Winter Weather

We had another round of winter weather here in Kansas. This time there was no rainy sleety business, just a pleasant snow fall (with a little blowing wind). It resulted in a nice white blanket of snow with minimal icy conditions. A winter snow like this is very refreshing for me and reminds me of my more northern upbringing.

Even though I enjoy the scenery and beauty of the snow, this storm certainly presented me with problems. Last night, I got stuck about half-way down our driveway. It was all fine, until I got to our neighbor's row of pine trees. They created a wind block which made for large drifts. I was tired and hungry so I got out of the car and just walked the rest of the way home. Those drifts were over a foot deep in spots. I don't know why I thought I could just barrel the Malibu through. When Jeremy came home we pulled the car back to a shallower spot along the driveway and I guess that is where I will park it until the snow melts.

This morning I had another snow related problem. I was traveling to school for my first class around 8 am and of course, there was considerable traffic at this time. When you get south of York, NE, where it starts to snow less and rain more, there are three main types of winter drivers:
1) Those who freak out and are extra cautious traveling 10 mph all the time, even if the roads are not slippery. I consider these people to be a minor hazard.
2) Those who know how to drive well in various kinds of wintery conditions.
3) Those who pretend nothing happened last night and drive just like they did yesterday. These are the people that pass someone and then spin out of control because they changed lanes too quickly. They tailgate. They accelerate too quickly after a stoplight and slide around into other lanes. They do not allow for extra time to slow down so they don't push on their brakes soon enough for the person behind them to start slowing down in a timely manner ...

On my way to school today I encountered one of these Type 3 drivers. He or she pulled out of a driveway in front of me. Even if the road conditions had been normal it is likely I would have had to slow down for this person to accelerate. With the mildly slick roads and his or her inability to accelerate quickly enough I inevitably had to slow down and I soon realized I could not do it fast enough. I was slid first toward the other lane of traffic and then finally toward the ditch where I did a 180. Luckily, I did not actually go into the ditch and no one behind me hit me. I turned around and continued on my drive, but I was so upset. I mean seriously, what the hell.