🚀 go-pugleaf

pyotr@halcyon.com (Peter D. Hampe) writes:

>Crystal had written about hearing the Cos's advice "turn in the
>direction of the skid ..." in a tight spot. Happened to me too,
>in Tulsa in 1975.  (Yoowza - where'd that station wagon come from???)

>On the "I can drive in snow" thread - I heard a statement that I
>agree with.  Most of the people who say "I'm from BigSnowState
>and I know how to drive in Snow" usually are missing two crucial
>differences: wet snow and hills. And irregular snow falls.  That's 
>three. [Amoung the differences are ...]

>With out the regualr snowfall there is less chance to practice.
>The wet snow makes for slick roads in a heartbeat, and the hills
>just tend to negate SOP for intersections (The snow and ice rules
>are that traffic up the hill has right of way unless you are sliding
>sideways down the hill.  Sliding down the hill backwards is still a
>2 point penalty.)

I will definitely agree with you on the above.  I grew up in northern
Ohio, right on Lake Erie, so I saw quite a bit of snow during the
winter months.

I left Ohio when I was 25 and now live in Portland, OR.  Over the last
4 years of living here, I have to state that driving in the rare
snow and/or ice conditions of Portland is a FAR cry from driving around
in Ohio during the winter.  In Ohio, it would snow and snow some more,
until there was *usually* several inches on the ground.  This stuff would
pack down fairly well and travelling on it wasn't that bad.  In addition,
it would usually warm up after a couple of days and the sun would come
out, melting the snow during the day.  Oh, and one more thing, they use
mega amounts of salt on the roads in the Midwest and good, steep hills
are very rare in most of the Midwest.

In Portland, on the other had, hills are pretty prominent.  Additionally,
not much snow comes down in Portland itself (except for THIS winter 
season, where we've had two snowfalls already at the low elevations).
When it does snow, the temp. is usually right around freezing, so it's
not uncommon to get snow/freezing rain/sleet all at about the same time.
Additionally, there is NO salt used at all on the roadways, just sand 
and gravel.  When I drive to and from work, a distance of 9 miles, I
can be at any of several different elevations with a variance of as much
as 1000 ft. during the commute and thus can start out from work with rain
and end up at home in a snowstorm.  And RARELY do I travel anywhere near
the speed limit when winter weather hits Portland, this even with chains
and/or studded tires on.

So, I know what the difference is driving where the usual winter gets
a lot of snow vs. what Portland is like, where a day in the winter with
sunshine is the norm, indeed.

allen