It’s been so flipping cold here, I feel like it’s not fair to NOT have snow.
We had plenty of ice this morning, though. I left the house at 6:30 (like every day). There was such a slight drizzle that it felt like it was stopping. There was no ice in my driveway or on my car. The traffic guy and the weather guy on TV both said everything was just peachy.
So I got in my car and left.
I took the back road because it was not raining hard, but when it rains just a tad people act so stupid I like to be away from as much traffic as possible.
I got about halfway to work (6:50am) and spun out. I kid you not – my car spun around at least four times. I just held on tight and prayed “PleasestopPleasestopPleasestop” and came to rest with my car halfway in someone’s yard with a tree just inches from my face. I managed to back my car out of their yard, but I couldn’t get it turned the direction I was going. Soooo, I drove a few feet in the wrong lane and pulled into this person’s driveway so I could catch my breath before backing out to head towards home.
I was still wigged out, so I pulled into a church parking lot to think over my options. I only sat there a few minutes. I saw several vehicles go by and when I saw a school bus going the way I needed to go, I decided to pull out and follow it. I made it part of the way before the bus made a right where I had to go left.
The bus seemed to have some difficulty, but I thought it could just be the sharpness of the curve.
I drove a little further and everything seemed to be okay. I was driving the exact same route I had just come, so it should have still been okay ten minutes later, right?
Wrong.
After making it down a rather twisty/steep hill and around a few sharp turns, I started hitting ice. Sheets of it. Black. Ice.
About ten minutes from home (on a normal day), I pulled into a shallow ditch in front of a house (7:15). An ICEE truck stopped in the road right behind me. Cars and trucks were dotting the sides of the roads.
I tuned to a local radio station that broadcasts one of our TV stations and started to get PO’ed. Lots of reports of wrecks, lots of bad weather coming our way, lots of “Don’t leave the house! Have another cup of coffee.”
Bastards.
First, they said they expected the system to move through by 8 “or so” and the temps would rise and everything would be fine.
Then they said they expected the system to move through by 9 “or so” and the temps would rise and everything would be fine.
Then they said they expected the system to move through sometime between 9 and 10 and the temps would rise and everything would be fine.
THEN they said 11 … etc. etc. etc.
My favorite: “The system is starting to turn from sleet/freezing rain to regular rain. That will raise the temperature and melt off the ice rather quickly.” 15 minutes later, “The rain is actually making the temperature FALL, so if you don’t have to leave the house, DON’T!”
ARGH!!
About 10:00, I decided to try to get out of the semi-ditch. I got back on the road (very, very carefully) and pulled onto an entry street for a subdivision. I still wasn’t any closer to home, but at least I was no longer on an angle and I was in a safer location (traffic-wise). I could also see the top of a VERY treacherous hill and could monitor cars and trucks as they headed that way.
That hill was the main thing standing between me and getting home. It’s incredibly steep and winds around – it’s dangerous in the BEST of weather.
Cars kept getting to the top and turning around. About 11:15, I saw a salt truck head that way, then a long line of cars that had been waiting went over the hill … and no one returned!!
I waited another ten minutes and decided to risk it. I crept SO slowly it was excruciating. My whole body was tense. I hadn’t been that scared in my car since I drove in that blizzard in Alberta … on top of a mountain … at night.
Turns out there was a minor accident at the bottom of the hill (no injuries, a truck and an SUV, two guys standing around laughing with a police officer who had arrived on the scene). The salt truck had been called out so a tow truck could get to these guys.
Anyway, it was ten after twelve by the time I got home.
All told, I was in my car for very nearly six hours. I said to my Mom, “If I’m gonna sit in the freakin’ car for six hours, I want to be pulling into Memphis, dammit!!
Worst part is: I am going to have to use Annual leave – and I didn’t even enjoy it!!!! 
ETA: Addendum – I checked my e-mail this afternoon and there was one from PSTCC Alerts (Pellissippi State, my employer) stating that classes would start and offices would open at ten. This was sent at 8.
If the e-mail had been sent earlier (I get the text message, too), I would NOT have been out on the icy road.
Thanks for the e-mail. Thanks so very very much.
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