Flirting with death

[Dennis Kininger]

Here's a scary/amusing tale I thought I'd share here.

This is something which happened to me last Saturday night (March 10). Since I don't have much of anything else to do on weekends, I can usually be found at the movies on Saturday night and last weekend was no exception.

I went to go see 300. It was a little too "beefcakey" for me but otherwise I liked it.

Anyway...after the movie, I was driving home (a distance of maybe 8 miles tops) and I suddenly hit a patch of black ice!

Yeah, for those of you in warmer climes, we have a little thing called Winter here in upstate New York. It had been mild that day, so, it was very foggy that night as everything cooled down and refroze.

Since I could barely see past my hood, I was going very slow (maybe 30 miles an hour) and all of a sudden, I began spinning to the right.

So I naturally tromp on my brakes and try to steer into the skid (As we're supposed to do)...which is utter bullcrap, by the way!, yeah, it didn't do a damn bit of good...and somehow, I managed to spin completely around and I found myself in a vertical position in my lane on the road.

Now, this is thankfully a fairly isolated stretch of highway with a few houses and a farm or two, so, after I quit spinning, I just sat there and waited for my heart to go back into my chest and I said "Well...that was different!". I had snow sprayed all over the road but the car and I were fine. So, once I got control of myself, I just turned back into my lane and drove home. I looked the car over in my garage and it was fine and it's been fine ever since.

Sunday morning, I drove out there to see where I spun out in and I was gonna pay for any damaged mailboxes or whatever. All the boxes were fine and I found the snowbank I creamed.

I was also happy that the weather had been mild and the snow was soft that night. I recall the car tilting slightly (I drive a Suzuki Grand Vitara I recently christened "Calliope") and if it had been frozen solid and hard, I would have flipped the car and probably hurt myself. Plus nobody came along to hit me while I was in the road either...so that was nice. I had an accident in the car in February 2005 so I don't need another one.

On an unrelated note, we had a snowstorm here on Valentine's Day and I managed to get on the news as I shoveled snow. Yeah, that's certainly "Must see TV!" (LOL!)

So, yes, not dying or wrecking my car a second time was nice.


Dennis

[E~Man]

*perk* We wanna see ya on the newsclip! Link! Link!

I've had similiar experiences with the icy driving...the only time I ever spun out I happened back in 1999 as I was driving to work one morning.

It had snowed and warmed up the night before, leading to the snow upon the paved roads being compacted into 'white-ice'...fortunately I was on a side road when I did a complete 360...no damage to the car and so I kept on going...

More recently, two Fridays ago, an ice storm came through the area where I live and knocked out power to part of my city (I still had power) but when I drove to work in a nearby city, I arrived in time to be told to go home as the electricity was out and not expected back on until six that nite. I didn't have any trouble with the icy roads that morning...

[Special K]

Dang! Man, I always make fun of people in the south for not knowing how to drive in the rain (seriously, it's like it makes them retarded old ladies!), but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know how to drive in snow/ice. At least you (and the car) are okay.

[EbyKat]

I've had almost just that happen to me twice now while other people were driving.

Once, going up towards the Canadian border to get help moving back down south a bit. 2/3 lane freeway and my friend's truck spun around at least 2 or 3 times. No one was coming, no one hit us. We were facing the right direction in the middle of the N and S freeway sides and it took a bit of effort to get out of there since it sinks down a bit, but we were lucky we weren't a mile further where there was an overpass.

Other time, for seemingly no reason my friend's tiny pink car spun and did a 180 as we were on this curving ramp to get to the freeway. scawy barely scratched the cement on the side, it could have been way worse

yay for not dying!

[Joyling]

Mine was January 2, 2001. I was taking my friend to go to the train station in Utica to pick her up from her boyfriend's. My friend's car was in the shop and we wouldn't have been able to fit all of us in my truck. So I was like "Okay, we can take Ali's car and she can drive it home!" So off we went.

It had been warm that day and we left early, so my friend wanted to swing by Old Navy in the New Hartford Shopping Center. We were coming down Rte 12 and across the railroad tracks. And anyone who is familiar with that area (Redtail, Dennis) knows that after the tracks, the road makes a bend to the right. So I went over the railroad tracks and hit a big ol' pile of slush, from the melty snow that everyone was dropping from their wheel wells on the bumpity part. And when I went to turn right, nothing happened because I was on slush rather than pavement. I had been in the right lane, but ended up slamming into the left guard rail, bouncing back and doing a 180, end wound up facing oncoming traffic in the lane I had been travelling in.

