Saturday, March 24, 2007

Driving in Hazadrous snow storm

I dont know how to start writing abt the trip (unmayaa sollanunaa this is my first blog so dont know how to write).... ok let me start like thiswhat made me to drive for 9 hours in the hazadrous snow storm? I am guy who is risk taking and adventrous coupled with the motivation for making to my sweet frnd's b'day made me to drive in the snow storm.

It was a 450 miles journey from Scranton,PA to Blacksburg,VA usually through the woods of Pennslvania , through the capital state (MaryLand), West Virginia and Virginia. I made the trip in my trusted Nissan Sentra, though it is a two wheel drive was very very stable in the snow storm. I started around 1.00 P.M from Scranton on March 16th and had no second thoughts of driving in the snow. I was prepared with all the essentials for the trip - cookies, water, and books (incase I got stuck in the road due to snow). I have driven the entire stretch 5 times before, usually it takes 6 hours 15 mins to drive the entire stretch with an average speed of 75 miles per hour. In this drive i was driving in 35-40 miles per hour for the first 4 hours, i drove behind big 18 wheel trucks since they clear the snow when they go on the road. As a young driver who is willing to take risks Intially I was trying to change lanes but found it pretty difficult due to the snow accumulation in the middle of the road.There were lot of vehicles skidded of the road and i had a close call when i was 100 miles away from scranton, my car skidded and i try to pull it back then again it skidded then i applied the brake and the hand brake at the same time to stop it. I later on realised that the car had stopped perpendicular to the road with inches from the state trooper(cop) car , infact that state trooper was trying to pull another skidded car from the side of the road. I remember the look the state trooper gave me after lowering his car window and he just said "drive carefully", my confidence was shattered for a while and i was feelin nervous , i have never felt like this since i started driving my dads Bajaj M-80, thanks to my planning i had a bottle of water i drank one full bottle of water to calm my nerves( infact till date i did not say to my frnd that i had a close call). Then i did something (i myself would call it insane) i took out my camera whi le driving and took some snaps of the road conditions. I took a break after 4 hours and had crossed only 150 miles(in good road conditions i cover the distance in 2 hours). I stretched my legs a bit( i had 300 more miles left in the journey) and then when i saw the car i realised the road condition i was really driving in, the front part of the car was completly covered with thick ice(probally 5-10 inches), i removed the ice with the ice scraper and started again. The road conditions started improving as i was driving south and i started picking up speed after some time. I stopped for gas after i crossed into virginia after 6 hours of driving(180 miles still remaining), i grabbed a french vanilla in the gas station. I have a peculiar habit when i do a long drive alone, i listen to SV sekhar comedy plays, the plays are so witty and humorous it will keep you occupied when you are driving. I listened to 6 sv sekhar comedy plays during the drive for close to 7 hours. I reached Blacksburg after 9 hours of driving. It is a drive to remember and cherish forever

2 comments:

Navin said...

hehe... me too an SV shekar and crazy mohan play enthusiast.. long drives-la adhu wonderful company.. before a drama ends, almost 1 hr would have passed!!!

Kamini Santhanagopalan said...

>:D<