Sit right down and I'll tell you a tale...
...a tale of Snowpocolyps!!!
Monday was my first day at my new job. I had to drive into the U-District from Covington - around 30 miles. I took the job knowing my commutes were not going to be pretty...but yesterday was...well here's the full story...
I left around 6:30 and made it to work by 8:20 - in time for the 8:30 am orientation start. It was snowing on the ride in, but I thought for certain that would end and the sun would break through...so I wasn't worried.
Orientation was in a conference room where we all faced the 'front' of the room and saw behind the screen a panel of windows. All day it rarely stopped snowing. At 11:21 I got a text from my Husband who works in Renton, it came with a picture of a couple of inches of snow in his work parking lot "Heading home to work from there. Snow is getting worse." This worried me a bit - if he was heading home, it meant that the roads leading up from the Renton and Kent Valleys could soon be closed. I started plotting a different route than my usual home - since most of my normal routes have me exit the highway in the valley and then drive up steep hills to get to our home.
By Lunch the whole gang in Orientation just wanted to go home. We tried to breeze through lunch and the remainder of the info that needed to be covered, but I wasn't able to leave until about 3:45pm. I could tell I was in trouble. The city was clearly evacuating. All roads were getting congested and it didn't appear that salting had taken place...not even on I-5 which I was thankfully just a few blocks away from.
My alternate route was to approach my house from Hwy 18. Matt had already told me that the valley-hill routes were closed by quarter past noon. This was NOT good. I had 2 choices - plow through on I-5 to Hwy 18 south of my house OR take I-90 to Hwy 18 north of my house. I thought 90 would be less distance. It turns out I wasn't right on that, but they actually shut down I-5 in the area I would have needed to be, so in the end...I made the right choice...maybe.
I-5 to I-90 was slow but relatively steady. Some stopping but the ice wasn't so bad that I couldn't control or re-start the car once stopped. I-90 through Bellevue area was OK too...but getting worse. As long as we all kept moving, we would be OK. But by Issaquah there was stoppage. Too much stoppage. My car stopped and could not re-start. Engine was working, but the wheels weren't getting any traction on the ice and so I couldn't move. I slid backwards towards the shoulder and waited. I tried to get going again several times. No luck. Called my dear husband and told him what the deal was. It was just before 5pm. He told me to call our roadside assistance and gave me the number. I called.
The guy at the call center for roadside assistance was in Tucson, AZ. He asked what I needed. I said chains or a tow. He said he couldn't get me chains but he would work on a tow. He called back a little later to say that all the tow companies were saying it would be 6 to 12 hours before they could get me. We then called local police to ask for assistance. Local police sent us to state patrol since I-90 is State Patrol's thing. State Patrol told us that they were only responding to accidents and injuries. So since I hadn't rammed another car and/or broken my neck, I would have to rely on private help to get me out. The gave us the name of two tow companies tat my guy in AZ had already called.
With police options exhausted, my guy in AZ was at his rope's end. He said he would call me back, and he did. Right about when a bus was grinding to a sliding halt inches from my driver's side front door. I needed him to repeat what he said, I was distracted by the near death thing. He told me to hang up, call 911 and tell them that I needed help, make it sound urgent like I was injured (basically lie) and I said, thanks but no thanks.
About that time a state trooper was coming down the road. I thought - Hooray! He will stop, ask if I'm OK, and take me to warmth and safety if I need it!!! Instead he just rammed a small pick up truck that was having trouble gaining traction in the lane next to the shoulder I was on and sent him on his way. He rammed a few more cars out of the way of traffic and continued on. Even though I got out of my car and waved at him, he did not acknowledge me. It was at this time that I realized one very important thing:
I was on my own.
I had two choices:
1) stay and wait in the cold all night.
2) wait for the roads to clear up a bit of traffic, and then use my MI driving skills to get me back on the road and home to safety.
I took option 2.
At 6:45 I texted Matt my plan. He sent several frantic texts updating me on the road conditions ahead, but I was already on my way determined to get home. The falling snow had given my tires just the traction they needed and i was able to free my car from the side of the road and merge into traffic with had lightened up a bit now that it was after 7pm.
My white knuckled drive home included a few moments when the wipers on my car were so iced up that I couldn't see out, I had to blast the hot air on the windshield just to keep a visual on the road. Visibility was very low anyway. The snow was thick. The road was a 2 inch thick sheet of ice. As long as no one stopped, we would be OK.