We were both okay, luckily we did not get hit. I was not at fault, and the first thing they did was call snowplows to clear all the slush away. We were late picking my sister up, but my mom was able to get her on time. The car was totalled. When my mom showed up at the station to pick Ali up, she was like "Where's Joy and Joe?" And my mom goes ah, they wrecked your car. Ali says OMG are they ok!? and my mom says yeah, we were fine. My sister says "Oh, I guess we're not going to Crystal Mountain then... *sad*"

[Jaded Deceit]

So I totally had a similar story once. Me and my family were going on a cold winter's morn to a town 15 miles away called Paonia on a backroad. We were all talking and I said" Man, it would be cool to be in an accident as long as no one got hurt..." and as if I had tempted fate we hit black ice and spun to the left pointing towards the side of the road with a 5 foot drop although the incline wasn't horrible. Our tires caught and we went careening towards and over the edge travelled about 30 yards and came to a stop. My mom was super shaken and my two younger brothers and my sister were staring at me in awe when I realized what had happened. Ever since it seems that every now and then I get what I ask for when it is bad. So I try to stay a bit positive.

[Dennis Kininger]

Omigoodness!

Thanks for the stories, everyone!

*E-Man: I've no idea how to get a link of me shoveling snow on the news during our Valentine's Day storm, besides the sight of me in my coat, gloves and sockhat is a joy to behold.

I've had one tangle with white ice several years and a couple cars ago. I was heading home from work and I was on the street in my village heading home and all of a sudden I did a complete 360 spin. Thankfully, nothing happened and I got home in one piece.

*Kristy: Thanks! Yeah, not being hurt is always nice (I'd miss my car but the insurance check would've helped me get a new one, if I'd totalled it). I could've laughed at your comment about driving in the rain but I won't. Driving in the rain IS a possible road hazard...I've slid on wet roads a time or two, however it's nothing to make a huge deal out of. If you drive like an idiot, you can have an accident in ANY road conditions.

Driving in snow and ice is an art form, though, and just takes practice is all. My birthday is in January, so, I STARTED my driving practice in the snow when I was 16 years old and had my permit. I will admit to giggling a time or two when tiny amounts of snow hit the South and I see people on the news freaking out over driving in an inch of snow.

Thankfully, we have good plowing on the roads around here but there's been many a night I've driven home at 25 miles an hour due to shitty road conditions.

And this is what Fred says she wants to move back to some day. If you ever get the urge to travel north from December to March, it's a whole different world here, if you're not used to it.

*Kat: You spun 2 or 3 times?
Just doing it once was freaky enough.

*Joy: I recall reading your tale before but that spot on the road is still there near the New Hartford Shopping Center. My car accident in 2005 involved me hitting a patch of slush and banging into some poor woman and wrecking her day.

*Franklin: Wow! Okay, I'm not roadtripping with you anytime soon.


Yeah, tangling with winter weather is a trip. Thankfully, we're getting warmer weather here later this week.


Dennis

[Jaded Deceit]

Tangling with winter weather isn't a trip it's a slide....lol

[Dennis Kininger]

Tangling with winter weather isn't a trip it's a slide....lol

Heehee!

Yup, it's a slide, it's a spin, it's a flip, it's a zig-zag...once you know what the hell you're doing, you can manage to get home safely each night but STILL have an experience after many years of driving in this weather.


Dennis

[Jaded Deceit]

lol, I try to explain that to my Dad in late '00 when I lost traction around a corner in the rain. He said I was speeding and I said" Yes, I was. I was going 27 in a 25...I am a sinner." He was so pissed at that point I thought he was going to beat my azz. But instead he refused to help me pay for the bent "I" Beam so I chalked it up as a loss and sally'd forth.

[Dennis Kininger]

lol, I try to explain that to my Dad in late '00 when I lost traction around a corner in the rain. He said I was speeding and I said" Yes, I was. I was going 27 in a 25...I am a sinner." He was so pissed at that point I thought he was going to beat my azz. But instead he refused to help me pay for the bent "I" Beam so I chalked it up as a loss and sally'd forth.

Oh, rain can totally get you regardless of how careful a driver you are.

In the summer of 1995 or 1996 (I forget), we had an early morning storm and the town fire chief (presumably a very experienced driver) hit a patch of water, hydroplaned, lost control of his truck, clipped the corner of my house, wrecked my porch and bushes, wrecked my neighbor's van and bathroom (a wrought iron support from my porch was driven through the bathroom window about 5 seconds after my neighbor finished using it, yeah, she came close to being killed)...all because of a patch of water.

Yeah, that made for an interesting morning.

Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt...the fire chief was dazed and broke a rib or two but he's fine today. The insurance paid for all the damage to both houses.


Dennis

[Jaded Deceit]

I think I heard that story on the news!
I swear me and my mom had a brief conversation on it even!

Man you have some odd tales indeed. Knowing my luck I would have decided to count the tiles on the floor and caught the wrought iron stake with my shoulder.

I am going to go look up big words and see how close I am to knowing the right definition. Starting with 'Ambiguous' .

BRB...
EDIT_::Ambiguous-To be obscure or indefinite having several possible outcomes. EXAMPLE: He is a bit ambiguous in his comments. Her future with this company is ambiguous ::

[Dennis Kininger]

I think I heard that story on the news!
I swear me and my mom had a brief conversation on it even!

Man you have some odd tales indeed. Knowing my luck I would have decided to count the tiles on the floor and caught the wrought iron stake with my shoulder.

I am going to go look up big words and see how close I am to knowing the right definition. Starting with 'Ambiguous' .

