Ice Storm Tales -- Read and Share your Best Ones

[elltim92]

This isn't so much treacherous as the above, but it is funny. My father told me about a time he broke down on I-95 near Philadelphia, while riding with a friend (Stevie) home from work. They blew something in the coolant system, and overheated, so they pulled into a nearby truck stop. Needless to stay the mechanic was on vacation. So my father decided to hitchhike the 30 miles back to the exit near home, to get a another friend of his, (Floyd) who was a mechanic to come back to the truck stop with the tube needed to fix the car. Stevie had said he was going to try to call Floyd and catch up with my dad. Eventually, Floyd's car comes flyin by him, and pulls over to pick him up. no problem, except he had already walked 15 of the 28, or 30 miles.

well Floyd goes to his garage, and gets the part for the car. My dad asked how Floyd had found him. He said " Well Stevie called me and told me about the car, and said that you had started to hitchhike back to the garage, and that you had probably already gotten a ride." My dad said," Well why'd you come racing out here to pick me up if you thought iI had a ride." Floyd goes "Well I knew you hadn't found a ride, and you were in a good position to get arrested." "What're you talkin about Floyd?" Well Floyd clicks on the radio, and switches to the traffic station. "Urgent Broadcast: Recent prison escape of 6 prisoners, Do not pickup hitchhikers.

Prisoners believed to be dangerous, if sighted, call police. Prisoners Expected to be wearing orange, and red jumpsuits, I repeat, DO NOT PIcKUP HITCH-HIKERS." Well the irony in this is that my father is wearing Nomex. (It is a fire resistant jumpsuit that is mandatory when working in most refineries. For those of you not farmiliar with it, it is an orange jumpsuit with the workers name stenciled on the back) So Dad, and Floyd go back to the truck stop to find Stevie, asleep in the car, with enough food wrappers on his lap for three people. Well, turns out stevie ate, twice before even looking for a payphone, had a few drinks at the bar after he found it, only then did he bother to call Floyd, and tell him what had happened.

.......I wish i could get my dad to tell the story on here, there really is something missing from it, without the voice, and charisma you get from a real person.

[Mark Sedenquist]

I enjoyed this tale -- doesn't sound like Stevie was that good a friend -- I am just glad everyone survived that night's adventure.

Mark

[PNW Judy]

I bet you chuckle imagining how your dad would have acted had he been "re-captured". Funny...

[elltim92]

I enjoyed this tale -- doesn't sound like Stevie was that good a friend -- I am just glad everyone survived that night's adventure.

Mark

yeah, it was quite funny, but knowing Stevie, this sort of thing isn't all that uncommon, or unexpected.

[glc]

Here's one for you from my young and stupid days.

It was the fall of 1971. These were the days before cell phones, weather satellites, the Internet, and generally only 18 wheelers had CB radios. I was stationed in Chicago in the Navy, young, single, and living in the barracks. My parents lived in NJ. I owned a 63 Corvair at the time. I would drive home and back for holidays - gas was less than 40 cents a gallon, the Corvair got about 25 mpg on the highway, and I could routinely make the trip driving straight through, it took around 14 hours. Those were the days when I could pull all nighters with no real problems.

I went home for Thanksgiving. Before I went back, I decided to put my studded snow tires on (I had a set of 4) instead of waiting till Christmas. It was a good thing I did. I also decided to hit the road on Saturday afternoon instead of waiting till Sunday - I figured I wanted to get a good night's sleep on Sunday so I'd be worth a hoot at work Monday.

