I made it back to Grand Rapids from being up in Traverse City for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the shitty weather decided to come in this evening so we had winter storm warnings with heavy snow. Forecast says 2-4 inches, but given that I pushed at least 4 off the Jeep before leaving and it was still coming down, I’ll go with 6-8 total. Of course, being the stubborn ass I am (and having a deep hatred of long drives in the early morning) I had to leave tonight.
Tacked an extra hour on my two and a half hour drive due to weather, but I made it. With two new u-joints and a replaced control arm thrown in for good measure. Huzzah for four wheel drive, good snow tires and 300 lbs. of desks etc. in the back of the Jeep.
I saw at least 7 people off the road during the trip. The police and wreckers were out assisting. Having learned this lesson years ago, I was smart enough to take this as the hint it is and stayed at a reasonable speed. A few people passed me, but none of them seemed to be going too fast.
There are two cases which annoy me though.
One is the dopes who get right on my ass and just sit there. During the summer, at night, I attribute this to using me as a deer shield. I solve this problem by making myself very annoying by shifting between how fast I want to go and 5MPH slower without using the brakes until they either drop back or pass me. In the winter, riding someone’s ass is just stupid. I’m not so much worried about myself, as I probably can’t stop fast enough to cause the follower to hit me anyway. The problem is that given reaction time, if I so much as touch my brakes, this dipshit will have to hit the brakes much harder and given the roads, that’s pretty much a recipe for sliding into the ditch. Granted, I have no interest in hitting my own brakes for any reason on a snowy freeway, but dopey behind me doesn’t know that, because let’s face it, people are dumb.
Second issue – trucks, meaning 18 wheelers, passing during a storm in slushy conditions. This has happened to me a few times now. When a truck passes, it kicks up enough crap that not even the best of windshield wipers can maintain visibility. It’s very unsafe for the one being passed, but there’s not much that can be done about it short of some law being passed which lowers the speed limit to 45MPH during storms (which I would in no way support).
