Saturday, May 27, 2006
Snowmiser Strikes Again.
Around midnight last night/this morning, we packed up the truck and headed off for what would have been a fun-filled three-day weekend in Portland. Our itinerary was cemented: bowling, driving out to Long Beach, hanging out with John, continuing tradition and spending time at Kruger's Farm with my daughter, catching Ministry and the Revolting Cocks at the Roseland. Good times.
Then my old friend Snowmiser reared his freakishly ugly head and interfered with my life once again.
Forty miles outside of Reno we encountered high winds and sleet. For a while that was all right, inclement weather has a way of acting as natural caffeine - it's hard to get sleepy at the wheel when you're holding on to it for dear life lest the car blow away to Oz.
The wind and sleet passed and we were looking forward to a mellow ride the rest of the way to PDX. Ha!
Five miles outside Susanville, we hit a snow storm. Normally, snow isn't that big of a deal. I learned how to drive in Alaska where it's winter 9 months a year, snow isn't a big deal. White-out's are another story. The view from the driver's seat varied from a Star Wars style hyperspace scene with snow replacing the stars, to staring at a blank sheet of paper. You could generally make out where the road was because that was the spot in the middle with no trees, beyond that all we could see was snow.
After cruising along at our maximum speed of a blinding 35 mph for about an hour, we finally gave up and turned around. Sucky, sucky, sucky.
To recap:
One Tank of Gas: $45.00 (Thanks Bush Regime!)
Two Ministry Tickets $56.00
Disappointing Friends and Family: Priceless
I'm going to have to call Verizon and change my plan to the Jerks and Strangers plan.
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