These photos are from this week. Thursday and Friday brought the biggest storm of the year. I headed out for a work related trip Friday, 9:00am. I dug the drift behind and unburied the car in order to leave. Although I had traveled on Thursday, and the car had been cleared, Friday morning the car again looked like this:
When I arrived at my destination, this is what it looked like:
Although the main parts of the parking lots had been clear in both home and destination, the parking stalls had not been shoveled. The destination lot had snow in the parking stalls deep enough to high-center my car. I pulled out the shovel in my trunk and started clearing a parking stall. I had kitty litter too in case the need arose.
I pride myself on being self sufficient in such moments, having grown up in much more harsh snow conditions than this day. However, I must admit, I was very happy to be the rescued damsel relieved of shoveling by the man on the small snow plow who saw me then plowed a stall for me.
It was the deepest snow I’ve seen since I moved back six years ago, but the roads were mostly just slushy and wet where I was and easy traveled thanks to those who plow the streets. It sure didn’t look like that would be the case before I left. A driver twirled into the curb at a 90 degree angle on the road right outside my living room window.
Colorado driving during winter storms is the closest I get to gambling. I walk out the door with my winter gear on and hope I make it back without ending up in an unexpected predicament. Although most days bring no major mishaps, some of the days bring a few white-knuckle moments as the car can’t make it up a hill, or starts fish-tailing, or, the scariest… the car doesn’t slow down fast enough as I approach an intersection because there is less traction than I expected. Alert driving, prayers and the shovel and kitty litter are ever in the ready in case something should happen.
At least in modern times I have a cell phone. When learning to drive in Black Forest, Colorado at age 16, if I land in a ditch which I had done, I walk or wait for someone hopefully nice to come by and take me somewhere. There was no calling a friend or AAA Roadside Service. (One day, I walked… in a dress… for 2 miles… in a blizzard… and very cold temperatures back to my house grateful I had fallen in a ditch so close to home.) Looking back, this week’s ‘adventure’ doesn’t seem like much of an adventure by comparison.
Although my Colorado friends and relatives might not be super impressed with this blog, as they weather the same storms, my non-Colorado friends in warmer climates might find this interesting. You develop an entirely different set of driving and survival skills in snowy climates.