Snowed

About a month and a half ago I made my morning commute in a hazardous winter snow storm. By “hazardous” I mean that just making my way out of the neighborhood made me feel like I deserved a medal. To those of you living in California and Florida: Did you know that when there is new snow on the road, a driver should like, slow down before making a turn? Not just slow down, but actually almost stop? Well I know it. At least now I do. See, if you don’t almost stop before making even a simple right turn, you won’t actutally “turn” at all; you’ll… “rotate”… more or less in the right (if you’re lucky) direction. I discovered this fact when, while making a right turn, my van’s tires began to do things I didn’t think were possible… like carrying my van and me down the street in a perpindicular position. It was almost fun… in an “everyone has to die some time” sort of way.

The freeway was slightly better; I managed to move in a forward direction the entire time, but traffic was moving at 30 miles per hour and my normal, seventeen-minute commute was forty minutes long instead. When I reached the school parking lot I felt grateful, and vaguely disbelieving that school was even in session that day. The parking lot was full and students were all around, on time and unimpressed by the weather. When I commented to a few co-workers about my harrowing drive, the response tended to be the same: there was a dismissing wave of the hand and then a comment like, “This? This is nothing,” or “Just wait until December,” or “It’s snowing?”

Anyway, six and a half weeks later, and I finally know what they mean.

Friday was the last day before Winter Break, and when I made my way out to the parking lot I saw this:

…which still isn’t a big deal because the snow had just started half an hour before. Still, it was much heavier between the cars and I had to step in snow up to my ankles (heels on a normal person) to get in the van.

And the windshield was pretty heavy with snow, but my foresightful husband had already bought me a scraper/brush.

Soon I was on my way, and attempting to merge onto the freeway:

Unfortunately, the most exciting part of my journey home was not caught on camera, as I was concentrating more on survival than on documentation, but the pictures would have been fantastic. Just imagine me two miles from my exit when the snow and wind suddenly kick up and get all blizzardy, and I can see nothing but the two cars directly in front of me. Then imagine me driving into our neighborhood, passing stuck cars on a solid white road. I knew then why people at work had been so dismissive of last month’s snow. THIS was what a real Utah snow storm looked like.

Except it wasn’t! But TODAY. Today made Friday look like November! I didn’t know what I was in for at first, though. Having survived The Storm of the Century of November 5, and also The Storm of the Century December 19, I felt pretty nonchalant this morning about the delicate snow just barely sticking to our driveway. I had errands to run and food to buy, and my initial mild concern soon gave way to jaded arrogance. “This is child’s play compared to Friday,” I thought, so off I went.

And stuck I got. On a hill. Near Marcus’ work. The snow had become thick, heavy, and rapid, just in the few minutes since I had left home, and my little van just couldn’t get up a steep hill.

So I called Marcus, and maybe I cried. Just a little 😉 Since he was five minutes away, of course he said he would come to help me. I sat in the van, staring into my rearview mirror, waiting for the pair of headlights that would finally be Marcus’. For several minutes, I eyed, hopefully, every vehicle that approached me from behind, up the hill… and every time it turned out to be a monster pickup truck that zoomed around and past me, mocking my hope and my stuckness. One guy even rolled down his window and did a Nelson-style “Haa-haa!!” as he passed!

Okay, that last part didn’t happen, but I could tell the guy was thinking it. I could tell by the way he drove. His driving was all “haa-haa” like.

But Marcus soon arrived, and by then the snow plow had just recently passed. Marcus turned off the traction control on my van (never heard of traction control until today) and maneuvered it out of the rut it was in. The snow was continuing to get heavier, so when I took the wheel of the van again, I just followed Marcus to his boss’s house, which was very close, and parked the van on his street. Marcus then drove me home in his car (four-wheel drive + snow tires). A little after 3 PM the snow let up, the streets had all been plowed, and we went and got the van. I’m not sure how many inches fell today, but here is Marcus snow-blowing the driveway for the second time today:

And here is the sidewalk in front of our house:

It reminds me of the way I liked to eat Oreos when I was a kid. I would separate the cookie and then run my front teeth down the middle of the circle of cream, leaving a clear trail for me to admire.

Now I am safe and warm inside, with no plans for leaving the house until Spring.