It started snowing on Sunday here. But, we never expect that we had the worst one yesterday. Steve and me drove the truck with a full tank of gas to work. We spent the shortest time ever on the highway to go to work. I saw huge dark clouds in the afternoon and it started snowing heavily at 4pm. Gosh, after I finished my work at 6:30pm, the spa closed. Everyone wanted to go home badly. I walked to Safeway and waited for Steve to pick me up. I had a quick dinner there and talked on phones with mom and friends. It was 9pm when he arrived. Gosh, a normal 8-minute drive became a 3-hour drive. We bought some drinks and he had a quick dinner leftover. We gladly jumped onto the car and headed home. We did not realize that it was just the beginning of our nightmare!
It was five after nine when we got onto the highway 405. We thought we could be home by 12am. Nope. There was an accident on the highway and the road was frozen. Only ONE lane was opened. All of the cars including ours were not moving at all for about 3 hours. Poor Steve had to stay awake and drive. I felt into sleep a couple of times. I looked out of the window and saw many people abandoned their cars on the side of the roads. Some turned off the engine and took a nap. Some drivers felt into sleep and their cars blocked our way. Some people went out of the car to wake up the sleeping drivers. Several cars right next to us had the 'almost running out of gas' signal on. I felt lucky that I told him to fill up the tank in the morning. Seriously, just sitting in the traffic last night used about 1/4 tank of gas. When we got off I-405 and got onto SR-522, it was 3:00AM! There were still a lot of cars struggling on I-405 Northbound. The road was very icy and dark. The road I usually drove at 75mph at night (I was a bad driver, always speeding over the limit 55mph. hehe), we drove at 20-25. When we finally arrived home, it was 3:30am. Some of our trees and plants were collapsed. We had very heavy snow, 6-7 inches. I took a quick shower and went to bed.
Anyway, I was lucky. What would I have to do if I had had driven by myself last night? Abandoning the cars like others? I had no idea. And I did not drive well at all in snow, I could have driven into a ditch. And from now on, if it happens again, I'll make sure I go to the bathroom before getting into the car, get some food and drinks from the grocery store and always have at least 1/2 tank of gas in the car.
It was five after nine when we got onto the highway 405. We thought we could be home by 12am. Nope. There was an accident on the highway and the road was frozen. Only ONE lane was opened. All of the cars including ours were not moving at all for about 3 hours. Poor Steve had to stay awake and drive. I felt into sleep a couple of times. I looked out of the window and saw many people abandoned their cars on the side of the roads. Some turned off the engine and took a nap. Some drivers felt into sleep and their cars blocked our way. Some people went out of the car to wake up the sleeping drivers. Several cars right next to us had the 'almost running out of gas' signal on. I felt lucky that I told him to fill up the tank in the morning. Seriously, just sitting in the traffic last night used about 1/4 tank of gas. When we got off I-405 and got onto SR-522, it was 3:00AM! There were still a lot of cars struggling on I-405 Northbound. The road was very icy and dark. The road I usually drove at 75mph at night (I was a bad driver, always speeding over the limit 55mph. hehe), we drove at 20-25. When we finally arrived home, it was 3:30am. Some of our trees and plants were collapsed. We had very heavy snow, 6-7 inches. I took a quick shower and went to bed.
Anyway, I was lucky. What would I have to do if I had had driven by myself last night? Abandoning the cars like others? I had no idea. And I did not drive well at all in snow, I could have driven into a ditch. And from now on, if it happens again, I'll make sure I go to the bathroom before getting into the car, get some food and drinks from the grocery store and always have at least 1/2 tank of gas in the car.
