Idiots driving on the first snow
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MossRoad
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Bird said:
That reminds me of a trip I took back in the early 80's.... one of my sisters lived down in Indy. It was Christmas eve, she had broken up with her boyfriend, her car was junk and it started to snow, so she was going to be alone for Christmas. So, a friend and I hopped into my parents '74 Toyota Landcruiser and headed down to get her, about 135 miles south of here. The roads weren't too bad until we got near Bunker Hill (now Grissom) Air Force base. They closed the highway and detoured us into the town. We stopped at a K-mart, picked up a map, found some county roads and snuck around the roadblocks. We popped up on the highway south of the roadblocks and behind an Air Force snow blower from the airport that was clearing a drift that had to be 13' high. That is rare for an Indiana corn field... when the blower got through the drift, we followed and on the other side of the drift was a semi tractor cab... turn out that "drift" was a semi and trailer stuck along the side of the road that got burried!
To make a long story short, that is usually a 5 hour round trip and it took 11 hours, but my sis had Christmas with family.
MossRoad
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I forgot to mention that I am a sentimental idiot. Had I got stuck, some rescue person would feel inclined to rescue me, and that might put them in danger. Phone calls can brighten a day, too.
sandman2234
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Dispite living in the south, growing up in the south, learning to drive in the south, I have been known to run a tractor trailer across miles of that funny looking white stuff. Once I found out as I came out of it, that the area I had been driving in was under a "level 4" or something like that, and only emergency vehicles were allowed on the road. Guess they figured the truck would end up somewhere along that stretch of highway in the ditch, no sense in chasing it. I put 3,000 miles on snow and ice one week, and was sure glad to go home. We kept track of the miles I traveled that week on ice, because the guy that refused the run due to ice, was also complaining about not making any money. Total week was 3900 miles for me, 1200 miles for him. Both of us stayed out 7 days that week.
David from jax
David from jax
Bird
Rest in Peace
MossRoad said:I forgot to mention that I am a sentimental idiot. Had I got stuck, some rescue person would feel inclined to rescue me, and that might put them in danger. Phone calls can brighten a day, too.
Another of our most memorable trips was up in your neighborhood the week of Thanksgiving 1971. We were living in Des Plaines, IL, while I was going to Northwestern University and we decided to go to my wife's parents' place in the southern tip of West Virginia for Thanksgiving. We had a 10.5' slide-in pickup camper on a 3/4 ton Chevy and our daughters were 2 and 5 years old. So we took off in the afternoon figuring I could drive until I got tired and sleepy and stop wherever we were. And my wife got in the camper with the kids so they could go to bed. Well, it started to snow as we went across northern Indiana and when I took the loop around Columbus, OH, it was black ice, then we took some back roads to Charleston, WV, and at least it was snow instead of ice, but I was afraid to stop because I wasn't sure I'd be able to go again in the morning if I did.
Now I was really looking forward to hitting the West Virginia Turnpike (toll road) at Charleston because I assumed that would be a freeway and easy sailing. I'll never forget that big billboard as we approached the north end of that toll road. It said "This is a modern two lane highway." If it hadn't been for that sign, I would have never guessed that to be a "modern" road of any kind. We got to Princeton about 5:30 a.m., parked in front of my in-laws' house, and I climbed in the camper and went to sleep. When I got up at 11 a.m., they were telling on the TV news that the turnpike was closed to any traffic without chains or snow tires. Thank goodness I had not stopped the night before.
scott_vt
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MossRoad said:To make a long story short, that is usually a 5 hour round trip and it took 11 hours, but my sis had Christmas with family.
Evenin Moss,
Now thats what I call a GOOD brother !!! Bet you guys had a heck of a good time gettin together for that Christmas !!!
What I failed to mention in my last post was that Kathleen was screaming at me to stop the truck
before I killed both of us ! Of course she won that argument ! charlz
Elite Member
Problem with 4wd is that is helps you go but it doesn't help you stop. I laugh every time I see someone doing 70 on snowy/icy roads in their 4x4... just a matter of time till they end up in the ditch.
Last winter we had a pretty good snow going for the morning commute and the road departments had not gotten de-icer down.... very slick. Some guy was going 50 in a 35 zone in his 4x4 pulling a couple of snowmobiles on a trailer and weaving in and out of traffic. Finally the trailer started to snake and he almost put it up on the sidewalk and into a fence. Unfortunately he got lucky and I didn't get to honk and wave as I drove by
I lived in California for a while and remember one winter when they got a little snow north of LA. TV showed some guy's Jeep Cherokee chained up all the way around laying on its side in the ditch. Maybe 4-6 inches of snow. They pulled it back on its wheels, he pops the hood and theres motor oil everywhere. He looks around and says "anybody got any oil?" I laughed so hard I almost choked. I grew up in the Montana and if you saw a rig with chains all the way around it was cause the snow was coming over the hood
I am lucky that I can work from home so that is what I do on 'snow days'
Last winter we had a pretty good snow going for the morning commute and the road departments had not gotten de-icer down.... very slick. Some guy was going 50 in a 35 zone in his 4x4 pulling a couple of snowmobiles on a trailer and weaving in and out of traffic. Finally the trailer started to snake and he almost put it up on the sidewalk and into a fence. Unfortunately he got lucky and I didn't get to honk and wave as I drove by
I lived in California for a while and remember one winter when they got a little snow north of LA. TV showed some guy's Jeep Cherokee chained up all the way around laying on its side in the ditch. Maybe 4-6 inches of snow. They pulled it back on its wheels, he pops the hood and theres motor oil everywhere. He looks around and says "anybody got any oil?" I laughed so hard I almost choked. I grew up in the Montana and if you saw a rig with chains all the way around it was cause the snow was coming over the hood
I am lucky that I can work from home so that is what I do on 'snow days'
OP
wjoerob
Silver Member
You haven't lived until you drive both to and from work in white-out conditions. I used to work late nights, got to the highway by using county roads. Sometimes the only way I could be sure I was still on the road was to watch the row of telephone poles, make sure I was still the same distance to one side or the other of those poles.
