Snowblower time!
Yesterday (Friday, January 13, 2012) Winter hit with a vengeance.
We had it easy until yesterday. No snow to speak of, only occasional rain, and warm and sunny days.
But yesterday we got clobbered.
Not that much snow really, but heavy wind and icy cold.
The snow was blowing and drifting.
I had planned to work out at the YMCA in nearby Canandaigua.
So I backed out of our garage.
Through drifts eight to 12 inches deep.
This looks like an eventual snowblow.
The wind was howling and the snow blinding.
Our car has All-Wheel-Drive, so the snow has to be really deep.
Otherwise it will go through anything.
I arrowed out our driveway onto the main highway in front of our house.
About all that told me where the driveway was were two reflectors I have at the end of the driveway.
The main highway was completely snow-covered; I don’t think I ever saw bare pavement.
I drove up the road and turned east toward Canandaigua on 5&20, also completely snow-covered.
I rarely got above 35 mph. It was a struggle to see where I was going.
I slowly treaded east a while, then down a hill into a slight defile. It’s not much, only about a 50-foot change in elevation. Then slowly up the other side.
Not too bad, but only about 30 mph.
Then down again, this time about a 75-foot change in elevation.
I saw a large Chevy van stopped in front of me, its driver waving his arm.
Up ahead on the uphill was a stopped truck, perhaps unable to make the hill.
Trucks are not All-Wheel-Drive, so it might have been spinning its drive-wheels.
The pavement was completely snow-covered.
I had no problem coasting to a stop — I wasn’t going fast anyway.
Now what?
A side-road was to my left.
If a truck is stuck ahead of me on a main highway, it looks like I better go back home.
Rarely do I ever have to turn around.
I turned onto the side-road, Rabbit Run, and the adventure began.
Get back home on secondary roads; I didn’t think I could U-turn on a main highway in blinding snow.
That’s asking to get tee-boned.
Back into our garage through foot-high snowdrifts.
Snowblower time!
• I work out in the Canandaigua YMCA Exercise-Gym, appropriately named the “Wellness-Center,” usually three days per week, about two-three hours per visit. (“Canandaigua” [“cannan-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city to the east nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 14 miles away. —We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western NY, southeast of Rochester.)
• “5&20” is the main east-west road (a two-lane highway) through our area; State Route 5 and U.S. Route 20, both on the same road. 5&20 is just south of where we live. It used to be the main road across Western New York before the Thruway.
We had it easy until yesterday. No snow to speak of, only occasional rain, and warm and sunny days.
But yesterday we got clobbered.
Not that much snow really, but heavy wind and icy cold.
The snow was blowing and drifting.
I had planned to work out at the YMCA in nearby Canandaigua.
So I backed out of our garage.
Through drifts eight to 12 inches deep.
This looks like an eventual snowblow.
The wind was howling and the snow blinding.
Our car has All-Wheel-Drive, so the snow has to be really deep.
Otherwise it will go through anything.
I arrowed out our driveway onto the main highway in front of our house.
About all that told me where the driveway was were two reflectors I have at the end of the driveway.
The main highway was completely snow-covered; I don’t think I ever saw bare pavement.
I drove up the road and turned east toward Canandaigua on 5&20, also completely snow-covered.
I rarely got above 35 mph. It was a struggle to see where I was going.
I slowly treaded east a while, then down a hill into a slight defile. It’s not much, only about a 50-foot change in elevation. Then slowly up the other side.
Not too bad, but only about 30 mph.
Then down again, this time about a 75-foot change in elevation.
I saw a large Chevy van stopped in front of me, its driver waving his arm.
Up ahead on the uphill was a stopped truck, perhaps unable to make the hill.
Trucks are not All-Wheel-Drive, so it might have been spinning its drive-wheels.
The pavement was completely snow-covered.
I had no problem coasting to a stop — I wasn’t going fast anyway.
Now what?
A side-road was to my left.
If a truck is stuck ahead of me on a main highway, it looks like I better go back home.
Rarely do I ever have to turn around.
I turned onto the side-road, Rabbit Run, and the adventure began.
Get back home on secondary roads; I didn’t think I could U-turn on a main highway in blinding snow.
That’s asking to get tee-boned.
Back into our garage through foot-high snowdrifts.
Snowblower time!
• I work out in the Canandaigua YMCA Exercise-Gym, appropriately named the “Wellness-Center,” usually three days per week, about two-three hours per visit. (“Canandaigua” [“cannan-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city to the east nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 14 miles away. —We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western NY, southeast of Rochester.)
• “5&20” is the main east-west road (a two-lane highway) through our area; State Route 5 and U.S. Route 20, both on the same road. 5&20 is just south of where we live. It used to be the main road across Western New York before the Thruway.
posted by BobbaLew at 6:24 AM
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