chance
I can't sleep right now. To kill time till I can, I'll write up a story that happened a few years ago while I was still in New Jersey.
I parked my car in a six story garage near my complex. Five stories of it were always pretty much full. They seemed to keep most of the spaces at the top for overflow parking. The top was also opened to the weather, so I didn't like parking my car up there. The construction nearby meant parking on the top level guaranteed a dusty car.
The one winter I was caught driving during a blizzard. I don't remember why I went out now. About six inches of snow accumulated. The roads weren't too bad (lots of traffic still), I just had to drive slowly. The snow was pretty fluffy and there wasn't any ice or packed snow under it. When I got back to the complex, of course the garage was full all the way up to the top.
I get to the top, and start looking for a spot in the snow. I pass by a few because they have large drifts in them, and I don't want to be parking in the middle of the main pathway. I get to the top of one ramp, and make a right when suddenly my car stops moving. I try reversing, and all my wheels just spin (all-wheel drive). I get out and inspect what I've done.
I managed to drive my entire car up onto a snowbank. Now my wheels aren't carrying enough weight to move me anywhere. Ooops.
I do some quick thinking and decide to start digging with the only tool I have, a plastic ice scraper about the size of my forearm. I get maybe a quarter of the snow under my car moved elsewhere, and I've worked up a bit of a sweat. I try backing up just in case that was enough, but it wasn't. I go back to moving snow.
While I'm moving snow, someone drives up and parks. They watch me for a short while, and go back to their car and bring back a small snow shovel. They offer me the shovel and help out with the ice scraper. That sped up the process a lot, and I was able to move my car back into a parking spot (although, it was still stuck in the main path a bit). Looking back at where I was, all that remained was car tracks going into a hole in the snow.
My car has a plastic cover under the engine, and during all this foolishness, I ripped out a small panel (oil change access). But it's a mostly cosmetic cover, so not a problem.
I was pretty lucky that someone happened to be parking when I was stuck, offered to help out, and had a shovel.
I parked my car in a six story garage near my complex. Five stories of it were always pretty much full. They seemed to keep most of the spaces at the top for overflow parking. The top was also opened to the weather, so I didn't like parking my car up there. The construction nearby meant parking on the top level guaranteed a dusty car.
The one winter I was caught driving during a blizzard. I don't remember why I went out now. About six inches of snow accumulated. The roads weren't too bad (lots of traffic still), I just had to drive slowly. The snow was pretty fluffy and there wasn't any ice or packed snow under it. When I got back to the complex, of course the garage was full all the way up to the top.
I get to the top, and start looking for a spot in the snow. I pass by a few because they have large drifts in them, and I don't want to be parking in the middle of the main pathway. I get to the top of one ramp, and make a right when suddenly my car stops moving. I try reversing, and all my wheels just spin (all-wheel drive). I get out and inspect what I've done.
I managed to drive my entire car up onto a snowbank. Now my wheels aren't carrying enough weight to move me anywhere. Ooops.
I do some quick thinking and decide to start digging with the only tool I have, a plastic ice scraper about the size of my forearm. I get maybe a quarter of the snow under my car moved elsewhere, and I've worked up a bit of a sweat. I try backing up just in case that was enough, but it wasn't. I go back to moving snow.
While I'm moving snow, someone drives up and parks. They watch me for a short while, and go back to their car and bring back a small snow shovel. They offer me the shovel and help out with the ice scraper. That sped up the process a lot, and I was able to move my car back into a parking spot (although, it was still stuck in the main path a bit). Looking back at where I was, all that remained was car tracks going into a hole in the snow.
My car has a plastic cover under the engine, and during all this foolishness, I ripped out a small panel (oil change access). But it's a mostly cosmetic cover, so not a problem.
I was pretty lucky that someone happened to be parking when I was stuck, offered to help out, and had a shovel.