BlueTrain Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Well, I left Missoula on friday afternoon and made it to flint, MI late sun night/early monday morning(3am). What a trip.. first ... the plow drivers on 90 in Montana should be shot. the entire interstate was essentially a washboard dirt road consistency, but made of ice/snow. it seems the plow drivers kinda fudged up the job and created one heckuva hazard. folks were going off the road like crazy, trailers coming unhitched.. etc. i didnt even make it to the montana border and had to wake up the motel owner in Forsythe, MT ( i think that was the name).. at 230am as my nerves were completely shot from going over 1 1/2 lane passes covered in ice chunks. so the next morning i at least was able to navigate the last 200 miles or so of Montana roadways in the daylight. once i hit the N dakota border tho, the roads were perfect, so kept on drivin thru Minnesota and Wisc as well. Finally took a nap as the sun came up and i was on the Wis/U.P of Michigan border. nap was cut kind of short due to the balmy -5 temperature. So onward thru the U.P, and finally made it to the Mackinaw bridge around sunset.Took another nap parked on the ffrozen windswept sand overlooking lake michigan. So aftter crossing the bridge, things got even more fun. Even with a nap, and 2 veins already tapped with espresso I.V's. , the eyes were getting wicked heavy. But then the snow hit, not one of those little dustings, but one of those glorious 2-3 inches an hour snowfalls. By the time i hit Grayling, it was just me, a couple VW's and honda's, and the truckers on the highway. So, a bit more awake fr0om the snow, south i went just trying to keep it on what i hoped was still the highway. At first it was a little annoying, as i just wanted the last 180 miles of a 1900 mile trip to be as quick as possible. But, then just kind of realized the storm wasnt going anywhere, so i might as well have some fun. So, picked up some speed, put it in 4 and just started cruisin. Had to get off at west branch exit to drain the coffee outta me, and got to slam thru hood deep drifts all the way thru town to an open gas station. After draining some old coffee out, and getting some more to refill, hit the road once again. More fun driving on i-75 all the way to Flint. Deep snow and wind kept it interesting. Now after like a day and a half sleeping it off, im semi-lucid enough to get online. So, hope you all have had some fun as well driving in the past few storms. Its been a great winter so far.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Well, here in the NW, its been snowing off and on for over a week. And today was the worst. It snowed a couple more inches(more in some places) and then started in with freezing rain. All the roads are ice rinks, and luckily most people decided to stay home today, including me. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 No kidding - we down here in P town have around an inch of solid sleet / freezing rain sitting on top of 3 inches of snow. The ice on the snow is so thick, it can support my 200 lbs without breaking through to the snow beneath.... GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Yeah, i heard they cancelled the Portland Blazers game cause of snow and ice. -Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 I love how everything down in the states gets closed for weather.. its hilarious.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueTrain Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 ya see my friend, things often get cancelled due to heavy ice on the roads. us folks "down here in the states" have to deal with a thing called traffic, and putting a few thousand cars on ice rink style roads is wicked dangerous. Smaller towns almost never cancel anything due to there not being a whole lot of traffic, thus not a whole lot of danger. This is probably why nothing gets cancelled up there, no traffic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Excellent point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 That sounds like a heck of a trip. Glad you made it safely. One question though. Did you have to bring the snow, and cold with you?? j/k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueTrain Posted January 20, 2004 Author Share Posted January 20, 2004 Well, made it back to montana last night. the return trip was much easier than the trip to Michigan. i have to say though, im mighty impressed with the ol soob. 148,000 on her now after the trip, and she served me well each and every mile. i believe i put a bit over 4000 on her and only used 1/2 a quart of oil. the seats do leave a bit to be desired after oh, the 12 or 13th hour of driving, but its all good. ahhh tis good to back in ol' Montucky.. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northguy Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Originally posted by BlueTrain This is probably why nothing gets cancelled up there, no traffic. [/b] Glad you made it O.K., but I beg to differ with you on the traffic issue. We have a mini-Indy 500 everyday with the 50,000+ commuters who drive to Anchorage daily. It's more likely that we are geared up for the conditions and "most" drivers here learn to slow down in bad weather. It's usually the drivers with a southern accent who end up in the ditch. Not picking on any regional peoples, just pointing out that if you spend a lot of time driving in snow and ice, you learn that it is more time efficient to drive slowly than to wait for a wrecker in the ditch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauregaardhooligan Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Shiioot, you just *mention* snow down here and the schools close, factories shut down, and stores sell out of milk and bread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueTrain Posted January 20, 2004 Author Share Posted January 20, 2004 yep, and my return trip weas actually delayed a day because of the aforementioned skill-impaired winter drivers. mid-upper michigan received a nice snowfall, and the interstate was a mess from folks in their suv's driving still driving 90. there were so many accidents in I-75 i just decided to wait another day than get slammed into by a Ford Excursion. Oh, and im not being SUV prejudiced or anything, its just that almost every accident that happened during that storm was caused by a speeding SUV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 northguy - alaskan's slow down? I drive 15 mph over the speed limits in the winter time.. better hookup in 4wd.. lol maybe I'm just crazy but I wish it was winter time year round... Thats it, I'm takin my subaru and movin to the north pole... (wait, its only a 20 min drive from here) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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