The night before, it was dumping. I really wanted to visit with Mary Roz, her husband Paul and sister Maria before I left town. That meant driving down the valley beyond The Canyons in this storm. It was interesting. First I had to remove snow from my car. Then when I got to their house, their driveway was really steep - downward sloping. But somehow none of the snow had stuck. I really wondered if it was heated. So, with me thinking I'm pretty unwise to park there, I did it anyway. We had a really nice dinner and visit. We said our good byes. But afterward, I got stuck in the newly snowy driveway. We used salt to make it less slick. Problem solved. But there was to be more.
That was only the beginning. Back at Ed's house, while watching a late night TV show, the house thundered and shook. We all went out back to find out what happened. A glacier had fallen off the roof! It had busted off the outside faucet from the house and water was leaking all over the frozen yard. With no outside shut off we tried as hard as possible to shut off the inside valve - but it was so old as to be frozen - no way to move it without breaking. So calls were made to 24 hour plumbers and the city water department. Within 90 minutes a city guy arrived to shut off water to the house. Prior, I filled as many buckets/pots of water as possible so certain necessities could continue until a regular plumber arrived the next day to fix things. None of this helped a driver needing rest before a 12-hour trip.
In the morning, the 24 hour total was 21 inches of downy snow had fallen on the ski slopes, 17 overnight. It was so much I decided to just relax and let the city snow removal crew do their job. The prior evening Ed said it's best to park in the public library lot - good move. They had it 100% plowed by 8:30 a.m. So although my original time slot was to be on the road by 6:00 a.m. there was no point in rushing. I was on the road by 9:15 a.m. I had also used the National Weather Service's website the prior evening to check the forecast all along my route back to Portland. The forecast looked good for the whole route back to Portland except for the Wasatch. So there was no doubt I was headed out - once I got into the valley in Utah I'd be good to go. So, with more snow cleared off the car, I was off.
I don't need to go on about the drive, because it's a real slog. What I do want to get across is that when the goal is 800 miles in one day you need to get determined and realize you can't make long stops, you need to minimize stops, and you must stay focused on keeping your speed consistent throughout the day.
The one stop I planned to make was in La Grande, Oregon. My friend Craig lives there, and I wanted to stop in an pay him a visit. The Elkhorn Mountains of eastern Oregon were very picturesque with new snow!
We met late in the day, and it was actually a nice way to stretch my legs! We had a beverage for about an hour and then I had to get back on the road.
0 comments:
Post a Comment