What a nightmare
Last night was a nightmare on the road. One that today I still can't quite get over all its craziness. In all my years of MN driving, I have never been through something like that.
Our evening started out great. Jon and I had dinner in uptown and then attended Vince Vaughn's Comedy Show at the State Theater for his birthday. We enjoyed the show - one of the comedians had me in such a fit of laughter that I found myself crying! We then met some friends for drinks at the W Hotel to celebrate a couple of 30th birthdays. I'm still not sure how it is that we are all turning 30 already.
All was good until around 11:15pm, when we heard that the roads were getting slick. We decided to call it a night and head home before the roads got too bad. That's what we thought, anyways. Upon exiting the hotel bar, we quickly realized that it had begun to rain and that everything was covered in ice. Seriously everything. People were frantically grabbing onto the building walls, the parking meters, parked cars, anything to keep themselves upright as they walked (read: shuffled) down the sidewalks. It was like we were on an ice rink. Jon and I made it to our car without falling, and lucky me was our designated driver.
I was nervous about driving home in the ice but knew I was a decently safe driver and we'd surely be fine. What I didn't know was how awful the roads really were. We got onto 94 and proceeded to go 10 mph, watching cars that sped by us start to swirve and spin as they lost control. If I braked too quickly, we would start skidding. It was bad. Within half a mile, it got a million times worse. We were suddenly in stop & go traffic, except we were doing more stopping than going. In fact, it took us over an hour to go less than a mile. It was pure torture sitting there, not moving, wondering what was going on. I do not have that kind of patience, especially that late at night.
It wasn't long before we realized it would be a long trip home. We finally started inching forward and reached the curve where 94 and 281 meet, where we were shocked to see 15+ cars in varying directions and conditions along the right guardrails. People were congregated on the banks of the hill. A SUV in front of us was sliding towards them, tires spinning as they were clearly trying to go in the opposite direction. All the traffic was now moving over to hug the left side of the road, as it appeared the ice on that curve was pushing cars to the right, rendering them helpless on the ice. I somehow managed to stay clear of the wreckage and passed them (at our whopping 3 mph), only to find that traffic was stopped as no one could get up the proceeding hill! Tires were spinning and cars were sliding around everywhere. It was utter chaos. I've never seen anything like it. I needed to get gas to make our long trip home, so we (fortunately) exited there.
At this point, we knew we were in deep trouble. There was no way we were going to make it to Woodbury, as we were bound to see the same chaos repeated at every curve and hill on the highway. University Ave turned out to be a godsend, so we fueled up with gas and food/drinks and started heading east. We watched cars in front of us crash, spin, get stuck, etc. and changed our route so many times, deciding that going back was a far better alternative than attempting what they had just failed.
Hills were the most terrifying part. Going up was ok, as long as you didn't have to stop at the top. Going down was freaky, as picking up any speed made controlling the car that much harder, but braking would make you skid. Lose lose situation. We slammed into a curb once and had a few close calls with idiot cars that thought they could drive however they please. After 3 hours of white knuckle, heart pounding driving, we made it to Jon's parents' house. Thank goodness we could get to their house, or we might have been sleeping in the car.
It was crazy to see the masses of cars hopelessly trying to fight their way through the ice and crashed cars. We were definitely fortunate to make it through without any car damage or even worse!
Our evening started out great. Jon and I had dinner in uptown and then attended Vince Vaughn's Comedy Show at the State Theater for his birthday. We enjoyed the show - one of the comedians had me in such a fit of laughter that I found myself crying! We then met some friends for drinks at the W Hotel to celebrate a couple of 30th birthdays. I'm still not sure how it is that we are all turning 30 already.
All was good until around 11:15pm, when we heard that the roads were getting slick. We decided to call it a night and head home before the roads got too bad. That's what we thought, anyways. Upon exiting the hotel bar, we quickly realized that it had begun to rain and that everything was covered in ice. Seriously everything. People were frantically grabbing onto the building walls, the parking meters, parked cars, anything to keep themselves upright as they walked (read: shuffled) down the sidewalks. It was like we were on an ice rink. Jon and I made it to our car without falling, and lucky me was our designated driver.
I was nervous about driving home in the ice but knew I was a decently safe driver and we'd surely be fine. What I didn't know was how awful the roads really were. We got onto 94 and proceeded to go 10 mph, watching cars that sped by us start to swirve and spin as they lost control. If I braked too quickly, we would start skidding. It was bad. Within half a mile, it got a million times worse. We were suddenly in stop & go traffic, except we were doing more stopping than going. In fact, it took us over an hour to go less than a mile. It was pure torture sitting there, not moving, wondering what was going on. I do not have that kind of patience, especially that late at night.
It wasn't long before we realized it would be a long trip home. We finally started inching forward and reached the curve where 94 and 281 meet, where we were shocked to see 15+ cars in varying directions and conditions along the right guardrails. People were congregated on the banks of the hill. A SUV in front of us was sliding towards them, tires spinning as they were clearly trying to go in the opposite direction. All the traffic was now moving over to hug the left side of the road, as it appeared the ice on that curve was pushing cars to the right, rendering them helpless on the ice. I somehow managed to stay clear of the wreckage and passed them (at our whopping 3 mph), only to find that traffic was stopped as no one could get up the proceeding hill! Tires were spinning and cars were sliding around everywhere. It was utter chaos. I've never seen anything like it. I needed to get gas to make our long trip home, so we (fortunately) exited there.
At this point, we knew we were in deep trouble. There was no way we were going to make it to Woodbury, as we were bound to see the same chaos repeated at every curve and hill on the highway. University Ave turned out to be a godsend, so we fueled up with gas and food/drinks and started heading east. We watched cars in front of us crash, spin, get stuck, etc. and changed our route so many times, deciding that going back was a far better alternative than attempting what they had just failed.
Hills were the most terrifying part. Going up was ok, as long as you didn't have to stop at the top. Going down was freaky, as picking up any speed made controlling the car that much harder, but braking would make you skid. Lose lose situation. We slammed into a curb once and had a few close calls with idiot cars that thought they could drive however they please. After 3 hours of white knuckle, heart pounding driving, we made it to Jon's parents' house. Thank goodness we could get to their house, or we might have been sleeping in the car.
It was crazy to see the masses of cars hopelessly trying to fight their way through the ice and crashed cars. We were definitely fortunate to make it through without any car damage or even worse!
I heard it was terrible! Soooo happy I didn't have to experience that. Thank goodness you made it home safely. The thing that really pisses me off is when the big-ass trucks and SUVs think they can drive the speed limit and are passing everyone like "haha suckas" - I always get a slight feeling of "I hope I see you up the rode in the ditch - unharmed, but in the ditch." I know, I'm mean. But the way those people drive they could seriously hurt a lot of people. Anywho, so glad you made it safely! Scary!
ReplyDeleteOMG that sounds absolutely terrifying! I think I would have made Andy get us a hotel room downtown to avoid the mess! Thank goodness you guys made it safely!!
ReplyDeleteI like your new background :)
So scary buddy. Ben and Michelle were caught in it late last night as well. Not good. I'm so glad you guys made it to Jon's parents. What a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteJust reading that stressed me out! Glad you guys made it there safe and without a wreck. Ice is way worse than a huge snowstorm!
ReplyDelete