Diving in Snow, is it just me?

[revwardoc]

Sparrowhawk,

I drove the Taconic Pkwy a couple of times. That road's gotta be dead deer central. Never saw so many roadkill deer on one stretch of road.

[Keith_Hixson]

We have a big weather system coming through. It's suppose to snow all day. Driving in snow is a necessity in my world of Eastern Washington.

Keith

[exlrrp]

I'm ok driving in snow now but when I started I wasn't so much.

the first time I ever put on chains, 1972, I was driving to Reno in a borrowed car to....wait for it.....get married. I'd never put on chains before. I got over the top and into reno OK, no snow but then it snowed bad that night. (1st wedding night for me,out of 3) I had to put on chains coming back at Truckee. I didn't know what the tighteners were for so I didn't put them on. The chains stated banging about a mile later but by that time It was a total blizzard--did I say this is where the Donners spent a quiet winter eating each other, back in the earlies??

I just kept driving on and the chains came loose and stated banging on the fenders--I just drove on. I made it over the top and out of the worst and spent the next hour, in the snow, unwrapping the chains from the axle. The fenders of the car, a '68 Mustang were ruined. I told the friend I'd borrowed it from I'd pay to fix them but the next weekend she totaled the car, which was total lucky for me (she walked away from it OK) That marriage didn't last long, I was in the middle of my PostWar Early Blue Period

In the late 70s I got into skiing, was going up to the show, 6 or 8 times aa year. I learned to put them on then, been ok ever since.

I bought these new kinds of chains at Les Schwab, you can put them on while the car is parked---no backing up, etc in the show--this is the greatest thing since flavored condoms!! Last year, I had to put them on coming over Siskiyou pass for the first time and it was great. Takes about a minute to do per wheel --slicker 'n snot on a doorknob.

Up here in OR, we talk about "SUV syndrome" basically, people buy these things and think they can drive like in the advertisements. So they get stuck a lot.They don't realize that the 4x4 feature doesn't STOP you any better than 2 wheel drive so they drive faster. That time over Siskiyou Pass, both me and my wife were commenting that the only cars in the ditch were SUV's and just then one slid right by in front of us, ditch bound. Wearing chains makes you drive slower, safer. I even got a set for my Ranger and its 4x4

SUV Syndrome gets people in a lot of trouble, we get California Yuppies lost up here every now and then and then the whole dang state has to drop what we're doing and go look for them.

Speaking of Siskiyou pass, there was no snow on Shasta untill tis week--the middle of December. Shasta used to have snow on it ALL YEAR!! It was historically jknown for that. Its bare in summer now--untill December!-- and thats real scary. Last year was the first time I had to put chains on coming over Siskiyou in many years, it was a freak snow storm, the ones that poor California family got caught in.
Anybody who thinks global warming isn't evident ought to come out here.


Yo, Pack, good to hear its storming down there--is the water crisis over? was just watching the teevee and they said GA, FL and AL were in serious trouble.
No shortage of water here either, its coming down in buckets as I write this.

Stay good
James

[SparrowHawk62]

Originally Posted by revwardoc

Sparrowhawk,
I drove the Taconic Pkwy a couple of times. That road's gotta be dead deer central. Never saw so many roadkill deer on one stretch of road.

Yup, any critter that tries to cross the Taconic Parkway is either rabid or too stupid to know better.
Lately you can play 'nail the turkey', these knucklehead birds love to stand in the road way. A few years ago I saw the result of a turkey verse windshield (State Troopers Car) it was not a pleasant sight. Windshield and the surrounding frame work were history, bird was estimated to weigh between ten and twelve pounds. Trooper was banged up some, and almost shot his new passenger! Bird lived for a short time after the impact, but later succumbed to it's injuries.
Deer are a whole other story, some get picked up by local road kill hunters, others just lay there and slowly rot away. If you're gonna use your car for hunting, it's best on a rainy night, that's when they try (the deer) to play tag with your car...