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That was not a happy place.... That was not a happy fun day.
Sooo, I worked from home. And then, around 10:30, I went into the office. Because CDs needed to be created (could have let this go as the odds are they won't be able to be picked up by the person that needs them), I needed to do some stuff I hadn't brought the tools for (did not do it: installed the tool I needed to remote-access the machine that's all set for them, on that machine, so now I can do them rfom home), and I wanted to grab the on-call phone that is not in circulation this week. Because, well, the person who is on call had their power out and generator failed.
When I got to the office, his generator was running again. When I got home, the power company had restored his power. Had I known this, I would not have gone. Had I known what it would be like, even if I'd known he'd be out of power all weekend, I would not have gone.
But I did, and I never actually had cause to think I'd be hurt (beyond maybe bruising something when I slipped whilst walking away from the car), but man was it stressful. Driving into the office was...gah. Well, first, getting out of the neighborhood was miserable. Everything was slick and slush-on-ice. You tended to go where the ruts were if you were careful, and if you wanted to go somewhere else, tough. Fortunately, the ruts led to the main road, so I got out on it. It was not slick but it would have been if they had not put down half a playground worth of sand on it.
They'd said I-5 north was clear, and it looked clear, but this depends on your definition of that much-abused term. In places it was what I would call clear (just wet), but most of the way north we did no more than 30 mph and sometimes as little as 5. The right lane never went over 20 since the semis had chains on. In places where the road was not clear - which alternated unpredictably with those where it was, and which were in the majority - you could be facing severely-sanded slush (the same color as the road but two inches higher and a lot more annoying to drive on), ice (rare), or ice ridges. The last were the most common, and let me tell you, they were unpleasant. Vibrated worse than the washboarding on the ridge and was slippery as well, but since there was sand on it, it was controllable. At 10-20 depending on the particular patch and whether it was lane-wide, of course.
The I-5 exit to Kruse Way had met a sander. Once. It was about a lane and a half wide. It started out in the right lane, meandered down the middle, went into the left lane, and swept back into the right lane where it divides into the four different lanes for turns/straight. Of course, I did not worry about lanes until the turn point when I had to get over as I was turning left. It was nice until I had to get in the turn lane, then it was very slick again. Kruse Way had been sanded - I think I was right, we will be getting sand on our cars for at least a month from that. Fine again until the side streets by the office. They were totally covered but looked driveable (especially as I was watching people go up them), so I turned. They were driveable.
The office parking lot was entirely another matter despite being, most deceptively, full of cars. I turned in, and immediately was dealing with conditions like on my street at home, where I was going where the ruts went and wobbling as I did so. Any parking space not occupied was full of snow, which worried me as an ice crust would be problematic - but the ones that were occupied looked real churned-up so I figured I was okay.
Not so. Not so. I pulled in and, just before I would have stopped forward motion anyway, the steady turn of my tires became a spin. Well. I was in the spot anyway, might as well go up to the office as there's nothing else for it. Ice over snow nasty, as always, but I was able to stomp through and get into the building. Got up to the office where no one else was in, unsurprisngly. Two coworkers did show up while I was working on my tasks, D & K. I got my stuff done and headed out (an hour and a half spent in the office).
I very nearly did not get out of the parking lot. I started to back, nice and steady, and was moving, and then I suddenly wasn't moving and the tires spun. Okay, forward, reroute...I was still trying to work my way out when an SUV arrived and gestured so I let them past. And the three gentlemen in it came back and pushed me out of my spot. Once I was out of there I was able to drive carefully, but without worries, out of the parking lot and back to sanded areas. Very glad they helped. I am confident I could have gotten myself out without help, but I would have been cold, probably snow-covered, and frustrated by the end of it. This took them only seconds and was very helpful.
It was meltier and cleaner driving on the way home. Except. Except I did not take the North Wilsonville exit as I was worried about the overpass. And that was when I discovered what I should have realized from earlier traffic reports and general area knowledge...the Boone Bridge, south of the South Wilsonville exit, was a mess. It was such a mess that it took me 30 minutes to get from north to south Wilsonville, including a goodly period sitting there stopped more than once.
