Yesterday it snowed. It snowed a lot. We got about 7.2" according to the morning news, but we really can't complain considering we've only had about 3 notable snowstorms all winter. I kept hearing all day about the schools that are closing and the businesses that are shutting down so their employees could go home. Mine was not one of them.
Throughout the day I kept checking the traffic cams on my route home to see how the traffic was. I wasn't in a rush to get out on the roads with complete morons. I checked for the first time at about 2:00 pm. The roads were noticeably busier than normal and everything was really starting to slow down. I was actually thankful that I didn't get out there with everyone else. By about 3:45 pm I was ready to confront the weather and the traffic. I had mentally prepared myself to be patient with the complete idiots that cut into the spot that I have left for a safe traveling distance. I had succumbed to the notion that it would take me an hour to drive 10 miles. I had checked the traffic and planned my route carefully.
I trekked out to my car wishing that I had some snowshoes because our parking lot had not been plowed at all and I was shuffling through 4 inches of snow. I reached my car and thought
"wow, my back window is really clean!"
It was then that I realized that it had rolled down.
On a side note, I really want to beat the crap out of the engineer that decided to put a button on my car remote that rolls the back window down automatically. This is the absolute most retarded idea I can possible fathom for a car. Needless to say this is not the first time that I have done this. Anyway, back to my story...
I dearly hoped that I had just happened to roll it down while walking out to my car...nope. There was about 3 inches of snow in the back. I have an SUV which the back is completely closed off from the front (sort of like a truck bed, but with a roof and sidewalls) so at least it didn't get all over in the cab. I still had to clean it out so I spent about fifteen minutes brushing snow off of some lawn chairs, a sleeping bag, a box, and a pool toy (what?) and I made a mental note to clean the crap out of my car! Luckily I found my ski gloves in the backseat so the snow removal was much less troublesome that trying to do it with my bare hands!
So now that I had cleared out the back of my car, it was time to clear off the car itself. Not only was it snowing, but the wind was blowing so the sides and windows were pretty easy, but the windshield had about 6 inches of snow piled onto it. Not the light fluffy kind, the heavy wet snow. Every time I brushed off the snow my scrapper would slide under the "crust" that had formed so I decided to forgo the scrapper and just use my arm. It took me about 20 minutes before I was seated in the drivers seat ready to pull out of the parking lot (I was completely covered in snow by the way!)
I put the car into reverse and nothing. I added a little more gas, nothing. Great, now I'm stuck! Thankfully, I have 4 wheel drive (now that engineer was SMART!). Now I was on my way!
Traffic wasn't that bad. It really only took me about 20 minutes to get home because I'd mapped out all the back roads. Even taking back roads poses new problems such as the roads were not plowed. I thought it was pure comedy when I saw these tiny sports cars trying to maneuver their way around these streets. My SUV was a champ so I didn't have much problem.
I only hope that this is one of the last storms of the season, however I'm sure we still have a solid month of winter left. I may curse having to pay for gas during the summer, but in the winter I love my big SUV!
