Tuesday, February 14, 2012

in the ditch

You know that my wife travels every week.  She also refuses to drive in snow.  So yesterday, I am joining her on a short trip.  We finally get a snow.  2 inches, no big deal, except my wife will not drive in the snow.  So I am driving her up to KCI.  Now let me give you a little life advice about driving in the snow-

Respect the weather.  Drive slower, increase your following distance.  Take your time.  Don't be in a hurry.  - ignore this advice to your peril.

So we are driving to KCI.  The farther we go, the worse it gets.  There are no plows out to be seen anywhere.  We did not see a single plow along the way to KCI. 

As we crossed I-35 past Worlds of Fun and entered the northern section of 435, we began to see cars off the road.  I always laugh.  It will be them, but not me.  I am too careful.  We see a car exactly like my wife's car in the ditch.  I laugh and tell her it is an omen. 

We are cruising along at about 40 mph when we come behind this Volvo that is putting along.  Dangerously slow.  I pull out into the fast lane to pass the Volvo.  The fast lane is snow packed.  I just get past the Volvo and our car catches an edge.  The back end begins to skid out to the left.  I turn into the skid.  For a moment I think that I am going to pull it back together, but no.  My wife's car begins to spin out of control in the middle of 435, right up where Derek Thomas was injured.

The guy in the Volvo has to be laughing by now.  We end up on the right shoulder, half way down in the ditch. My dear wife is freaking out.  [This picture is not us, but we were stuck almost exactly like this.]

I get out of the car and tell her to get in the driver's seat.  She rolls down the window so she can hear me.  I have her straighten up the wheels and I clear out the snow from behind them.  Then I go to the front and I start to rock the car.  She accelerates.  Back and forth we go.  It takes about five minutes, but we get the car up the side of the ditch and now on the shoulder of the road, facing the wrong direction.  Success.  Sort of.

I hop back in to drive.  We wait until no one is coming, then I drive backwards across 435, turn down, stop, and turn around.  Whew!!!

We get to the airport on time. I don't know if I feel dumb for driving unsafely, or smart for getting us out of the ditch.  That's all I have to say.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

just glad you're both safe!!

Anonymous said...

Jeff, you are something else. So glad you two got that car righted and back on the road. What's amazing is that you still got Cathy to the airport on time.

Kudos.

Anonymous said...

I think you should considering adding that to the education list of what to teach our kids!! kb