Long Drive
Friday morning I left Norwood for Ithaca. I had planned on leaving early in the day, with a stop at Turning Stone.
I woke up at 6:30 AM, which wouldn't be so bad had I not been up until 4:30 AM. This tends to happen to me. When I drink, I get very little sleep. I went to the Bruins game on Thursday and had a couple of Sam Adams, finally going to bed at 4:30 AM.
I felt like shit. I was tired, with a splitting headache. I gulped down a glass of water, drove to the nearby Mobil station, and picked up some Gatorade to replenish my system. Unfortunately, the cute girl who has a crush on me wasn't working there. In fact, I went to that Mobil four times during my short stay in Norwood, and she wasn't there a single time. Truly a shame. Maybe she got a new job.
I drank my Gatorade, and decided that driving 380 miles on 2 hours of drunk-sleep was a bad idea. Instead of getting something to eat and some caffeine, I decided it would be prudent to go to sleep.
I woke up at about 11:30 AM. I took a shower. Then I noticed it was snowing outside. It wasn't too bad, though. My road seemed fine and the snow was barely sticking. I figured it was a local storm, something coming from Quebec, or maybe a squall off the ocean. Stupidly, I didn't check weather.com to see how bad the storm was, et cetera.
I left my house at around noon. I drove to Quincy to open an account at Citizen's Bank. Long story short, one of my friends works there, and they get a bonus for each new account they refer to the bank.
The drive there was troublesome. I drove over I-95 to see what the road conditions were, and it was a mess. I decided to take Route 1 up to 128 and go that way to Quincy. Route 1 is usually pretty well plowed, and the driving is slow anyway without any snow. And if any road would be plowed, it would be 128, the ring that wraps around Boston like a wheel.
128 wasn't so bad. The biggest problem wasn't the snow, it was the other drivers. The road was wet, and there were spots of slush, but nothing that would warrant driving 15 miles below the speed limit in the fast lane. By the way, 128's speed limit is 55 MPH, which means it's 70 MPH. But these fuckers were doing 40 MPH. Very dangerous, because traffic gets bunched up.
Finally, I arrived at Quincy Center, opened my account, and got back onto the highway. The snow was coming pretty good now and driving up to the interchange with I-90 was no picnic. The snow got heavier the further north I went.
I got on the Pike, and traffic seemed to be sparse and flowing. That nice little illusion lasted for about 5 minutes as I found myself in gridlock at 1:30 PM on a Thursday in Natick on I-90. No accident or anything, just scared drivers.
The 50 mile stretch between I-95 and I-84 was tedious and nerve racking. It took 90 minutes. Traffic was just refusing to go at a decent pace.
Finally when the road split at I-84, there was some relief. Of course, by this time, I'm in Western Mass, up in the foothills of the Appalachians, where the snow falls in buckets, and plows are few and far between.
This is when I started to notice the spun out cars on the side of the road. I wish I had started counting them because the total number of disabled and deroaded vehicles I witnessed was staggering.
But I was still going at a good clip, about 50 MPH in the snow. It took me 3 hours to reach Lee Plaze, 8 miles from the NY border. Lee is embedded in the Berkshire Mountains, and the snow was really bad. I got some gas, some mini-muffins, and cleaned my car just a bit. It was then I noticed that my front valence (the front bumper) was absolutely ensconced in frozen brown slush.
I crossed into New York. By this time, I figured getting to Ithaca might take me a much longer time than the 5 1/2 hours I'm used to. The number would probably be 7 or 8 hours. I began calling people and asking them to check the weather for me. You see, there are two ways to get to Ithaca. One can take I-90 west all the way to Syracuse, then take I-481 to I-81 down to Cortland, then 13 to Ithaca. Or, one can get onto I-88 just west of Albany, take that to Bainbridge, get on 206 through Chenango County, then take 79 at Whitney Point to Ithaca. The I-88 route is 40 miles shorter, but the backroads are very hilly and difficult to traverse in snow. I-90 to 81 is a much easier way to drive in bad weather.
I found out that snow covered pretty much the entire state, so driving through Syracuse was my best option.
The roads around Albany were decent, but once I got a few miles west, they were shit. It was getting dark, the snow was getting worse, and the roads were untouched by plows. I was forced to reduce speed to 38 MPH.
Finally, a truck passed me. Trucks can go very fast in the snow. They have excellent traction because they're extremely heavy, have eight-wheel drive, and their mass is spread out onto the road in 18 locations in a very large rectangle. This is contrary to my car, which is very light (so it moves around a lot), has two wheel drive, and its mas sis spread out in a very small square on the road.
Trucks also create huge tracks in the snow. I got behind the truck and rode its tracks. I was able to cruise at 45 MPH. I was able to do this for 50 miles or so. But then, the truck pulled off into a rest stop. I was back on my own.
Here's the thing about unplowed roads. When a road is covered in virgin snow that hasn't been touched, it isn't very difficult to drive through. You can't go too fast, but you can maintain control at speeds upwards of 60 MPH, even if there's 4 or 5 inches on the ground. But if the snow has been driven through, it is incredibly difficult to navigate.
When dozens of cars have driven through snow at different times, the snow becomes very rough. There are numerous grooves that interlock, cut each other off. There are thousands of little bumps that take your wheels off the road, and countless little channels in the snow that guide you out of control.
The road had been well-traversed, but with no single discernible groove. I brought my speed down to 32 MPH. Other cars were going faster than me, but most were 4 wheel drive SUVs, or cars that don't have incredibly old tires like my car does (38,000 miles on them already).
I was 40 miles away from Turning Stone, but decided to stop and take a break. A few plows had pulled onto the road behind me, about a dozen miles or so to my rear. I figured a pit stop would be a good way to allow them to pass me and give me a clean stretch of road to drive on. It worked. I was able to go 43 MPH on the snowy roads around Utica, and eventually I arrived at Turning Stone. It took me 8 hours to drive the 280 miles to get there.
I played poker for 4 hours, hoping that by the time I stopped, the plows would have caught up with clearing the road. I was partially right. I-90 was relatively clean. I got onto I-481, which usually isn't well plowed. But as I pulled out of the toll booths, a plow pulled right in front of me. I followed it for 10 miles or so.
Unfortunately, this plow was making my drive harder than it could have been. Although the road underneath me was relatively clear, the massive cloud of snow kicked up by the plow was really difficult to drive through. The incessant blinking of its yellow warning lights was also giving me a headache. The plow was also going very slow, about 22 MPH. I passed it. The road was covered in snow, but few grooves had formed. I was able to maintain a nice 40 MPH speed.
I-81 was a similar story, but I knew I was getting closer to home. For stretches, I was able to get up to as fast as 55 MPH.
Route 13 in Cortland was a mess. Absolutely no effort to plow it whatsoever. But it's relatively flat between Cortland and Ithaca, and I was able to go 45 MPH. that is until I came upon a tentative driver going 22, but after I passed him (which I rarely, if ever do in the snow), I was able to go my desired speed.
I figured Ithaca would be messy, but still manageable. The City usually does a decent job of plowing during a storm. I was wrong. Driving down from Cayuga Heights was nerve wracking. If not for my experience playing World of Outlaws (a video game involving driving race cars on dirt), I would have spun out. The bottom of the hill was shitty, as well. A sudden red light on 13 forced me to hit my brakes, which took their time responding. I got a sharp cramp in my foot from the struggle the brakes had.
Going up the hill was going to be the hardest part. I had driven 385 miles, but the last mile was the most difficult. I wiggled and slid up the hill. Hudson Street was nearly impossible. I don't think my car was pointed straight at all.
I finally reached the top of the hill, and slid around the turn on Coddington. Two guys were walking up the hill and decided that this time was the best time to wander into the middle of the road. With the rear end of my car sliding to my right, I successfully slid through the turn, my front bumper coming within 2 feet of one of the guys. They didn't seem to notice or care. I drove down Pennsylvania and pulled into my parking lot.
The driving took a total of 11 hours, plus a 4 hour stop at Turning Stone. I had left my house at noon, and didn't get to my apartment until 4 AM. I drove by at least 25 spin outs and accidents, not including ones that were on the other side of the road.
I am the best driver in the snow in this part of the country.
I woke up at 6:30 AM, which wouldn't be so bad had I not been up until 4:30 AM. This tends to happen to me. When I drink, I get very little sleep. I went to the Bruins game on Thursday and had a couple of Sam Adams, finally going to bed at 4:30 AM.
I felt like shit. I was tired, with a splitting headache. I gulped down a glass of water, drove to the nearby Mobil station, and picked up some Gatorade to replenish my system. Unfortunately, the cute girl who has a crush on me wasn't working there. In fact, I went to that Mobil four times during my short stay in Norwood, and she wasn't there a single time. Truly a shame. Maybe she got a new job.
I drank my Gatorade, and decided that driving 380 miles on 2 hours of drunk-sleep was a bad idea. Instead of getting something to eat and some caffeine, I decided it would be prudent to go to sleep.
I woke up at about 11:30 AM. I took a shower. Then I noticed it was snowing outside. It wasn't too bad, though. My road seemed fine and the snow was barely sticking. I figured it was a local storm, something coming from Quebec, or maybe a squall off the ocean. Stupidly, I didn't check weather.com to see how bad the storm was, et cetera.
I left my house at around noon. I drove to Quincy to open an account at Citizen's Bank. Long story short, one of my friends works there, and they get a bonus for each new account they refer to the bank.
The drive there was troublesome. I drove over I-95 to see what the road conditions were, and it was a mess. I decided to take Route 1 up to 128 and go that way to Quincy. Route 1 is usually pretty well plowed, and the driving is slow anyway without any snow. And if any road would be plowed, it would be 128, the ring that wraps around Boston like a wheel.
128 wasn't so bad. The biggest problem wasn't the snow, it was the other drivers. The road was wet, and there were spots of slush, but nothing that would warrant driving 15 miles below the speed limit in the fast lane. By the way, 128's speed limit is 55 MPH, which means it's 70 MPH. But these fuckers were doing 40 MPH. Very dangerous, because traffic gets bunched up.
Finally, I arrived at Quincy Center, opened my account, and got back onto the highway. The snow was coming pretty good now and driving up to the interchange with I-90 was no picnic. The snow got heavier the further north I went.
I got on the Pike, and traffic seemed to be sparse and flowing. That nice little illusion lasted for about 5 minutes as I found myself in gridlock at 1:30 PM on a Thursday in Natick on I-90. No accident or anything, just scared drivers.
The 50 mile stretch between I-95 and I-84 was tedious and nerve racking. It took 90 minutes. Traffic was just refusing to go at a decent pace.
Finally when the road split at I-84, there was some relief. Of course, by this time, I'm in Western Mass, up in the foothills of the Appalachians, where the snow falls in buckets, and plows are few and far between.
This is when I started to notice the spun out cars on the side of the road. I wish I had started counting them because the total number of disabled and deroaded vehicles I witnessed was staggering.
But I was still going at a good clip, about 50 MPH in the snow. It took me 3 hours to reach Lee Plaze, 8 miles from the NY border. Lee is embedded in the Berkshire Mountains, and the snow was really bad. I got some gas, some mini-muffins, and cleaned my car just a bit. It was then I noticed that my front valence (the front bumper) was absolutely ensconced in frozen brown slush.
I crossed into New York. By this time, I figured getting to Ithaca might take me a much longer time than the 5 1/2 hours I'm used to. The number would probably be 7 or 8 hours. I began calling people and asking them to check the weather for me. You see, there are two ways to get to Ithaca. One can take I-90 west all the way to Syracuse, then take I-481 to I-81 down to Cortland, then 13 to Ithaca. Or, one can get onto I-88 just west of Albany, take that to Bainbridge, get on 206 through Chenango County, then take 79 at Whitney Point to Ithaca. The I-88 route is 40 miles shorter, but the backroads are very hilly and difficult to traverse in snow. I-90 to 81 is a much easier way to drive in bad weather.
I found out that snow covered pretty much the entire state, so driving through Syracuse was my best option.
The roads around Albany were decent, but once I got a few miles west, they were shit. It was getting dark, the snow was getting worse, and the roads were untouched by plows. I was forced to reduce speed to 38 MPH.
Finally, a truck passed me. Trucks can go very fast in the snow. They have excellent traction because they're extremely heavy, have eight-wheel drive, and their mass is spread out onto the road in 18 locations in a very large rectangle. This is contrary to my car, which is very light (so it moves around a lot), has two wheel drive, and its mas sis spread out in a very small square on the road.
Trucks also create huge tracks in the snow. I got behind the truck and rode its tracks. I was able to cruise at 45 MPH. I was able to do this for 50 miles or so. But then, the truck pulled off into a rest stop. I was back on my own.
Here's the thing about unplowed roads. When a road is covered in virgin snow that hasn't been touched, it isn't very difficult to drive through. You can't go too fast, but you can maintain control at speeds upwards of 60 MPH, even if there's 4 or 5 inches on the ground. But if the snow has been driven through, it is incredibly difficult to navigate.
When dozens of cars have driven through snow at different times, the snow becomes very rough. There are numerous grooves that interlock, cut each other off. There are thousands of little bumps that take your wheels off the road, and countless little channels in the snow that guide you out of control.
The road had been well-traversed, but with no single discernible groove. I brought my speed down to 32 MPH. Other cars were going faster than me, but most were 4 wheel drive SUVs, or cars that don't have incredibly old tires like my car does (38,000 miles on them already).
I was 40 miles away from Turning Stone, but decided to stop and take a break. A few plows had pulled onto the road behind me, about a dozen miles or so to my rear. I figured a pit stop would be a good way to allow them to pass me and give me a clean stretch of road to drive on. It worked. I was able to go 43 MPH on the snowy roads around Utica, and eventually I arrived at Turning Stone. It took me 8 hours to drive the 280 miles to get there.
I played poker for 4 hours, hoping that by the time I stopped, the plows would have caught up with clearing the road. I was partially right. I-90 was relatively clean. I got onto I-481, which usually isn't well plowed. But as I pulled out of the toll booths, a plow pulled right in front of me. I followed it for 10 miles or so.
Unfortunately, this plow was making my drive harder than it could have been. Although the road underneath me was relatively clear, the massive cloud of snow kicked up by the plow was really difficult to drive through. The incessant blinking of its yellow warning lights was also giving me a headache. The plow was also going very slow, about 22 MPH. I passed it. The road was covered in snow, but few grooves had formed. I was able to maintain a nice 40 MPH speed.
I-81 was a similar story, but I knew I was getting closer to home. For stretches, I was able to get up to as fast as 55 MPH.
Route 13 in Cortland was a mess. Absolutely no effort to plow it whatsoever. But it's relatively flat between Cortland and Ithaca, and I was able to go 45 MPH. that is until I came upon a tentative driver going 22, but after I passed him (which I rarely, if ever do in the snow), I was able to go my desired speed.
I figured Ithaca would be messy, but still manageable. The City usually does a decent job of plowing during a storm. I was wrong. Driving down from Cayuga Heights was nerve wracking. If not for my experience playing World of Outlaws (a video game involving driving race cars on dirt), I would have spun out. The bottom of the hill was shitty, as well. A sudden red light on 13 forced me to hit my brakes, which took their time responding. I got a sharp cramp in my foot from the struggle the brakes had.
Going up the hill was going to be the hardest part. I had driven 385 miles, but the last mile was the most difficult. I wiggled and slid up the hill. Hudson Street was nearly impossible. I don't think my car was pointed straight at all.
I finally reached the top of the hill, and slid around the turn on Coddington. Two guys were walking up the hill and decided that this time was the best time to wander into the middle of the road. With the rear end of my car sliding to my right, I successfully slid through the turn, my front bumper coming within 2 feet of one of the guys. They didn't seem to notice or care. I drove down Pennsylvania and pulled into my parking lot.
The driving took a total of 11 hours, plus a 4 hour stop at Turning Stone. I had left my house at noon, and didn't get to my apartment until 4 AM. I drove by at least 25 spin outs and accidents, not including ones that were on the other side of the road.
I am the best driver in the snow in this part of the country.
posted by rob | 10:08 PM
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