Carmageddon, part one
As promised, my recollections of last Wednesday night.
We'd been warned that wet, heavy snow would follow rain right at the start of rush hour. The Office of Personnel Management, the body that decides most policies for Federal workers, declared a two hour early release in the hopes that people would beat the snow. They didn't. Most workers, including the two agencies in my area, hit the roads between three and four, just as the snow started coming down - wet, slick snow.
Many accidents ensued, especially involving the many, many rear-wheel drive cars and 18-wheelers.
Hence begins my journey.
I walked around forcing my troops to leave, and didn't leave until 4, 4:15. I took 123 (CA people: think El Toro Road), thinking it would be well-plowed. It wasn't. Hundreds of other people apparently thought the same, including the jackknifed 18-wheeler that totally blocked the road a mile ahead of me, but which I couldn't see.
So I sat, edging forward a car-length or two every hour. Two buses had spun out going in the other direction and had been abandoned. A U-Haul had been abandoned three or four car-lengths ahead of me, so everyone had to edge around it.
And it snowed. And snowed. And snowed.
I just happened to have a bottle of Smart Water in my car, which was good in several ways, but I'll spare the TMI. Thankfully had my Droid, so could keep in touch with the outside world - including other friends, like Jenny, also stuck in traffic.
The local traffic station continued to report the carnage, hundreds and hundreds of cars abandoned, the entire area not moving. Every major traffic artery locked up.
I got out of my car, in the snow, six or seven times to stretch and chat with my fellow stuckees. It was like something in the movies.
At 1000, having driven a total of four miles, I made the decision to attempt a U-turn, which would involve driving through unplowed slow, and head back to work. I LOVE MY AUDI QUATTRO. It made it with no problems.
McLean was now completely dark, having lost power. A 7-11 gas station operating on its own generator, was packed with people who couldn't get anywhere. I got more water, a protein bar, used the restroom, and filled my gas tank; I'd started the night with more than a half a tank, but idled through much of that.
I made my way back towards work on the abandoned side of 123, passing mile after mile of cars on the side I'd been waiting in. Georgetown Pike, right before work, was also abandoned, so, in what was probably a fit of stupidity, decided to brave the two-laner to get to the beltway.
It was treacherous and untreated. Trees were down everywhere under the weight of the heavy snow. Being in one of DC's most expensive neighborhoods, there were many, many expensive cars spun out and abandoned. My car slipped a bit here and there, but I made it, albeit slowly, to the beltway, which I'll call Zombieland...
We'd been warned that wet, heavy snow would follow rain right at the start of rush hour. The Office of Personnel Management, the body that decides most policies for Federal workers, declared a two hour early release in the hopes that people would beat the snow. They didn't. Most workers, including the two agencies in my area, hit the roads between three and four, just as the snow started coming down - wet, slick snow.
Many accidents ensued, especially involving the many, many rear-wheel drive cars and 18-wheelers.
Hence begins my journey.
I walked around forcing my troops to leave, and didn't leave until 4, 4:15. I took 123 (CA people: think El Toro Road), thinking it would be well-plowed. It wasn't. Hundreds of other people apparently thought the same, including the jackknifed 18-wheeler that totally blocked the road a mile ahead of me, but which I couldn't see.
So I sat, edging forward a car-length or two every hour. Two buses had spun out going in the other direction and had been abandoned. A U-Haul had been abandoned three or four car-lengths ahead of me, so everyone had to edge around it.
And it snowed. And snowed. And snowed.
I just happened to have a bottle of Smart Water in my car, which was good in several ways, but I'll spare the TMI. Thankfully had my Droid, so could keep in touch with the outside world - including other friends, like Jenny, also stuck in traffic.
The local traffic station continued to report the carnage, hundreds and hundreds of cars abandoned, the entire area not moving. Every major traffic artery locked up.
I got out of my car, in the snow, six or seven times to stretch and chat with my fellow stuckees. It was like something in the movies.
At 1000, having driven a total of four miles, I made the decision to attempt a U-turn, which would involve driving through unplowed slow, and head back to work. I LOVE MY AUDI QUATTRO. It made it with no problems.
McLean was now completely dark, having lost power. A 7-11 gas station operating on its own generator, was packed with people who couldn't get anywhere. I got more water, a protein bar, used the restroom, and filled my gas tank; I'd started the night with more than a half a tank, but idled through much of that.
I made my way back towards work on the abandoned side of 123, passing mile after mile of cars on the side I'd been waiting in. Georgetown Pike, right before work, was also abandoned, so, in what was probably a fit of stupidity, decided to brave the two-laner to get to the beltway.
It was treacherous and untreated. Trees were down everywhere under the weight of the heavy snow. Being in one of DC's most expensive neighborhoods, there were many, many expensive cars spun out and abandoned. My car slipped a bit here and there, but I made it, albeit slowly, to the beltway, which I'll call Zombieland...