropriately just to try my patience). We made slow but steady progress to Stop & Shop using 'the long way 'round' to the traffic light rather than venture down the steep incline of Barn Lane. The roads were hardly plowed leaving a few packed inches of hard, icy stuff on top of the pavement and even with the 'on demand', corners and hills (and corners and hills together) required evenly tempered driving. We were parked in the partially plowed lot by 4:20, a mere 15 minutes longer than usual for the drive!

Mom and I went in to let 'A' know we had arrived and to pick up a couple items. A half hour wait sitting on the bench inside the store and then it was time to pack it up, steady the nerves, and head home.

The wind was howling. The car windshield had iced up. I ran around scraping and then got the defroster running to clear the rest of the window. We were off at a whopping 20 mph! The state plow trucks were lined up in their usual positions at 'the light' in Gloucester. We cleared them and took the turn on to Eastern Avenue. So far so good! As we approached the slight hill and curve nearing the 'other' supermarket, we caught up with a small pick up truck. I kept a good distance behind him as he fishtailed his way up the slight incline. Oh, how I hoped he wasn't going too far. How on earth would he ever make it up Great Hill? I was figuring even we would have to have a little running start and that's not easy due to the curve at the bottom.

He inched and swerved along at 10 mph. I kept about 4 car length's behind him. As we entered an area of road called Nugent Stretch, Mr. Pick Up lost his bearings and ran off the road. It was impossible to determine the actual edge and he got caught in a large rutted area just off the pavement. It all looked the same snowy whiteness! (note: When driving in these conditions, I try to aim for as close to mid road as possible. When there is oncoming traffic I stay just far enough in my lane to miss them but not get myself too far to the edge) I let our car slow without making any abrupt movements and by the time I caught up with him, he was back on snow covered pavement. His near disaster must have rattled him. We were now creeping along at 5 mph! I returned to my hanging back position. There was a line of several cars behind me. The car immediately to my rear got fed up and passed me and Mr. Pick Up. In the snow filled haze ahead we could see the glow of oncoming headlights. I can only imagine what that driver must have been wondering, seeing lights coming head-on! Thankfully, there was just enough time and distance for Mr. Inahurry to get back in his lane. Mr Pick Up inched along. I thought certainly he would try to gradually gain a little speed for the upcoming Great Hill. When it became evident he wasn't going to run for it, I held way back to give myself running room before catching up with him. Up ahead I could see him start the long hill. Just before my turn at Great Hill, I inched my speed up to 15 mph. Our car was going along nicely. No swerving, no spinning tires, just a gently controlled climb. Mr Pick Up's taillights appeared a car length in front of us. He was still struggling along at minimal speed. Way too slow for the hill left ahead of him. He tried giving the truck more gas and only succeeded in massively fishtailing the rear of his truck. He appeared to over-steer and promptly found himself off the edge of the road once again. We were gaining on him and I had to ease off the gas pedal. I didn't want to have to stop. We'd never get going again! Fortunately, by the time we neared Mr. Pick Up he had skidded to a safe stop, mostly off the road. There was a line of traffic coming down the hill from the opposite direction. I held my breath that the lead truck in that line had his vehicle well in control and continued up through the narrow lane left behind Mr. Pick Up. As I crested Great Hill I knew there was only one bad spot left. The curve on the descent. As I shifted in to a lower gear, I checked my rearview mirror. I'd picked up another tailgater. Why are people so stupid?

We negotiated the decline and I gave Mr. Tailgater plenty of notice with my directional that I was going to be slowing down to make a left turn. If there were oncoming traffic, I'd have to stop. I hoped he was paying attention. We came upon our street and there were no oncoming headlights showing so I eased myself towards the center of the road so that if Mr. Tailgater couldn't stop or slow down, he could get by me rather than rear end me! Our road hadn't been plowed but the drifting snow had made it's own lane down the center of the street. No problems with that.

Pulling in to our driveway never felt so good.

The wind continues to howl like a high-speed train past our house, the snow continues to fly. The shoveling shall wait until morning.