Outdoors -- survival

So the storm last week turned out better than expected.
For one thing, November hasn't been as rainy as usual and the DC area got lots of rain.
I know -- I drove through it in the pitch dark night starting just after 5.
About 7, as it was getting light, I stopped for a shot of caffeine.
The first snow I saw was at the 100 mile point.
Up in the mountains, wet snow fell the whole hundred miles of the last lap.
A snow plow passed me on the left at one point.
There was lots of salt on the roads.
The big rigs and other traffic did a good job of grinding it into the pavement.
They also plowed the slush aside.
I just plugged along for hours and got to the hotel before noon.
And the trip back was dry and sunny.
Don't be afraid of weather, just realize that conditions are going to be different.
Keep your speed down.
Don't zoom in and out of lanes -- it's not going to get you anywhere but in the ditch.
Leave plenty of stopping room -- tailgating will also get you in the ditch.
I realize this advice is falling on deaf ears in my area.
Which is why the emergency sirens have been sounding three and four times a day
for a week
as police and fire dealt with the idiots in the DC area who have wrecks
when the weather announcers on the radio even say the word "snow."
No lie.  It's been like that for the nearly 40 years I've lived here.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved