Yeowch - What a frightening deal that was. But look at it this way - you
may have scored big point with the girlfriend LOL Seriously though - I'm
glad no one got hurt and the Dak is ok. Your experiance reminded me of a
few close calls I have had.
> This weekend, my Dak, my girlfriend and I nearly became one with a
> guardrail - or an oncoming Jeep.
>
> Saturday afternoon, I was driving from Syracuse, NY to Canandaigua with
> my girlfriend for a holiday party with her family. Now, as some of you
> may remember, we had that little storm up here in the Northeast this
> past weekend. However, I checked the local radar online and things
> looked clear. Stupid me, I never looked at the timestamp on the
> upper-left corner; I was looking at a cached version. While there was
> still some snow out here at my place, it got lighter (according to the
> radar) as you moved West (which is the direction we were going). In
> reality, before the Nor'Easter even cleared town, the lake-effect kicked
> into overdrive, bringing snow in over I90 and all over the Rochester to
> Utica corridor.
>
> So, we packed up, prepared to spend the night in Canandaigua, as the
> Thruway (I90) can get nasty in the winter with the lake effect (Mike S.
> and Doug F. can attest to this). Stopped in Syracuse to get to an ATM,
> and the weather was worse than here at my apartment. We figured "well,
> the radar looked better once you get to the Thruway, we'll be fine."
> Besides, it was city streets, and those always get sloppier than the
> main highways, right?
>
> Well, I690 (road out of the city to 90) was even worse. Less than 1/2
> mile visibility, snow blowing all over the road. Once we got on 90, it
> got EVEN WORSE. So, I gave up at exit 40 (just one exit down the road
> after I got on at the 690/90 junction). It just wasn't worth the risk.
>
> The exit lane was completely covered in snow, so I slowed down and
> pulled the 4WD before the lane change. That went fine. The exit ramp
> is one of those big, sweeping ones that curves right, then cuts back to
> the left and crosses over the highway. One on lane, one off lane, very
> wide shoulders and center (no grassy median, divider or rail), rails on
> each side of the roadway. I approached at what I felt was a prudent
> speed for the conditions - well under 35MPH. As I started my turn to
> the left, I felt the Dak get a little loose, but controllable. Or so I
> thought. As soon as I brought it back under control, it swung to the
> other side. And back and forth and back and forth. My mind was racing,
> my heart stopped. The swings kept getting wider, no matter how small I
> tried to make my corrections, then I saw...a Jeep Grand Cherokee coming
> toward me on the ramp! I was trying everything I could think of to
> reign 'er in, and nothing was working!
>
> At which point I uttered but 2 words - "oh shit."
>
> Then my girlfriend grabbed my arm for some strange reason, which
> certainly did nothing to calm me down. I had forgotten she was there -
> I was too busy concentrating primarily on not hitting that Jeep, and
> secondly on not destroying my truck (which I value higher than my own
> life).
>
> Then, by some miracle - I don't know if I hit the right combo of gas,
> brake, and steering, or if I hit a dry patch, or maybe someone was just
> smiling on me, I put it back together just before getting to the bridge
> section. Once I was stabilized, I downshifted and just crawled to the
> tollbooth. The attendant said the storm was state-wide. We took the
> back roads home (Rts. 5 & 20). Took close to 3 hours to make the full
> trip - should have been one hour under normal conditions. Once parked,
> I just slumped over the steering wheel.
>
> I do not EVER want to go through that again. I wonder how much my tires
> contributed to it. Surely "perfect" tires would have slid in this snow
> anyway, but I'm sure I would have regained control much more easily. I
> saw so many people that day driving WAY too fast (60+) because they had
> 4WD and thought they were invincible just because of it. I'd like to
> give them a videotape of the hell I went through to scare them straight.
>
> --
> -andy
>
> http://home.twcny.rr.com/andylevy/ --- andylevy@bigfoot.com
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> modesty, n.:
> Being comfortable that others will discover your greatness
> -------------------------------------------------------------
--"Its no joke Tuco, its a rope..."
Tom http://members.aol.com/silvereightynine Site Updated - on 12/7/00 1989,V6,Auto,8 footer,4x2
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