It snowed yesterday. It was just flurries really, “snow showers.” It was only bad in isolated areas and I didn't have any trouble driving. They said the flurries would continue overnight, but with “no significant accumulation.” I didn't worry about it and woke up at my usual time (for the hour that I needed to be in Indy that particular morning) but something prompted me to look out the door in the morning. Holly Cow! There was at least two inches on the porch, I could see that the roadway was covered in white and it was still coming down hard. I forewent my relaxed internet browsing session that I usually do each morning with coffee and hopped right to it, to give myself more time. I was out the door twenty minutes early.
A pickup truck passed as I was cleaning off the windows of my car. When I got down to the road I saw that it had been the very first vehicle to put tracks in the snow. It was early in the morning but I'd expected there to have been more traffic than that. That also meant that the snow plows hadn't been up my road yet at all. They're usually pretty good about making a quick pass and dumping sand on the worst of the curves and the hills, but not this morning. It was pretty slick stuff too. Creeping down the big hill as I was I still almost slid into the stop sign at the end.
Old 37 didn't look to have been much more heavily traveled and the plows hadn't hit it yet either. There was no way that I was going to try my usual route up Sample road, with it's long steep hill. I doubted that I'd make it up it. I turned the opposite direction and stayed in the bottom, getting to the highway across Mel Curry road. [go to Google Maps and search “Dolan, Indiana.” Put it on “Satellite” and follow Old 37 north to see “the forest road” that I often take home in the evening. To see where I live follow Robinson Rd. until you get to Butler Winery, near the end, then go back north. I'm the second house on the north side of the road after the turn.]
I'd expected the highway to have been plowed, and I guess it had been, one lane, but even that one was a mess. I guess the storm caught Monroe County by surprise too. I hoped it would get better when I got to Morgan County, and it was, marginally. It wasn't until I got to Indianapolis that any real effort had been made to clear the roads though.
I was just a little early for a normal morning but I didn't think that was enough to help me make my appointment at 8:00 in Columbus, Ohio. No problem though, as the weather is a legitimate excuse to be late, and since the storm hadn't been predicted they couldn't chide me for not having allowed extra time. But as it turned out the interstate was clear, helped by the fact that it hadn't snowed as hard to the east. I even had time to stop and fuel, and still got to the receiver 15 minutes early, or right on time in other words.
The other day they predicted freezing rain so I did leave early. I was pleased that it wasn't actually raining at all, let alone freezing rain. I figured that I'd run into it on my way west though, toward Springfield, IL. Sure enough I did, but it still wasn't freezing, just raining. I'd relaxed about it and was cruising down sparsely traveled Interstate 72, listening to some funky blues on WEFT out of Champaign when I notice that I was gaining fast on a very slow vehicle. “Damn, what's he going so slow for?” I wondered and started looking around for a cause. That's when I realized the roadway was in fact covered with ice; and here I was in a big truck going 65 mph! “Oh shit!”
It's a good thing there wasn't any other traffic around us. I let off of the accelerator and eased over, ever so carefully, into the left lane, throwing on my flashers. I came up along side the other car, still losing speed, and gently gave it a little fuel so that I could get by him quickly, then slid back over into the granny lane to creep along like he was doing. I don't think he appreciated me passing him, but there was no way in hell I was going to touch my brakes if I didn't have to! That turned out to have just been a particularly bad patch. The ice continued to be a factor, but mostly in the form of ice pellets on an otherwise wet roadway. With caution I was still early to the receiver.
So yes, it's truly winter time here. The highs are only supposed to be in the single digits this weekend. Last year I made it through the entire season on one tank of propane, but then I'd been out on the road until February, with the thermostat buried in the low fifties except for during my monthly home time. I'm definitely going to need more this winter. Still, it's much better being home.
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