This post originally appeared on Live Journal, 1/29/2005.
It is a scream, so, I am posting it again for your reading pleasure.
It is snowing again!
Q had a friend spend the night.
We had a soccer game at 8 am.
Did I mention it was snowing?
And before that there was freezing rain?
Here is a little background info….
We got to the game no problem because it was warm enough for the ice to melt off the road (but not off my car…I *love* ice scrappers). During the game it started snowing, BIG, white fluffy flakes like you only see in the movies.
My grandfather gave Q and his friend 5 bucks so they wanted to run to Speedway and pick up some of those knock off lance armstrong bracelets (they have them for a buck and most of the words on them are religous, but the kids don’t care they just want 50 on each arm LOL).
So, after that we are heading home and the easiest way to get from MY house from speedway is to take a side street. I don’t have to deal with train traffic, (if you go the main way you have to cross the tracks and then cross them back to get here) or red lights, or 4 way stops where people don’t obey the rules of the road. Now, there is a small issue with this street, it has a steep hill with a 90 degree curve at the bottom. HOWEVER, I would be going UP the hill, not down, so I wasn’t concerned. I also wasn’t concerned that NO one had driven on the road, because in general, i have better luck in snow when it is fresh instead of packed down and slick.
OK, now that you have the background, what happens next should be written for all future generations to read of HOW NOT to react .
We are progressing along steadily when I hit the curve…and the car slid a little…of course the peanut gallery thought that was great fun “DO it again” was being chanted from the back seat. So, up the hill we go. At this point there is a car stopped at the top of the hill waiting for me, so if one of us slides, we won’t hit the other (which was very nice of them by the way).
I slowly start up the hill and then stop.
I didn’t want to stop, I didn’t plan on stopping, but the snow and the car agreed, that I wasn’t going any further.
Wheels spin. I am in the middle of the hill, not going any further. The car waiting for me thinks that I am being JUST as friendly and they come on down and pass.
I tried to go again.
Nothing.
“Give it LOTS of Gas!”
“Yeah, I did that, and the wheels just spin, we are going to have to turn around boys.”
“Oh this sucks!”
“Yes, it does.”
I put the car in reverse. I was planning on backing up 4 ft and turning around in the driveway we just passed.
The road and the snow and my car had other plans.
We started sliding again, in reverse and I have NO control.
I dropped the F bomb.
More than once.
Yeah…that was all I could manage to utter as we flew down the hill backward. Of course on ice the brakes don’t work, and the steering isn’t a big fan either.
FINALLY, I hit a spot that isn’t frozen solid enough to whip the wheel around and turn into someone’s yard. We head back down the hill and a round the corner and then home.
The long way.
**Update-I don’t like not having control, I think this is painfully obvious from the above story. And, as soon as we got back home, I called the kids mom, who I happened to go to high school with and told her that her son has a broader vocabulary thanks to me and the icy roads. Thank God she is a forgiving woman.**
