Cliche Ice Storm Post

So, like a good lemming girl I thought I would make a little post about the Atlanta ice storm. I have a few free moments since justben is taking a nap. He is very tuckered out and I really don't blame him -- I would be too if I single-handedly pushed a car up an icy hill. More on that later.

Anyway, I was chatting with justben via email yesterday expressing my concerns about the impending weather. He kept saying that it wasn't going to be a "bad thing" and being originally from the north that might be the case by some standards, but it stil made me nervous. Things were ominous outside most of the day and they even sent us home early from work around 4:30 (I generally work until 6:00). justben and I talked some about the evening's plans and whether or not we were going to brave going out to Summit's for PPN (for those of you not in PA, it's a weekly pagan social gather we attend). I was pretty reticent about going myself, but justben was determined that we go. Nervous about the driving, we agreed to meet up at his work beforehand, leave my car at his job to pick up later in the weekend, and just go together in his car (we generally just meet up separately at PPN from our respective works and drive seperately to his house afterward).

When we arrived at Summit's, pucketrn and hidden_lies were the only ones there. We socialized, keeping an eye on the weather channel as the other few arrived (faekitty, sir_alf, jescot, and a guy who'd been there before who's name now escapes me). We played our usual trivia (as team name "flaming cow poo") and hoped to do well due to the lack of competition. I think we placed around 4th, blowing the final question which was a sports question (our consistent Achilles heal). It was humorous to note though that the trivia host was a stand-in and he had apparently used all of the same sex questions (there is a sex question in every round of questions) as last week.

About midnight we decided it was time to leave and brave the weather. For a few hours I had pretty much put the weather out of my mind, but walking out into the freezing rain made me a bit nervous again. We made our way slowly out onto 285 and then onto 400N, traffic getting slower and slower until justben noticed some headlights ahead facing us and knew things weren't looking so good up ahead. We slowed way down and hit a little bit of ice ourselves, a few people sliding around near us, and passing the stationary car facing the wrong way that had apparently slid out. Things were starting to feel hairy, especially knowing how we still had to get all the way to Cumming and we hadn't even reached the Northridge exit yet (still a good 30 minutes from justben's house). We turned on the news on the radio and found that they had shut down 400 around the river and they were routing people the opposite way up 400 off Northridge just a little ways ahead. We decided to exit there ourselves and made our way over to Highway 9 to try and use that to get home since 400 was closed. Unfortunately, there was apparently a big accident on the bridge over by the Taco Mac and no one was moving for a very long time. justben couldn't think of a better way to go, so we just sat in traffic for a long time. Soon, though, they were able to clear one lane of the bridge and let a few cars at a time from each side go through. As we crossed the bridge we saw a few cars stuck up on the median and things looked pretty yucky. After that we very slowly made our way up Highway 9 as far as exit 13 on 400 and then got back onto 400. After that we took 400 and slowly made our way to justben's house.

To put things into perspective the drive to justben's from Summit's generally takes about 30-40 minutes -- last night it took a little over 2 hours. Ick.

Today we slept in until about 2:00 after getting in so late and justben excitedly told me to look outside. It was very pretty with everything covered in ice. Still, we had spoken of going out to eat for lunch as justben needed to do some cleaning in the kitchen before cooking and we were too ravenous to wait. After our shower, justben checked the driveway to see if it looked okay to drive in and deemed it safe. I was a bit worried, but justben, being the stubborn thing he is, insisted that we could make it up the road for food.

We bundled up, he scraped all of the ice of the car (which was coming off in huge chunks), and then we slowly made our way out of the driveway and onto his road. Now I know that none of you have been here at his house before, but his road has some very steep hills. This had me concerned, but again justben vehemently insisted that things would be just fine. We made our way down the road, going down a steep hill and then partly up another before getting stuck. justben's car was just not getting traction and it seemed that we were stuck where we were, in the middle of the road. justben instructed me to calm down (because now I was in full panic mode) and to get out and get in the driver seat as he was going to push the car. I looked at him like he was crazy, but nervously did so. His seat barely moved forward, so I had to sit on the edge of the seat to reach the peddles (yes, I know I am short). I was terrified that I was somehow going to roll back on him but he kept instructing me to push the gas and how to steer. After quite an effort, we finally made it up the hill. I tried to not rub it in, but I wasn't surprised we got stuck. Still justben was gushing about how "exciting" things were as we pulled out onto the main road (thankfully less icy) to find food. Most of the places were closed except Wendy's, so we pulled in there and grabbed a quick bite to eat. We didn't want to stay out to long, so we made our way back soon after, thankfully not getting stuck again.

It's good to be back. I am glad we are not going out to dinner.

Anyway, I hope everyone is safe. Public Service Announcement: Please don't be like justben and go out unless you need to! ;)