The exit was ucky, the main road was okay. I got groceries (parking lot was better than ours at work but still annoying - but slushy, not icy), returned my library books (library was closed but had someone plowing their parking lot, probably for tomorrow, and the lane to return books was clear), and came home. Our street was still not fun to drive on and, to add insult to injury, someone had left deep ruts swerving back and forth like a drunk - or like someone losing control on slippery stuff. They were good enough ruts that it was very hard not to be dragged along on them, but really!
Oh, well. It was slippery, and odd to drive on in that way that slippery stuff is, where the car does exactly what you want but feels all wrong. I parked and hauled stuff inside, and have been hiding with my nice heat ever since....
Also, on the drive to and fro, I encountered Odd Road Clutter: 9 lost tire chains piled at the edges of lanes, probably exactly as they came off (four on the way up, five on the way back down, no two real close). One hubcap, as well, on the way up. Lots of tightener bands for chains - way more than just the chains, which makes sense given how many are used on each one, at least the truck chains.
The funniest, hands down, was the divider dots. you know how sometimes, where they paint lines, they put down little squares or round things or whatever that are raised and reflective? Sometimes they are round. And as I got up to the clearer areas, I would see that some of these had been torn up (I'm guessing by chained vehicles, likely semis) changing lanes. But what was funny was what drew my attention to it: the fact that some of them had come to rest, solo, in the middle of the lane between the two bands of them.
Very funny and strange. I am sure the department of transportation is neither amused nor surprised by this. I was both. It was funny seeing these little round things in all the wrong places.
Once again I have come in from the cold tired and all. Think I will talk to my doctor as I again felt short of breath. I am not real concerned about it but will bring it up at the next physical, and be careful about going out in this stuff.
Also, must quote the radio after listing off several incidents in their traffic report: "In fact, there seems to be a truck stuck on every single patch of ice in the Portland-Vancouver area. If they can find it, they will."
Giggling, now. Sleepy, but giggling. And warm.
When I got to the office, his generator was running again. When I got home, the power company had restored his power. Had I known this, I would not have gone. Had I known what it would be like, even if I'd known he'd be out of power all weekend, I would not have gone.
But I did, and I never actually had cause to think I'd be hurt (beyond maybe bruising something when I slipped whilst walking away from the car), but man was it stressful. Driving into the office was...gah. Well, first, getting out of the neighborhood was miserable. Everything was slick and slush-on-ice. You tended to go where the ruts were if you were careful, and if you wanted to go somewhere else, tough. Fortunately, the ruts led to the main road, so I got out on it. It was not slick but it would have been if they had not put down half a playground worth of sand on it.
They'd said I-5 north was clear, and it looked clear, but this depends on your definition of that much-abused term. In places it was what I would call clear (just wet), but most of the way north we did no more than 30 mph and sometimes as little as 5. The right lane never went over 20 since the semis had chains on. In places where the road was not clear - which alternated unpredictably with those where it was, and which were in the majority - you could be facing severely-sanded slush (the same color as the road but two inches higher and a lot more annoying to drive on), ice (rare), or ice ridges. The last were the most common, and let me tell you, they were unpleasant. Vibrated worse than the washboarding on the ridge and was slippery as well, but since there was sand on it, it was controllable. At 10-20 depending on the particular patch and whether it was lane-wide, of course.
The I-5 exit to Kruse Way had met a sander. Once. It was about a lane and a half wide. It started out in the right lane, meandered down the middle, went into the left lane, and swept back into the right lane where it divides into the four different lanes for turns/straight. Of course, I did not worry about lanes until the turn point when I had to get over as I was turning left. It was nice until I had to get in the turn lane, then it was very slick again. Kruse Way had been sanded - I think I was right, we will be getting sand on our cars for at least a month from that. Fine again until the side streets by the office. They were totally covered but looked driveable (especially as I was watching people go up them), so I turned. They were driveable.
The office parking lot was entirely another matter despite being, most deceptively, full of cars. I turned in, and immediately was dealing with conditions like on my street at home, where I was going where the ruts went and wobbling as I did so. Any parking space not occupied was full of snow, which worried me as an ice crust would be problematic - but the ones that were occupied looked real churned-up so I figured I was okay.
