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paperclippyLet me preface the following by saying that I am completely safe and did not get into any car accidents or run into anything or otherwise damage myself or Ben's car.
What started as some pretty snow this morning had turned into rain by noon. Around 1:00 it was time for me to leave to go to my wrist therapy appointment. It was rainy and icy, but it didn't look too bad. I noticed that half the lights in our apartment were out, okay, some kind of electrical problem. As you can see, the computer is still running (for now). I got in the car and started driving toward the hospital. About as soon as I got in the car the rain turned to hail/ice and the wind started up. I drove really really really slowly to the hospital on what was (as of the time I got to the hospital) the scariest drive of my life. On the freeway (yes, I took the freeway, but I only went 30mph on it) a car had some kind of problem and swerved onto the shoulder right in front of me -- it got off at the same exit and appeared to have smoke pouring out of it. I also drove next to an oil truck that splashed up so much muck I could barely see even with the wipers on max. I made it to the hospital safely and had my wrists fried.
By the time I left the hospital it had turned back into snow, with some major wind. I thought about hanging out at the hospital for a while, but I didn't think it would die down any time soon so I decided I would just go back home really really slowly on the street. The first part was fine, I was really slow and I made the 10-minute trip take about half an hour, or so I thought. I hit traffic on N. Main street, okay, no problem, I'm not in a hurry. The big problem came when I tried to turn onto Doyle to go up the hill to the apartment complex. At first I thought it was just a lot of traffic so it wasn't really moving at all. But no, it turned out that the snow was so slushy and icy, and we were on this big hill, that every other car was getting stuck and sliding around all over the place. I spent 25 minutes trying to cover a distance that takes three minutes to walk. At one point the car directly in front of me started sliding all over, and couldn't seem to go forward at all. I actually cheered and started clapping when their tires finally found some traction (I was kind of afraid they'd slide backwards directly into me!). Finally I made it to the driveway (if you didn't know there was a driveway there, you wouldn't have been able to see it at all) and into the parking lot and home. I didn't get stuck at all and I didn't skid, but holy crap, I was scared to death.
You should be proud of me, an LA driver who had barely ever driven in rain a year ago, managing to make it home in what appears to be a blizzard without skidding or getting stuck or hitting anything. The forecast this morning was "snow turning into rain in the afternoon," not blizzard!! The real question is, will it die down before it's time for Ben to come home from work? If not I think I might suggest that he walk home instead, it would probably be faster than trying to drive there. Power is still half-out, hopefully they won't turn it completely off.
What started as some pretty snow this morning had turned into rain by noon. Around 1:00 it was time for me to leave to go to my wrist therapy appointment. It was rainy and icy, but it didn't look too bad. I noticed that half the lights in our apartment were out, okay, some kind of electrical problem. As you can see, the computer is still running (for now). I got in the car and started driving toward the hospital. About as soon as I got in the car the rain turned to hail/ice and the wind started up. I drove really really really slowly to the hospital on what was (as of the time I got to the hospital) the scariest drive of my life. On the freeway (yes, I took the freeway, but I only went 30mph on it) a car had some kind of problem and swerved onto the shoulder right in front of me -- it got off at the same exit and appeared to have smoke pouring out of it. I also drove next to an oil truck that splashed up so much muck I could barely see even with the wipers on max. I made it to the hospital safely and had my wrists fried.
By the time I left the hospital it had turned back into snow, with some major wind. I thought about hanging out at the hospital for a while, but I didn't think it would die down any time soon so I decided I would just go back home really really slowly on the street. The first part was fine, I was really slow and I made the 10-minute trip take about half an hour, or so I thought. I hit traffic on N. Main street, okay, no problem, I'm not in a hurry. The big problem came when I tried to turn onto Doyle to go up the hill to the apartment complex. At first I thought it was just a lot of traffic so it wasn't really moving at all. But no, it turned out that the snow was so slushy and icy, and we were on this big hill, that every other car was getting stuck and sliding around all over the place. I spent 25 minutes trying to cover a distance that takes three minutes to walk. At one point the car directly in front of me started sliding all over, and couldn't seem to go forward at all. I actually cheered and started clapping when their tires finally found some traction (I was kind of afraid they'd slide backwards directly into me!). Finally I made it to the driveway (if you didn't know there was a driveway there, you wouldn't have been able to see it at all) and into the parking lot and home. I didn't get stuck at all and I didn't skid, but holy crap, I was scared to death.
You should be proud of me, an LA driver who had barely ever driven in rain a year ago, managing to make it home in what appears to be a blizzard without skidding or getting stuck or hitting anything. The forecast this morning was "snow turning into rain in the afternoon," not blizzard!! The real question is, will it die down before it's time for Ben to come home from work? If not I think I might suggest that he walk home instead, it would probably be faster than trying to drive there. Power is still half-out, hopefully they won't turn it completely off.