I made the interchange from I-90 to Hwy 18. Hwy 18 was worse. More snow, less lights, but thankfully less traffic. Me and semi truck chugged along for miles at 20 - 30 MPH, sometimes less. If I got down to 10 MPH, I risked losing my momentum and getting stuck again. Hills, both up and down that I hardly take note of in normal conditions were exhausting efforts to navigate. Going up, I feared sliding back down. Going down, I feared the semi and the traffic ahead of him would stop suddenly and I wouldn't have time to swerve out of the way. I had to keep lots of space between us...but at the same time...that semi was basically telling me where the road was...I needed to keep it in my sites and be able to aim my car towards it.
Getting off hwy 18 on 256th I watched a Ford Explorer-type vehicle spin out at the intersection. I had no time to waste. I could not stop, so I slowed to 15 MPH, took the right hand turn and prayed that the oncoming traffic wouldn't hit me. The prayer was answered. 256th was an even thicker sheet of ice covered in a dusting of snow. But at least there were more street lights. Of course that means that there were also traffic lights. 1st one green - thank goodness. But I couldn't time the next one and had to come to a stop right as the SUV behind me was getting ready to plow through and there were 2 vehicles approaching the intersection on the cross street. But then my light turned green and my car had barely enough momentum to get me fully moving again before I got stuck. I made it through the round-a-bout and slowly ran the next red light. I needed the speed to make it up the turn to my street which has a small hill up as you enter it. Good thing too. I stalled out and regained my engines in the middle of the turn...only to need to immediately punch my garage door opener and turn up my driveway. The car stalled out in the driveway but I didn't care.
I was home. I was ALIVE!!!!!
I ran into the house, collapsed in the foyer and shouted repeatedly: "I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive, oh thank you, I'm alive!" The cats freaked out and hid. My husband ran downstairs and joined me on the floor in celebration. We hugged. We kissed. We laughed. Tears were streaming down my eyes from the joy of releasing all the stress that built up over a 4 hour drive home!
Needless to say, I'm staying home from my second day of work today. It is not safe to drive.
Monday was my first day at my new job. I had to drive into the U-District from Covington - around 30 miles. I took the job knowing my commutes were not going to be pretty...but yesterday was...well here's the full story...
I left around 6:30 and made it to work by 8:20 - in time for the 8:30 am orientation start. It was snowing on the ride in, but I thought for certain that would end and the sun would break through...so I wasn't worried.
Orientation was in a conference room where we all faced the 'front' of the room and saw behind the screen a panel of windows. All day it rarely stopped snowing. At 11:21 I got a text from my Husband who works in Renton, it came with a picture of a couple of inches of snow in his work parking lot "Heading home to work from there. Snow is getting worse." This worried me a bit - if he was heading home, it meant that the roads leading up from the Renton and Kent Valleys could soon be closed. I started plotting a different route than my usual home - since most of my normal routes have me exit the highway in the valley and then drive up steep hills to get to our home.
By Lunch the whole gang in Orientation just wanted to go home. We tried to breeze through lunch and the remainder of the info that needed to be covered, but I wasn't able to leave until about 3:45pm. I could tell I was in trouble. The city was clearly evacuating. All roads were getting congested and it didn't appear that salting had taken place...not even on I-5 which I was thankfully just a few blocks away from.
My alternate route was to approach my house from Hwy 18. Matt had already told me that the valley-hill routes were closed by quarter past noon. This was NOT good. I had 2 choices - plow through on I-5 to Hwy 18 south of my house OR take I-90 to Hwy 18 north of my house. I thought 90 would be less distance. It turns out I wasn't right on that, but they actually shut down I-5 in the area I would have needed to be, so in the end...I made the right choice...maybe.
I-5 to I-90 was slow but relatively steady. Some stopping but the ice wasn't so bad that I couldn't control or re-start the car once stopped. I-90 through Bellevue area was OK too...but getting worse. As long as we all kept moving, we would be OK. But by Issaquah there was stoppage. Too much stoppage. My car stopped and could not re-start. Engine was working, but the wheels weren't getting any traction on the ice and so I couldn't move. I slid backwards towards the shoulder and waited. I tried to get going again several times. No luck. Called my dear husband and told him what the deal was. It was just before 5pm. He told me to call our roadside assistance and gave me the number. I called.
