Took a Little Drive Yesterday

Had to run to the Twin Cities and back yesterday.  That's about an 8.5-hour deal (including stops for coffee, gasoline, and quick/dirty lunch.)  But yesterday it snowed, so it was a 12.5 hour deal.

The only really scary part of the trip was finding black ice just north of the Dells--and finding it on a concrete surface.  When you hit that stuff, you dare not act; instead, you "un"-act, taking the foot off the gas and loosening the grip on the steering wheel.  It worked, just as using the downshifting feature of the automatic tranny works for decelerating without using the brakes.

But as it turns out, at least a half-dozen other people were ...ahhhh....confused by driving in snow.  They could be found in the ditches and in the woods (true!!) in the medians north of the Dells.  One poor woman failed to negotiate an entry-ramp and died.

Some of the fun was watching the Pennsylvania- and New Jersey- plated cars driving as though the roads were dry and clear, then suddenly slowing after getting a dose of reality.  Their underwear may be a bit fetid.  Yes, they were going to the Big Game.

Other fun was driving past 50-ish Twin Cities matrons with a 10-and-2 deathgrip on the wheels of their Audis and Benzes, making almost 40 miles/hour on an Interstate where everyone else was doing 60 safely.  They didn't want to tell hubby that they crashed the car while shopping, ya'know....

Returning, several hours later, the 10 mile stretch north of the Dells was still a mess, although there seemed to be fewer cars in the ditch.  Of course, it was night-time, so the only ones I saw were the ones with their lights still on, or near the road.  But it wasn't hard to tell where the "cold front" boundary was at that time; it was about 30 miles north of Madison--when all the snow on the road suddenly turned to water. 

Oh, there were still "death-grippers" driving 40 or 45 MPH--but now they were millennials in their jalopy-Subarus or ancient VW Rabbits, hogging that left lane because they are righteously slow drivers. 

Stupid kids.  A brake-check works wonders on them after you get past 'em.