BRB...
EDIT_::Ambiguous-To be obscure or indefinite having several possible outcomes. EXAMPLE: He is a bit ambiguous in his comments. Her future with this company is ambiguous ::

Well, this happened over 10 years ago and I live in a small village. As I recall, the accident made the local newspaper but I seriously doubt it made the news in California.

Yeah, I do have my adventures, don't I?

Dennis

[Dennis Kininger]

I found a few winter pictures to add to my black ice story and just thought I'd share them with my fair weather friends here.

These three pictures are shots of the side of my library facing the parking lot. The car you see is my previous car, Francine. I bought my current car in 2004 so I'd say these photos are from 2002 or 2003.

Our winters tend to vary: I recall one year when we had a snowstorm on Halloween and it didn't quit snowing until Mother's Day.

This year, we had a green Christmas and I wore shorts in early January. However, it started snowing in Mid-January and most of it fell in February. We had roughly the same amount of snow as seen in these pictures.

Other areas closer to the lakes got hammered with several FEET of snow. I consider myself lucky.

Anyway, this is the sort of weather Joy and Fred used to deal with when they lived in my area. Redtail knows it well, too.









Dennis

[Jaded Deceit]

Those rock! The coolest thing I ever saw was from the slow melting and refreezing of an icicle by my house in CO in like '92. It got so big that it touched the ground and expanded outward. The thing ended up having the circumfrence of a large tree about a 1 1/2' radius(yes radius). It was wicked and tore up our roof real bad.

[Dennis Kininger]

Thanks!

I'm glad you like them.

As to monster icicles, we get them here too. I usually knock mine off my house before they get huge and fuck up my roof...Yeah, ice damage and leaking is a pain in the arse! And expensive to have fixed! Trust me, I know!

Anyway, during the February snowstorms last month, I was kept busy shoveling out my house on a daily basis so I didn't take my regular walks around town (Yeah, I walk in the winter) for awhile. However, during one break for a few days, I took a walk and spotted this big-ass icicle on this one house in town.

It was from a two story house and eventually touched the ground. The first time I saw it, I'm like "Holy crap! That's the biggest frikkin icicle I've ever seen!"

It was hanging right by the windows, so I was waiting for it to come down and break a window or two...I saw that happen to another house a few years back...this thing was easily as round as a telephone pole.

I didn't see it come down but the windows were intact and the roof looked okay, so the folks in that house got lucky.

Thankfully, Spring is finally here and everything is melting but I don't hang up my snow shovels until May.


Dennis

[Joyling]

Dude the firehouse in Glenfield used to get icicles big enough to kill people with. Oh yeah ... an icicle is the perfect murder weapon. You can just melt it down and no one will ever find you! No fingerprints, no blood trail, no weapon.

Now that that disturbing imagery is out of the way, *cough* we replaced our shingle-roof on my mom's house with a metal one, so now the snow and ice dump right off when it starts getting too heavy. It sucks when you are shoveling, though, because you don't get much advance warning when it's about to dump, just a short rumble followed by a whole bunch of snow and ice. That and it usually happens like, RIGHT when you finished shoveling. And we had a driveway on either side of the house, so we had to shovel them both. ;_;

People in Upstate NY should all have a bunch of kids so that they have their own snow-crew. "Kids, go shovel out the driveway and the front walk!" Then about 5 or 6 or 9 kids go tramping outside, and before you know it they are busy digging holes in the snowbank to make forts under the surface of the snow. I mean, cleaning it all up. Yeah.

[E~Man]

Dennis, those photos bring back memories...

I grew up in the town of Port Elgin on the shores of Lake Huron. Every winter we'd get snow like that...and lose electricity two or three times each winter, not to mention having the roads out of town closed due to storms...

I'm glad I'm now living in a part of Southern Ontario, Cambridge, that rarely gets heavy weather and never gets the sort of lake effect snow you experience

[Dennis Kininger]

Hi E-Man!

I thought the Canadian guy would like the snow pics. The scary part is that those are snow amounts we get WITHOUT lake effect.

I live in a little village and work in a larger village 3 miles or so away. Technically, we're outside the usual lake effect bands. Our snow didn't really start until here until mid-January this year...yeah, it was in the 60's here on New Year's Day, which was freaky.

Anyway, we had a "normal" snowfall this year, it just fell in a shorter span of time.

Other areas got hammered with up to eleven feet this year...which managed to impress me.

We got our usual 3 feet or so this year...it just seemed like a lot.


* Hi Joy!

The sad thing is that I can't afford a metal roof ~Cries~ so I'm forced to roof rake every time it snows a lot or prop up a ladder and shovel off my porch roof. Heights don't bother me and I usually just hop off the roof into my snow mountain anyway.

Chopping ice sucks so I have to do this or get ice buildup and leaks.

Yeah, I know a few people who could use a whacking with an icicle...hey, a librarian can day dream, can't he?

"No, Officer, I don't know how that drifter got into my snowbank with a hole in his head..."


As to kids? Yeah, those would be nice but I don't have any.

I wonder where I can get slaves?



Dennis