I feel like a swallowed a boom box. Carol and I had signed up to work at our church’s craft fair today, with me coordinating the used books table, and although it was 27 degrees outside with a heavy frost, we set out about 8:30 AM. Stanwell was not especially slippery, but once we got onto Broadmoor Bluffs, I knew in seconds that I was up against black ice. We got less than a block downhill when the grade increased (and must be close to 10% in spots) and our wheels no longer held the road. Even in 4WD and going no more than 10 MPH, the 4Runner spun 180, narrowly missing a mailbox and stopping just short of slamming into the curb. We just sat there for a few minutes, until we saw a 4WD Beamer backing up Broadmoor Bluffs from further down. (There was nowhere for him to turn around.) He rolled down his window, and told us not to go any further: There were several cars stuck on the steepest part of the road, and although he hadn’t gotten close, it looked like there had been some vehicle-vehicle contact.
So we called the rector and gave him our regrets, at least until the sun comes out, as it is showing absolutely no inclination to do. We crept back up Broadmoor Bluffs, and after we got home (without further incident) just sat on the couch for awhile, hearts pounding.
I ducked out on the front porch just now for a quick look, and see freezing drizzle descending. The sidewalks are now skating rinks. And our little roads are not the worst of it. This is the gnarliest driving weather we’ve ever seen in the six years we’ve lived here. The mountain views are nice, but yikes! Getting here–or getting out–can be a challenge.
Black ice is scary stuff. One year as I headed back to U of I after Christmas break, I hit a patch of it on I57 going about 60 mph – no warning. After several left-right oscillations, the car finally had enough lateral momentum to do a complete 360. I went from the right hand lane, to facing backward in the left hand lane, to stopped in the grassy median beyond the left hand lane. The gravel at the side of the roadway slowed me down and fortunately, I ended up pointed in the right direction and was able to get back on the road without getting stuck. I found out later that several of my friends spun the other direction and had to be towed out of the cornfields.
Yikes. yes, if the roads are as bad as that, stay home, curl up with loved ones – two legged and four legged – and read a book. 🙂
-JRS
There’s more to the story; Carol has had to fly out to Chicago, and is on a flight in about an hour. We put two of the dogs in the kennel for a week. I’ll try and post more on this later today.
Sounds like great weather for antenna work. It’s a known fact when erecting an antenna for HF, the more inclement the weather, the more effective the radiated energy from said antenna.
I read this in The Handbook. Or maybe it was Bucher’s Wireless Experimenter’s Manual.
I’m cheating a little: All of the work is inside, though some of it is up in the attic, above our 22″ of white fluffy insulation. But the antenna itself is already there and works well on receive. If I can keep it from tripping our fire alarm (the unshielded wires from the garage sensor run for about 6′ in parallel with one leg of the dipole, maybe 4′ below it) I suspect I’m going to work more than a few states this winter. Most of what I have to do involves re-stringing the sensor pair inside a run of flexible conduit (BX without wires) when it’s anywhere near the dipole. It’s maybe a day’s messy work, but between family issues and revising my book, the project’s been on hold for over a year now. Soon, soon.
Jeff: Heh. On Saturday morning (after returning home the previous evening from Southern CA), we set off at 5:30am for a flight to Chicago from DIA at 8:30am. It was, shall we say, a veritable adventure. It took in all 40-45 minutes longer than usual, not too bad. The delays were from the worst spots.
…Which were Monument Hill (my first real inkling that this was a morning not to forget), the other side of Monument Hill, Larkspur, Surrey Ridge (the other side of Castle Rock, which itself wasn’t too bad), most of E-470 (although that was actually covered with snow).
All in all, not a morning to forget, and we were so glad to be at DIA at the end of it all. The flight was delayed for de-icing of course. Chicago was positively balmy at 40F.
Cheers, Julian