How is everyone holding up this week with this challenging weather spread over much of the middle and eastern part of the country?
I am still trying to get home after spending the holidays with my children and grandchildren in the Los Angeles area. I've lived most of my life in the Midwest and winter driving, though not pleasurable, is at least doable. Until yesterday.
Flew into Detroit on Sunday night through a snowstorm. The crew on the plane took it in stride and did not seem bothered at all, although the passengers applauded as we landed smoothly on a cleared runway. My car was in valet parking and we herded into the shuttle to the parking area. Luckily this was a huge building where the cars are kept awaiting their owners. It was dark, it was cold, it was snowing.
I had already searched online for a hotel room for the night as it was not the sort of night when you drive out into the dark for home. There were no rooms in the area. Record low temps were predicted so I had planned to spend the night in the reception area of the valet parking. Good thing because my car was nowhere in sight.
As the night progressed I learned that the car was in a snowbank in their offsite lot and they were getting a tow truck to pull it out, a flatbed. It took four hours for the tow truck to get there and it got stuck. Around 4 am they said they were looking for a snowplow. Around 1 pm on Monday the car was delivered.
I am an experienced winter driver so I cautiously set out for home, about 90 miles away. The roads were mostly cleared, there was some snow and ice and not a lot of traffic. But every now and then the car would start slipping off the road or do a fishtail. Okay, I'll get off at Ann Arbor and spend the night. Approaching Ann Arbor all seemed to be going well so I changed my mind. Then about 5 miles past Ann Arbor the car started sliding again. After I did a 360 degree circle in the middle of I-94 and had several near slides off the road I finally got off at Chelsea where I am now, holed up in a pleasant motel and never plan to leave. It is -13 with a wind chill of -25. How many days will the Wendy's across the street sustain me?
Tell your stories and show your photos. I know you have them. Misery loves company.
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After Colorado big snow storms there would be a 6-7 drift on the south side of the house. During the winter I take the screens off the windows to let in more solar heat. Our kids were around 10 and 7 and you guessed it. They were jumping out the second story windw into the drift, running back in the house, and doing it again. There is a sloping hill there so the drop was only about six feet.
Back in 78, the storm Jacki referred to, our apartment complex had a gigantic parking lot with multiple rows of parking. The snow was piled into mounds between the rows and someone shoveled cut outs every 50 yards so people from the far side of the pile could get to the building. I was parked about half way between two cutouts and decided to climb over the mound. I had no trouble getting up the one side but all of a sudden I sank into the snow up to my crotch. I couldn't move. I had visions of being stuck there until the spring thaw. It took me about 15 minutes to get out.
The newsies mentioned we had more snow on the ground (18-19 inches) than we did during the blizzard of 78. The difference was the wind. The '78 storm blew drifts behind my house up to 7-8 feet tall, although there was a narrow strip adjacent to the house with no snow.
My daughter was in either kindergarten or first grade that year. She didn't have a sled since central and northern Indiana is flatter than a pancake, so that was rectified quickly. I grabbed a concrete mortar mixing tub that I used to wash large prints in, threw some carpeting for insulation to keep from freezing her little rear end, and she had a sled.
The snow was too soft to use the makeshift sled, so it turned out the snow shovel was the width of the tub. I used the shovel to dig out an 8 inch trench in the snow from the back of the house to the back of the easement for a 75 foot run. I grabbed the garden hose, put a nozzle on it, and sprayed the snow trench and got an ice run out of it. I used a step ladder up next to the back of the house to get my daughter up to the top of the drift, would hold the tub as she climbed in, and then would let go. She laughed and giggled like crazy and still remembers that episode :-) We have photos still around the house somewhere of that.
This cold snap was way colder than the '78 blizzard and would have been a good way to get frostbite doing sledding. Our second child was born that May, on the 18th, and there were piles of snow in the shopping center parking lots still standing from that blizzard.
Here's literally a tale from the road and it proved to be one of the most expensive photos I ever took. This was taken about Mile Marker 65 on I-65 in southern Indiana. We were coming back from Christmas in Louisville about 8 years ago. The snowfall was worse than what we have now. I've been taking shots of this barn which is visible from the interstate for several years now in different seasons, and with a heavy snowfall, this looked like a good time to get the shot.
So we exited the interstate, drove over the creek and across the holler to get back over next to the interstate. The snow had not been plowed and no one else had driven on the road. We get up close to the spot that I want, and I stop the car and get out, leaving my wife and one of my sons and his wife in the minivan. Now I've been at this spot several times, but the snow is a fooler. I walk out to the field and forgot there was a ditch next to the road which is now filled with snow.
Yep, hidden ditch coming up and down I go face first in snow up to my hips. Keeping priorities straight, my right arm goes up in the air hanging on to the camera. I drag my butt up and walk out in the field where the snow has been blown to only a few inches deep. I get several shots, bracketing, and walking around a little for different vantages while freezing my heinie off.
I'm about done, and my wife yells that the minivan is making beeping noises. I tell her to shut it off, and I make my way back wondering what is happening. I start it back up and the engine is overheating. WTF!!?? I get the van in gear and start out of there, and watch the gauge go back down. We get about a quarter mile and get stuck in snow at the top of the hill where the road tees into another county road. We finally get out of that but the engine is overheating again. Damn! Out of the van, into the road, pop the hood, look underneath, and find the serpentine belt knocked off. The snow was so deep it pushed up underneath the engine compartment and got into the drive belts and the blasted thing got knocked off.
A couple hours of waiting and AAA finally makes it out to the boondocks and we get towed into a Sears that was still open, and a hundred dollars plus a little for a new belt and idler pulley we're finally on our way. So here's the shot ;-)
Great story. Great shot. I can see why you stopped to take it. Love the tonal range, a perfect exposure that really captures the feeling.
Thanks, it was salvaged in Photoshop. In my rush to get the shots I forgot to compensate for the snow reflection and it was underexposed, and the cold caused condensation droplets all over the sensor, so there were several hours spent scoring the image for little tiny circles. Arggghhh!!! On a happy note, it's sold several large prints so the cost of the repair job was paid back with the first shot :-)
This was the day the snow was still falling. My neighbor caught me using the snow blowers. My husband won't use the snow blower. He says it is an old man's tool. If I didn't have the snow blower he wouldn't be getting any help from me.
Connie, you are a true road warrior! Just reading that gave me chills. I've done a few of those donuts and slides too. Glad you're not moving. It's not worth the risk. So hard when you want to get home, tho! Take care.
Well, it's not like there is an art fair at the other end and I have to get to Winter Park! Except I think I would have still given up.
I'm still trying to figure out why on a mostly clear road this happened. There was no "black ice" in sight, nor snow. Anyone got any ideas?
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