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I see there is now another 30 mile long traffic jam in Texas on Hwy 45, between
Dallas and Houston...all covered in snow....over NIGHT!
Any personal experiences...any tips...are u prepared?
My gosh...how awful!!
The only time I ever saw anything like that in New England was the Blizzard of '78 (1978), which was really bad. The amount of snow they get in Texas would be laughable around here. We all know how to drive in it up this way. It takes a really incredible storm - a "hundred year storm" like in '78 - to cause that kind of back-up on the highway.
Instead of "My gosh...how awful!" may I suggest that the folks involved either learn how to drive in the snow, or Stay Home when it is forecast! Of course, the road crews down there haven't a clue, either....
I was in Seattle-Tacoma one time when they received about 6 inches of snow, blocked traffice for miles
If it isn't cold and you are going to be sitting for a while, I shut the car off, why waste gas?
I usually have a book or 2, or some work so I have something to do and I'm not just sitting there watching my blood pressure spike.
Or you can watch the antics of the folks that have no idea what snow is as they spin and fishtail and take grand leaps into the barrow pits
Just like any other survival situation, if you can keep your mind occupied and engaged, the situation is far less stressfull than just sitting there fuming and honking your horn.
I live where it is cold, and every vehicle on my place has coats and blankets that stay there permanently. That is to stay warm if the car gets stuck somewhere. Any of you in those states that are getting snow that you don't normally get, go out and store something warm in your car.
My vehicles all also have something to use to dig them out if they get stuck. If a shovel won't fit in your hamster car, get yourself a folding shovel (entrenchment tool)
Yeah, around here, we are all looking at the news in disbelief as people are getting all snarled up over an inch of so of snow. If you don't know how to drive in snow and ice, stay home.
My "stuck in traffic" stories mostly involve having to go to the airport in Seattle and inching along, stop and go at 3 MPH in Seattle rush hour traffic.
The only time I ever saw anything like that in New England was the Blizzard of '78 (1978), which was really bad. The amount of snow they get in Texas would be laughable around here. We all know how to drive in it up this way. It takes a really incredible storm - a "hundred year storm" like in '78 - to cause that kind of back-up on the highway.
Instead of "My gosh...how awful!" may I suggest that the folks involved either learn how to drive in the snow, or Stay Home when it is forecast! Of course, the road crews down there haven't a clue, either....
Ha! I was in Boston...what a magical time...to be walking in silence for days!!!
I wanted to get a bumper sticker made.."I survived 27 inches!"
Well, many people are coming home from work, no TVs there, they see it snowing but so what?
They have a 4x4....
and wham....they are
in a bottle neck of miles....nothing to do with knowing how to drive.
Or you have a truck up ahead and hours of being stuck behind it....that's what I'm talking about.
Or where YOU were was pretty clear then you come upon some bad weather and an
accident up ahead.
Well, I was going East on I-70 from Glenwood Springs, CO after breakfast...meaning coffee.
Outta nowhere there was this traffic jam...huh? Why? It was before the Eisenhower Tunnel....
Everyone had just had breakfast, 8:30 am....everyone had to pee!!!
It was just amazing!...No snow, no ice where WE were!
God, so I had no choice after an hour...I inched my car in such a way, close to the guy in front of me...
Left my drivers door open and squatted to pee in between my front bumper and his....but he couldn't
see me in his rearview mirror...gave a new meaning to rearview mirror.
Everyone was doing it somehow....Gosh.....FINALLY....inch by inch....I make it to a State Trooper
checking our cars for tire worthiness....if not worthy ya had to get off at that exit....I had GREAT new tires....
I was waved on....what I saw was like a movie....the elevation might have gone up to
8000 ft above sea level, I dunno....apparently 2 hours earlier the highway got snow there....I drove 8 mph,
weaving left and right past cars and big trucks helplessly stuck every which way!!!! Like a graveyard!
However, going West and downhill....some cars driving, before the closure, were helplessly sliding into
the median wall and turning sideways....I wanted to cry for them...so out of control going
downhill in these teeny cars...banging everything.
When I got to the next exit...I kissed the ground in Frisco. Really. Suddenly the roads were fine!
3 hours after breakfast.
No, but I still have a newspaper clipping in my scrap book from the St Patrick Day blizzard of 1965...........headline read.........." 400 stranded along HWY 10 near Rice MN"
In the mid 1990s, I was stuck for about six hours on I-95 in eastern Maryland during a snowstorm and several years ago I was stuck overnight on I-40 east of Albuquerque between Moriarty and Santa Rosa. On I-95 side-slipped trucks blocked all the exits. On I-40, large overturned semi trucks blocked all the travel lanes. I slept overnight on I-40 but I wasn't alone.
Although, I've always carried a fire extinguisher in my vehicles, out here in the Southwest in the wintertime, it's also smart to also have flares, a blanket, water and a gas tank as full as possible. I also drive a 4x4 truck anymore although a blocked highway is simply a blocked highway and you are as stuck as the Ford Focuses.
A cell phone and a car charger are also nice to have.
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