> Olin wrote:
>> "MrWonderful"
aol.com> wrote in message
>> news:86cbe6a2-eddc-4575-bb07-2b9814d983fe@i72g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...
>> On Dec 26, 10:51?pm, "Olin" comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>> Been out of town, and did not see the reply. I've just survived 13 hours
>>> driving IN THE RAIN, all the way from Fort Worth to Nashville. It rained
>>> every single inch of the way.
>>>
>>
>> That's a heck of a day's drive, even in good weather; and granted
>> FtWorth is another hour past The Big D,
>>
>> but did I ever te'ya about my drive from Nashville to Dallas on solid
>> *ICE*~!?
>> And it tweren't no crunchy sleet neither~! Nor was it gripping snow
>> (except in Memphis where a few inches of snow was spread atop the
>> "black ice" rink~!)
>>
>>
>> Been there. Done that. Twice. Once in a driving sleet/snow storm that
>> stretched solid from East of Nashville to West of Fort Worth... twenty
>> seven hours. Second one was a bit shorter, starting west of Memphis, but
>> it knocked down trees all along I-30 between Little Rock and Texarkana,
>> as well as power and driving, mostly alone, through Texarkana, with not a
>> single light on from the town, was damned erie!
>>
>> Frankly, I'd rather make that drive in snow and/or ice, because then,
>> half the morons on the road would get appropriately scared and get off.
>> Half of those left would run into the ditch and be out of the way.
> But at least half of that half (of the other half) would be in your
> way--some of them heading *right* your way--and unable to stop.
>
Which would actually be the quarter left on the road. Drop the traffic by 75
percent, and the miscreants are a LOT easier to dodge.
Last time I drove that route in serious (at least for that area) snow and
ice, I think I recall skidding exactly once. I did get quite excited on the
bridge over Lake Ray Hubbard, because traffic was hopelessly snarled with a
wreck, and some numbnutz who figured to get a jump on everybody by hauling
up the empty two inside lanes decided it was time to cut back in, and I'm
reading his hood insignia out the driver's window, as he's trying to t-bone
me on a straight freeway.
> Been there myself, although not on that particular route. I had to make a
> drive from somewhere in Indiana to somewhere in Missouri. It was during
> one of those two consecutive winters in the late 70's we all thought were
> the proof of the coming new ice age.
>
> Nearly the entire trip was done in what pilots call a 'crab'. That's when
> you plot a heading somewhat to either side of your actual course to
> compensate for the steady, but strong, wind. IOW, I was basically going
> *sideways* down the highway. It was hell going under overpasses, as two
> quick course corrections were in order...one when entering the 'calm'
> under the bridge, and another upon re-emerging. I lost count of the
> semi-trailers overturned along the way...it had to have been dozens, maybe
> a hundred or more. My only contact was by CB radio.
>
> It did help that I was one of the only idiots brave or stupid enough to
> try it...and was accomplished without incident (except for the residual
> effects of a vice-like grip on the steering wheel for ten hours).
>
I recall one such trip along I-40, coming home from a music tour. I'd played
a couple weeks at the Grand Canyon, a week in Farmington, New Mexico one
night, and had two more shows, one in Amarillo and one in Fort Worth left. I
headed out of Tucumcari early in the morning and it was snowing due south.
Nothing but musicians, truckers and other assorted idiots out there... maybe
three cars per mile... all fighting about a forty-MPH wind and blowing snow.
Luckily, it was dry and in that wind the snow never had a chance to build up
and ice over on the road.
Next morning, coming out of Amarillo, was a different story. For about
thirty miles or so, it was more than a little dicey because of the ice that
built up overnight.
Yeah, a lot of trucks and cars wind up in the ditch, but there are so many
fewer of them that it's acutally a calmer drive. What we went through was
drizzling rain at 75 mph to keep from getting run over, while having
visibility as little as an eighth of a mile in some places. Pretty tense,
actually.
