Whoa man that was a close one. Glad everybody is OK. Sounds like what
happened to me. Here in Lubbock we got 8" of snow last week ( alot for here)
and it still hasn't all melted. I was heading to work , going down the road
to loop 289 at about 30 Mph. I started changing lanes to get on the on ramp
of the loop when I hit a patch of black ice and the rear swung way out to
the right. I then panicked and overcorrected to the left, and proceeded to
turn 3 complete 360s before stopping facing the opposite direction I was
heading. I can't even imagine what my face looked like or how white my
knuckles were. Thank god nobody was coming down the road at the same time.
Mark
91 cc v6 5spd
>From: Andy Levy <andylevy@bigfoot.com>
>Reply-To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
>To: dakota-truck-moderator@twisted.twistedbits.net
>Subject: DML: The most terrifying experience of my life
>Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 00:11:43 -0500
>
>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
>-------------------------------------------------------------
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