The guy at the call center for roadside assistance was in Tucson, AZ. He asked what I needed. I said chains or a tow. He said he couldn't get me chains but he would work on a tow. He called back a little later to say that all the tow companies were saying it would be 6 to 12 hours before they could get me. We then called local police to ask for assistance. Local police sent us to state patrol since I-90 is State Patrol's thing. State Patrol told us that they were only responding to accidents and injuries. So since I hadn't rammed another car and/or broken my neck, I would have to rely on private help to get me out. The gave us the name of two tow companies tat my guy in AZ had already called.
With police options exhausted, my guy in AZ was at his rope's end. He said he would call me back, and he did. Right about when a bus was grinding to a sliding halt inches from my driver's side front door. I needed him to repeat what he said, I was distracted by the near death thing. He told me to hang up, call 911 and tell them that I needed help, make it sound urgent like I was injured (basically lie) and I said, thanks but no thanks.
About that time a state trooper was coming down the road. I thought - Hooray! He will stop, ask if I'm OK, and take me to warmth and safety if I need it!!! Instead he just rammed a small pick up truck that was having trouble gaining traction in the lane next to the shoulder I was on and sent him on his way. He rammed a few more cars out of the way of traffic and continued on. Even though I got out of my car and waved at him, he did not acknowledge me. It was at this time that I realized one very important thing:
I was on my own.
I had two choices:
1) stay and wait in the cold all night.
2) wait for the roads to clear up a bit of traffic, and then use my MI driving skills to get me back on the road and home to safety.
I took option 2.
At 6:45 I texted Matt my plan. He sent several frantic texts updating me on the road conditions ahead, but I was already on my way determined to get home. The falling snow had given my tires just the traction they needed and i was able to free my car from the side of the road and merge into traffic with had lightened up a bit now that it was after 7pm.
My white knuckled drive home included a few moments when the wipers on my car were so iced up that I couldn't see out, I had to blast the hot air on the windshield just to keep a visual on the road. Visibility was very low anyway. The snow was thick. The road was a 2 inch thick sheet of ice. As long as no one stopped, we would be OK.
I made the interchange from I-90 to Hwy 18. Hwy 18 was worse. More snow, less lights, but thankfully less traffic. Me and semi truck chugged along for miles at 20 - 30 MPH, sometimes less. If I got down to 10 MPH, I risked losing my momentum and getting stuck again. Hills, both up and down that I hardly take note of in normal conditions were exhausting efforts to navigate. Going up, I feared sliding back down. Going down, I feared the semi and the traffic ahead of him would stop suddenly and I wouldn't have time to swerve out of the way. I had to keep lots of space between us...but at the same time...that semi was basically telling me where the road was...I needed to keep it in my sites and be able to aim my car towards it.
Getting off hwy 18 on 256th I watched a Ford Explorer-type vehicle spin out at the intersection. I had no time to waste. I could not stop, so I slowed to 15 MPH, took the right hand turn and prayed that the oncoming traffic wouldn't hit me. The prayer was answered. 256th was an even thicker sheet of ice covered in a dusting of snow. But at least there were more street lights. Of course that means that there were also traffic lights. 1st one green - thank goodness. But I couldn't time the next one and had to come to a stop right as the SUV behind me was getting ready to plow through and there were 2 vehicles approaching the intersection on the cross street. But then my light turned green and my car had barely enough momentum to get me fully moving again before I got stuck. I made it through the round-a-bout and slowly ran the next red light. I needed the speed to make it up the turn to my street which has a small hill up as you enter it. Good thing too. I stalled out and regained my engines in the middle of the turn...only to need to immediately punch my garage door opener and turn up my driveway. The car stalled out in the driveway but I didn't care.
I was home. I was ALIVE!!!!!
I ran into the house, collapsed in the foyer and shouted repeatedly: "I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive, oh thank you, I'm alive!" The cats freaked out and hid. My husband ran downstairs and joined me on the floor in celebration. We hugged. We kissed. We laughed. Tears were streaming down my eyes from the joy of releasing all the stress that built up over a 4 hour drive home!
Needless to say, I'm staying home from my second day of work today. It is not safe to drive.