PEACE ON THE ROAD
Holed Up
December 25, 2004
We left Rochester on the 21st of December, and drove until after dark, southwards, and westward on I-70. While things have not exactly worked the way we wanted, it proved to be the better choice of several options we had. We spent our first night in a Cambridge, OH, Wal-Mart parking lot. Part of that decision was based on the failure, again, of our windshield wipers. I drove the Interstate for about 10 miles in a light rain before I could find a safe place to turn off. There is a circuit breaker that fails, and it doesn’t seem to reset until it is removed from the system for a length of time. It is rather strange acting to my way of thinking. I swapped the circuit breaker with a different one in the panel and it seemed to solve the problem, at least till the next failure.
On the news in the morning we heard that the little bit of rain that was falling would change to snow about 9:00 when there would be a temperature drop. For all the things that we complain about with the weather bureau, they hit it this prediction within minutes. The snow at first came down like large chicken feathers up to an inch wide and an inch and a half long. I was glad that that type of snow did not last long. However the indications were that conditions were going to get a lot worse before the day was over. Erma made a call to Cincinnati to an aunt of hers. We were considering making a stop there to see her aunt and uncle. He aunt told us that the city was already shut down with deep snow. With all indications being that prudence directed us to get off the road we only drove twenty-five miles and stopped in Zanesville, OH. We went to the visitor’s center and checked road conditions and weather reports on the Internet. As we were going in, the parking lot was a sheet of black ice. The bottom line was that we were in a lens of weather and conditions that were better where we were, than any direction from us. There was up to eighteen inches of snow in every direction from Zanesville.
So here we are on top of a hill overlooking the Muskingum River. If the weather has not given us NO SNOW before we got here, there is no way we could have made it up the hill. The road up to here is very steep and winding. Also, if there were snow on the road going down it would be dangerous to try leaving. For whatever reason there has been no snow here except a few very fine flakes. While the snow has not come here, the cold has. I am not sure about the very lowest temperature but if it has not been below zero at least one night it has been very close in the single digits. There are some advantages to being here high on the hill with no people around. We have had deer walking and feeding within twenty feet of the Vectra. There have also been cardinals and squirrels close to us. I could like this place in the summer. In the winter there is a bit to be desired, but of course anywhere that is cold had a bit to be desired.
It is now Sunday night and tomorrow I plan to head for the open road and see if I can get a little closer to someplace warm. I would head straight south if it were not necessary to stop by Denver to get the Jeep. The plan of going to Florida from Rochester still sounds like the thing I should have done.
Holed Up
December 25, 2004
We left Rochester on the 21st of December, and drove until after dark, southwards, and westward on I-70. While things have not exactly worked the way we wanted, it proved to be the better choice of several options we had. We spent our first night in a Cambridge, OH, Wal-Mart parking lot. Part of that decision was based on the failure, again, of our windshield wipers. I drove the Interstate for about 10 miles in a light rain before I could find a safe place to turn off. There is a circuit breaker that fails, and it doesn’t seem to reset until it is removed from the system for a length of time. It is rather strange acting to my way of thinking. I swapped the circuit breaker with a different one in the panel and it seemed to solve the problem, at least till the next failure.
On the news in the morning we heard that the little bit of rain that was falling would change to snow about 9:00 when there would be a temperature drop. For all the things that we complain about with the weather bureau, they hit it this prediction within minutes. The snow at first came down like large chicken feathers up to an inch wide and an inch and a half long. I was glad that that type of snow did not last long. However the indications were that conditions were going to get a lot worse before the day was over. Erma made a call to Cincinnati to an aunt of hers. We were considering making a stop there to see her aunt and uncle. He aunt told us that the city was already shut down with deep snow. With all indications being that prudence directed us to get off the road we only drove twenty-five miles and stopped in Zanesville, OH. We went to the visitor’s center and checked road conditions and weather reports on the Internet. As we were going in, the parking lot was a sheet of black ice. The bottom line was that we were in a lens of weather and conditions that were better where we were, than any direction from us. There was up to eighteen inches of snow in every direction from Zanesville.
So here we are on top of a hill overlooking the Muskingum River. If the weather has not given us NO SNOW before we got here, there is no way we could have made it up the hill. The road up to here is very steep and winding. Also, if there were snow on the road going down it would be dangerous to try leaving. For whatever reason there has been no snow here except a few very fine flakes. While the snow has not come here, the cold has. I am not sure about the very lowest temperature but if it has not been below zero at least one night it has been very close in the single digits. There are some advantages to being here high on the hill with no people around. We have had deer walking and feeding within twenty feet of the Vectra. There have also been cardinals and squirrels close to us. I could like this place in the summer. In the winter there is a bit to be desired, but of course anywhere that is cold had a bit to be desired.
It is now Sunday night and tomorrow I plan to head for the open road and see if I can get a little closer to someplace warm. I would head straight south if it were not necessary to stop by Denver to get the Jeep. The plan of going to Florida from Rochester still sounds like the thing I should have done.
DEER IN FRONT OF THE VECTRA IN ZANESVILLE
I think that I told you about the plates for the Vectra, and of course the plates for the Jeep are currently in the same location. Well right now they are all in Rochester at my daughters. There is no way that they could have gotten there before I left of course. Now they will have to be sent to somewhere in Denver. We are still in a learning pattern for a lot of things.
Here it is Tuesday morning and we are back in Effingham, Illinois at the Flying J truck stop. We have made a connection to the WIFI and if I can this done I will send this out from the Flying J.
You would not have believed it last night, there were nearly twenty campers here in the lot. Most are gone now, I guess they are not retired and have to get home somewhere.
Out of Zanesville yesterday the first forty miles or so was a fantasy land. All the trees and grass looked like glass. They were covered with ice. They were beautiful, but I was sure glad I was not camped there. Once a pick-up with a low camper passed me, there was a layer of snow and ice on the roof. Just as he went by that layer of ice and snow broke loose and went flying up in the air and headed for my windshield. It was impressive but also a little scary. It spun around several time in front of me, and finally hit the ground twenty feet in front of the Vectra.
ICE COVERED FRONT OF VECTRA ON HILLTOP IN ZANESVILLE
Further down the road the snow became worse. There were a lot of cars in the ditch and several that were laying on their tops. One pickup had completely jumped the guard rail without touching it, apparently, and was stuck nose first in a snow bank.
Hope to see some of you in Denver before the end of the year.
Till Later This Is DougOf
PEACE ON THE ROAD
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