I left the house a little after 9. I was going to stop at the University, then go on to church. There was about 2 inches of snow on the car that I brushed off. Then I carefully walked across the street and took the photo that's in the prior posting. The drive to UMF was short (gotta love that .3 miles!) and uneventful. Two cars passed me, so I guess I was driving pretty slow. I did figure out, looking out the back windshield, why it's important to brush off the roof of the car as well as the windows.
I did a little work, sent a few emails, then went to church. Again, pretty uneventful. But during mass, it snowed the entire time and the flakes got bigger. So when I left mass, there was another 1 - 2 inches which I brushed off (including the entire roof this time). The car was facing east on Middle Street and I needed to go west, so I slowly did a 3-point turn in the driveway of an apartment complex just a little down the road. I got to the Education Center safely and easily.
I worked all afternoon in my office. I could see the snow stacking up on the roof outside my window. I decided I would leave before sunset so my drive could be in daylight. When I got to the car, there was 4 -5 inches of snow on top of the car this time. It took longer to brush it all off and I was a little nervous because the bottom of my long coat was brushing the top of the snow. Another inch and that snow would've been over the top of my snowboots. I could open the car door safely but as I did I realized there are many factors to consider when attempting to drive in the snow. No wonder some cars and trucks are so high off the ground!
The parallel parking spaces next to the Education Center are wonderfully long. You don't have to parallel park, you can just pull in. I tried to back up a little so I could pull out more safely, but the car didn't want to back up. Fortunately, I had enough room in front to just pull out. I had to really rev it up to get over the hump of snow that had built up next to my tires. I pulled out and started heading east on Lincoln. Hmm, no 3-point turn this time, I'm going around the block.
There were groups of students unloading and moving back into the dorm after the break. Many of them were walking in the street. Oh thank you so much for the additional hazard! I didn't hit any of them. I went ever so slowly around the block, including going by the church again (that's how close it is). This car has a low gear but I sure was wishing for a stick-shift car at this point. There was a LOT of traffic. In addition to students going to the dorms, there were families and groups of young children going home from sledding and lots of trucks and other vehicles with plows on the front driving to places that needed plowing. It appeared most of them didn't plow all day and were just waiting for it to stop which means they had at least 9 inches (by my calculations and informal measurements taken during the day) to plow.
I slowly drove south on High Street, successfully avoiding all sledders, plowers, and other drivers. I turned left into the driveway and came to an abrupt stop. That little pile of snow (read "big hump") left by the plow was prohibiting me from getting into the driveway. And there were cars coming! I backed up and tried again. At least this time, I was heading straight into it (which also meant I was perpendicular to traffic). I got over the first hump but got stuck on the next one. At least I was out of traffic. But now what?!
I said a little prayer and tried to assess my situation. I was thinking that backing up and trying again with more confidence and a little more power might do it, but that was just a guess. About that time a pedestrian walked by and looked at me kind of funny so I quickly opened the car door and said, "I'm from Texas and I don't know how to get the car into the driveway." He was very nice and talked me through it and offered to help push while I drove it. I did have the right strategy, I felt good about that.
I'll never know if it was his push or my new confidence-filled driving or a combination but I got into the driveway and was able to drive all the way down the drive to what has unofficially become my parking spot. Shwew! I hopped out of the car really fast but my guardian angel pedestrian friend was no where to be seen. I hollered out really loudly to nobody in particular, "Thank you!" Well, I actually yelled it to the friendly pedestrian in particular, it was the direction in which I hollered it that was not particular. If he didn't hear it, I hope he at least felt it.
Guess who's walking in the morning?!!
No comments:
Post a Comment