I've missed three days of work this week. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Unfortunately, we have just begun our brand new training class for our new hires (5), so they have been calling me each morning to check on the status of the schedule and try to make it in where possible. Tuesday and Wednesday, I didn't even try to get out. There was clearly too much ice on the road to make it out safely. Thursday I went, and the roads were icy in places but manageable overall. This morning, I gave it a good college effort.
Knowing that there was snow (I had to brush it off to be able to see through the windshield, I had already walked Renn, etc), I left even earlier than usual. I'm not fearful of driving on snow. There's plenty of traction, and I did it in Connecticut two winters in a row with no problem. I got out of my neighborhood easily (wondering how to drive in snow? Just repeat the mantra, "just keep moving - just keep moving - slowly -slowly - just keep moving." Do that, and you'll make it just fine.) I got to the highway just fine as well. Then I got on the highway and that is where I began to wonder about the wisdom in trying to make it to work.
The highways looked as though no road crews had been out at all during the week, which is just not true. I was driving, thankfully, over packed snow. However, under the snow was a sheet of ice. I know this because I drove home on it the day before. Driving down the highway might as well have been going through a school zone. Larger trucks regularly passed me on the left. That was ok with me, if I drove a heavier vehicle, I might have considered going a little faster too. As it was, my car was already bouncing along rather roughly over the unclean road at 20 miles an hour.
A mid-size truck (somewhere between a moving van and a semi) passed me on the left. For whatever reason, I couldn't see his tail lights. He was just a big dark spot on the left. Then he got ahead of me a little further, and started kicking up all the snow ahead. I couldn't see him, and I couldn't see two feet in front of me due to the artificial gale created in his wake. I kept going at my steady speed and just kept the wheel straight. After about 45 seconds (felt like longer), he got far enough ahead of me that I could see again and the snow/wake died back down.
That's about when I decided I probably shouldn't keep going. The condition of the road just seemed to be getting worse as I drove towards Lewisville to make my way to Plano. Without much other choice, I had to call my partner at work to let him know as well as my boss. I don't like to talk and drive under normal circumstances, but this was a bit harry. My boss sounded frustrated (not at me, but at the weather). Her shift doesn't start until a couple hours after mine, so I had to wake her up to tell her that I wasn't coming in. My partner sounded happy. He has two sons that he was going to be able to entertain at home. Then I called (I was annoyed by all the calling) my new hires and let them know training was postponed.
Finally, I got off the highway and turned around. To my surprise, going the other direction was even worse. It was a bit of a free for all. We had about 25 feet of highway with no discernible lanes, so I just made what seemed like the best path for myself. There were much fewer cars on the road going north than there were going south. I got back home at almost exactly 7am, when my shift starts. Right on time, wrong location.
I thought I'd get on blogspot and post about something other than the weather. Afterall, Facebook is blowing up with winter weather photos, complaints, and comments. But then I thought to myself, "I guess my one-hour round trip this morning is worthy enough for a quick read." Sorry if you're already tired of hearing about snow!
Here's yet another cute picture (he doesn't know any other kind) of Renn in snow. He loves it!
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