Not so. Not so. I pulled in and, just before I would have stopped forward motion anyway, the steady turn of my tires became a spin. Well. I was in the spot anyway, might as well go up to the office as there's nothing else for it. Ice over snow nasty, as always, but I was able to stomp through and get into the building. Got up to the office where no one else was in, unsurprisngly. Two coworkers did show up while I was working on my tasks, D & K. I got my stuff done and headed out (an hour and a half spent in the office).
I very nearly did not get out of the parking lot. I started to back, nice and steady, and was moving, and then I suddenly wasn't moving and the tires spun. Okay, forward, reroute...I was still trying to work my way out when an SUV arrived and gestured so I let them past. And the three gentlemen in it came back and pushed me out of my spot. Once I was out of there I was able to drive carefully, but without worries, out of the parking lot and back to sanded areas. Very glad they helped. I am confident I could have gotten myself out without help, but I would have been cold, probably snow-covered, and frustrated by the end of it. This took them only seconds and was very helpful.
It was meltier and cleaner driving on the way home. Except. Except I did not take the North Wilsonville exit as I was worried about the overpass. And that was when I discovered what I should have realized from earlier traffic reports and general area knowledge...the Boone Bridge, south of the South Wilsonville exit, was a mess. It was such a mess that it took me 30 minutes to get from north to south Wilsonville, including a goodly period sitting there stopped more than once.
The exit was ucky, the main road was okay. I got groceries (parking lot was better than ours at work but still annoying - but slushy, not icy), returned my library books (library was closed but had someone plowing their parking lot, probably for tomorrow, and the lane to return books was clear), and came home. Our street was still not fun to drive on and, to add insult to injury, someone had left deep ruts swerving back and forth like a drunk - or like someone losing control on slippery stuff. They were good enough ruts that it was very hard not to be dragged along on them, but really!
Oh, well. It was slippery, and odd to drive on in that way that slippery stuff is, where the car does exactly what you want but feels all wrong. I parked and hauled stuff inside, and have been hiding with my nice heat ever since....
Also, on the drive to and fro, I encountered Odd Road Clutter: 9 lost tire chains piled at the edges of lanes, probably exactly as they came off (four on the way up, five on the way back down, no two real close). One hubcap, as well, on the way up. Lots of tightener bands for chains - way more than just the chains, which makes sense given how many are used on each one, at least the truck chains.
The funniest, hands down, was the divider dots. you know how sometimes, where they paint lines, they put down little squares or round things or whatever that are raised and reflective? Sometimes they are round. And as I got up to the clearer areas, I would see that some of these had been torn up (I'm guessing by chained vehicles, likely semis) changing lanes. But what was funny was what drew my attention to it: the fact that some of them had come to rest, solo, in the middle of the lane between the two bands of them.
Very funny and strange. I am sure the department of transportation is neither amused nor surprised by this. I was both. It was funny seeing these little round things in all the wrong places.
Once again I have come in from the cold tired and all. Think I will talk to my doctor as I again felt short of breath. I am not real concerned about it but will bring it up at the next physical, and be careful about going out in this stuff.
Also, must quote the radio after listing off several incidents in their traffic report: "In fact, there seems to be a truck stuck on every single patch of ice in the Portland-Vancouver area. If they can find it, they will."
Giggling, now. Sleepy, but giggling. And warm.
no subject
We are now up to 6 vehicles along the ridge. One of which we think was lost. It went by our house and stopped just at the north end of our property. Then went on and came back down a couple of minutes later. We suspect --- with no way to know --- that they saw our address sign, realized they had gone too far on this road and went looking for a driveway to turn around.
no subject
I feel silly sometimes babbling about all this snow and ice stuff so extensively, but darnit, I love this stuff and it fascinates me. We don't get it all that often, so I'm gonna babble when it happens.
I wouldn't do today's drive again. Knowing what I now know, I'd stay home, even if I did not know that M's power would come back on.
But it made great observational time and some of the little details were funny and interesting, so it is not all a bad thing. :)