Ice Road Truckers!

[erastes]

Woah! That really wasn't a good idea....

I set off for Dad's as usual at 10am - and wasn't half way there before I realised it was probably a really daft idea as it was snowing fast enough to cover the main road with snow faster than the cars were clearing it off - and the side roads were lethal. Took an hour to drive 17 miles - then I was with Dad for an hour before he packed me off home again, the skies were bucketing the snow down and it showed no sign of stopping - my car had 2 inches of snow on it after just that hour!

So I drove home, just as carefully! It's stopped now, so I feel silly for worrying so much, but better safe than sorry. I do no good to anyone in a ditch somewhere.

I also learned that my dear little Nissan cannot climb snowy inclines.... I used to have a old fashioned Skoda - like this one - which was fabulous in the snow. Built like a tank it never slipped or skidded - but the Nissan is just not built for it, skids all over the place!

This is the earliest snow we've had in years.  I doubt it will last, but it is lovely to have it.  The cats are all cooped up and running around the house like mad things. Well not Lili, of course!  Not while there's a radiator to snuggle up next to!

Comments

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

I love the way the Standish cover has snow on it now. :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

I would have heaped snow on the Frost Fair boys but I think they are probably chilly enough!

:)

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

Gah! I've owned 3 Nissans - well, 2 as one was my parents' that they let me borrow my senior year of college, and they are horrendous in the snow! They're way too light, and combine that with rear-wheel drive... Not fun at all. I put sandbags and the like in the back hatch to add some weight (and what a nightmare when one of them split open once! I was hoovering it for weeks!) and it did help a little, but not enough, especially on steep inclines. I traded up a few years later for an SUV. (Yes, us Americans and our bigass gas guzzlers, but 4 wheel drive is ♥! Now I have a smaller SUV, but I still get pretty crappy gas mileage. :-P)

But still...SNOW! You're so lucky. We rarely get any here anymore, but we'll see what this winter brings.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

What a lovely icon! is that Sansa?

I really thought I wasn't going to get up this incline and then some idiot in a Range Rover came and waited behind me and watched me weaving back and forward. Remind me NOT to go that way home from Dad's again! Thank god I live in NOrfolk and there are so few inclines! I wish they did TINY TINY suvs for people on their own.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

We haven't gotten any snow yet, which is just as well because I'd have to shovel the driveway if we DID. It's COLD though -- it only got up to 26 degrees (F) yesterday (which is negative 4 or so C) and it's COLD IN HERE.

brr!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Cold here too. Hate the cold, love the snow. Makes no sense!

[suryaofvulcan.livejournal.com]

I'm from Scotland. We don't drive in falling snow unless its absolutely necessary. Aside from anything else, it's easy to get hypnotied by the flakes coming towards your windscreen, especially in the dark (like the old 'starfield' screensavers that people would fond themselves staring at for hours). When that happens you don't see beyond the front of your car, which is what leads to a lot of bad pile-ups in snow. I've only had to do it a few times, but I really hate driving in snow.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I hate it too - and the idiots on the road all driving all up close and with no lights on! Mad people!

[schmoo999.livejournal.com]

We are your salt trucks? :D and you need a big ass mini van with traction control, I slid a bit at times but always straighten out in the end.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I think the salt trucks had done the major routes overnight, but my local roads are tiny, they don't go down there. As much as drool over sexy SUVs I couldn't allow myself to have one, morally. I buy the lowest petrol consuming emissions thing I can. I'll just have to choose my route more carefully next time there's snow!

[cynical-woman.livejournal.com]

Wow! Reminds me of my grad school days in the Appalachian Mountains. I was driving to campus to take a final exam and wound up in the ditch. Five minutes later, there was an out-of-control mail truck sitting in the ditch right behind me and a ton of Wal-Mart fliers all over the place! I went straight home and called the professor to let him know I'd take the exam later due to bad weather, and if he didn't like it, I didn't care. I'd flunk before I killed myself out on those roads!

Glad you're okay!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

well i probably over-egged the problems, it was a very little incline!! But thanks!

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

I used to have a Datsun -- waay old, before they called it Nissan - and would just dump 2 50# sacks of birdseed in the back at teh beginning of winter. Or cat litter -- you can always throw it around for traction if you get stuck.

I thought you wanted snow!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh I do want snow, and lots of it, but the UK just isn't geared up for it, and the roads are always treacherous. I'll weigh the car down next time!!