Everything was uneventful till I got to somewhere around Clarion PA on I-80. It was dark, and it had been drizzling for a while. I was cruising about 70 mph and came over the top of a hill around a curve. I saw brake lights and 4 way flashers ahead, so I tapped the brakes to start slowing down. I heard studs scratching and immediately realized I was on ICE. Now, I'm running about 35 mph and pressing on. It started to snow. I got to the PA-OH state line around 1am or so, and traffic came to a complete stop, both lanes. If any of you remember the Corvair, it had a rear aircooled engine like a VW Bug, and the heater was almost useless at idle, not moving. I sat there for a while and didn't move an inch. I was in the left lane, and there was an 18 wheeler next to me with a CB antenna. I hopped out and tapped on his window and asked what was going on. He told me that there were some jackknifed trucks about 20 miles ahead and we would probably be here till morning. Now, there had to be at least a foot of fresh snow on the ground. I started looking around. There was an official U-turn in the median in sight a few hundred feet ahead. There was also a guy in a 4x4 Scout a few cars behind me so I went and talked to him. I told him what was going on and suggested he hit the shoulder and beat a path to the U-turn, which he was happy to do. I followed him and went back to the first exit in PA, got off, filled up the tank, and checked the maps to find a way to get around the closure and onto the Ohio Turnpike. So, here I am, in the middle of a snowstorm, out on unfamiliar roads. The conditions got worse and worse. I *think* I was out on OH-82 heading for Warren. The road was climbing gradually, I was following a couple ruts, doing about 25 mph in 2nd gear, dodging spunout and stuck cars, plowing snow with my front bumper and throwing it clear over the top of the car. Just as I was realizing that I was just about to get stuck myself (and almost pooping my pants) I went over the top of the hill and miraculously the snow completely stopped. Now the road was a solid sheet of ice. At least that wasn't a threat to my forward progress and the studded tires kept me reasonably safe.

Heading down into town, I decided to stop at the first gas station and take a break. When I saw one, I found that my steering wheel would barely turn. I had to pop the clutch a few times and get it sideways to get into the station. I got out and looked - the entire front end was packed tight with snow and ice - fenderwells, steering linkage, the works. Remember - a Corvair doesn't have an engine up there to keep things melted. Took me a half hour with a broomstick to bust all that junk out of there.

I made it onto the Turnpike and the roads were in fair to decent condition the rest of the way back. I copped a 2 hour nap in a service area and got back to Chicago around 3 in the afternoon.

[PNW Judy]

I don't care what Nader says, I love the Corvair! I never thought about the engine heat issue and how that would effect the snow on the car though.

Glad you made it safely and didn't hurt the car. Quite the adventure!

[glc]

I love the Corvair too. I've owned 4 of them in my life - one was a 62 turbocharged Spyder. That one was even better in the snow than the 63 - it had a Positraction axle. I had that one in some pretty hairy storms up in New England where I went to college.

You know - if this were to happen today, I would call it a night in Clarion and wait for things to clear up. I guess I'm turning into a wuss in my old age. At least I still remember how to drive in snow and ice, but my F-150 4x2 sure doesn't have the traction of those Corvairs.

[PNW Judy]

Any pickup is not gonna handle like the delicious Corvair. :)

A big problem for trucks is lack of weight on the back-end of a truck. My husband typically carries some heavy stuff in the back of his truck all winter. Usually a few buckets full of sand tied-down right behind the wheel-wells. This gives over weight over those back wheels to help them get better traction.

But, yeah, I agree with you about age. I'm less inclined to want to risk being cold for hours and my pocketbook can afford a hotel better than back then. So, between these two, I see no reason to keep on keepin' on in unsafe conditions either.

BTW, I appreciate a new member posting so much. Interesting stuff.

[glc]

Thank you for the welcome! I just discovered this site and I'm more than happy to share my ideas and experiences. Please let me know if I step on anyone's toes - it's certainly not my intention. I greatly appreciate forums where members are polite and respectful of each other.

My truck isn't too bad in the sloppy stuff - it does have a manual transmission and a limited slip axle. I have a set of cable chains in a bag behind the seat, I haven't had to use them yet. I did chicken out last December when I was heading out to San Diego for the holidays - I wanted to take I-40 up to Flagstaff, then down to Phoenix to pick up I-8. However, when I got to Albuquerque I checked the weather and it was snowing in Flagstaff, so I went down I-25 and picked up I-10 instead.

[billy bob]

This was a 11" snow on the Texas Gulf Coast on Christmas Day
1st two photos Christmas Eve next on Christmas & the last on Dec 26 the snow didn't last long but was the first White Christmas that most people here can remember Hope that ever one has a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

billy bob

3 Christmas Eve 2004.jpg 2 Christmas Eve 2004.jpg 4 Christmas 2004.jpg

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