Black ice, white ice, clear ice, if it decides you're going a different direction, that's just the way it is!
Black ice, white ice, clear ice, if it decides you're going a different direction, that's just the way it is!
Egon
Epic Contributor
Playing with cars on loose gravel is just like ice Bird only you do it slower on ice!
dbdartman
Platinum Member
Since this seems to have turned into a "tell us about your white-out winter driving experience" I guess I'll throw out a couple stories.
First time I experience a "white-out" was winter 75-76 in Cape May NJ. It was the 1st of the month & I was to start scullery duty on the ship that morning; be there before 6AM... OR ELSE! I left from my off-base apartment at 5AM, knowing it snowed the night before & I'd need some extra time to make the 5 mile drive across the cape. Well, I got the old 68 Falcon fired up just fine, left the parking area & made it down the street to the "main road" just fine. That's where things got scary; after making the left onto the main drag I could barely see a power pole about 25' up on my right. I made it as far as that pole, & stopped. The wind & snow blowing from my right, across the farm field, across the road, combined with the darkness, made visibility slightly more than 25 feet which was considerably less than the distance to the next power pole. With no tire tracks on the road to follow, I knew I'd never make the 1-2 miles into town without ending up in the ditch, so I threw the car into reverse, backed up until I saw my tracks (now quickly disappearing in the blowing snow) & followed them back into the parking lot. Immediately upon entering the apt, I called the ship. Getting the rookie ensign OoD on the phone, I tried to explain the situation to him. After getting nothing more than, "It's your DUTY to be here" from him, I told him it was his choice; I could leave right now & ATTEMPT to make the drive in, most likely resulting in my being stuck in a ditch 1/4-1/2 mile from home in the dark, in which case I'd be in whenever the road gets plowed & my car gets pulled out, or I can wait until first-light when I had at least a fighting chance of seeing where the roads SHOULD be, & get in around 7-7:30. After much hemming & hawing, he finally agreed I should wait until it was light out. BTW, by that time, the plow had been down the main drag, so the 5 mile drive to the base only took me about 20 minutes, but I made it in without incident.
Second, & last, white-out story takes place in 1980 in northern NM/southern Colorado. My new wife & I were visiting her family in Alamogordo, NM for a week or so when we took her father's Impala to visit her grandmother & aunt in Durango, Co. Crossing the continental divide we drove into a "cloud of snow." Visibility was about 20', but we could see the tracks of a truck somewhere ahead of us in the snow, so we kept going, albeit only at about 20 MPH. We followed those tracks for probably 15-20 minutes, the whole time hoping & praying we WOULDN'T find the back of the truck stopped in front of us, until we suddenly emerged from the cloud into sunny weather. I was never so nervous/scared/tense for so long in my life! It would have been a little better if I'd been driving... but not much! Funny thing though... we NEVER saw the truck who's tracks we were following, even after visibility cleared!
First time I experience a "white-out" was winter 75-76 in Cape May NJ. It was the 1st of the month & I was to start scullery duty on the ship that morning; be there before 6AM... OR ELSE! I left from my off-base apartment at 5AM, knowing it snowed the night before & I'd need some extra time to make the 5 mile drive across the cape. Well, I got the old 68 Falcon fired up just fine, left the parking area & made it down the street to the "main road" just fine. That's where things got scary; after making the left onto the main drag I could barely see a power pole about 25' up on my right. I made it as far as that pole, & stopped. The wind & snow blowing from my right, across the farm field, across the road, combined with the darkness, made visibility slightly more than 25 feet which was considerably less than the distance to the next power pole. With no tire tracks on the road to follow, I knew I'd never make the 1-2 miles into town without ending up in the ditch, so I threw the car into reverse, backed up until I saw my tracks (now quickly disappearing in the blowing snow) & followed them back into the parking lot. Immediately upon entering the apt, I called the ship. Getting the rookie ensign OoD on the phone, I tried to explain the situation to him. After getting nothing more than, "It's your DUTY to be here" from him, I told him it was his choice; I could leave right now & ATTEMPT to make the drive in, most likely resulting in my being stuck in a ditch 1/4-1/2 mile from home in the dark, in which case I'd be in whenever the road gets plowed & my car gets pulled out, or I can wait until first-light when I had at least a fighting chance of seeing where the roads SHOULD be, & get in around 7-7:30. After much hemming & hawing, he finally agreed I should wait until it was light out. BTW, by that time, the plow had been down the main drag, so the 5 mile drive to the base only took me about 20 minutes, but I made it in without incident.
Second, & last, white-out story takes place in 1980 in northern NM/southern Colorado. My new wife & I were visiting her family in Alamogordo, NM for a week or so when we took her father's Impala to visit her grandmother & aunt in Durango, Co. Crossing the continental divide we drove into a "cloud of snow." Visibility was about 20', but we could see the tracks of a truck somewhere ahead of us in the snow, so we kept going, albeit only at about 20 MPH. We followed those tracks for probably 15-20 minutes, the whole time hoping & praying we WOULDN'T find the back of the truck stopped in front of us, until we suddenly emerged from the cloud into sunny weather. I was never so nervous/scared/tense for so long in my life! It would have been a little better if I'd been driving... but not much! Funny thing though... we NEVER saw the truck who's tracks we were following, even after visibility cleared!
