SnowJam2014

Like many, MANY people in the ATL, I spent a looooooong time--8.5 hours WITHOUT a potty break, which is really like 205 bladder hours--in my car last Tuesday trying to get home in the snow and ice. In that 8.5 hours, which started at 12:45 p.m., I ate a handful of tiny little chocolate candies that I grabbed out of my desk, just in case it took me a couple of hours to get home--because I hadn't had lunch yet. And no water--but that was actually okay, since I had nowhere to pee.

Here's the first indication (besides, you know, the fact that I wasn't moving very fast on the interstate and it was snowing) that I wasn't going to get home for a while:


Yes, that does say it's going to take 89-91 minutes to go 9 miles. But, it lied. It took me more than three hours. I'm not sure how many minutes that is, but I know it's more than 89-91.


Here's my view for most of the ride.


Here's the Delk Road exit (the one mentioned on the sign in the first photo). It was about 4:30 by this time. Nearly four hours since I'd left my office.


It was all fun and games until it got dark. Actually, that picture makes it look prettier than it was. Not only was I stuck in my car for-freakin'-ever, but I felt like I missed all the pretty snow. Snow ain't pretty on the interstate. And it was all done falling by the time I got home.


Here's my car clock, 7 hours into the journey--boredom and ridiculousness had clearly set in by this time.

After 8.5 hours in the car, I gave up. I crested a hill, about a mile from my house, and watched several cars slide to the bottom of the other side. And I was done. My car spent the night in a restaurant parking lot, and I walked the last mile home.
9:45 p.m. I've never been so glad to see the place in my whole life.

And I was luckier than the many who didn't get home that night at all. I know people who slept on buses, in Target, in their cars, at a stranger's house. A friend was forced to turn my sister's snow yellow at 4 a.m., because she was still a mile from home and just couldn't wait any more. Even had an acquaintance, who couldn't get home, spend the night at the Beach House.

Granted, there were some nice stories of people delivering food and water to folks stranded in their cars or opening their homes for potty breaks (clearly this became an important issue for me). But, really, it sucked for whole lot of people.

Made me glad to see the more normal Georgia winter weather return just three days later.

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Anonymous said…
pretty nice blog, following :)
12:45 PM
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