Zeedman
Garden Master
(added emphasis mine)Southern Oregon is in shut down mode. We got 3 - 4 inches on the Valley floor and then of course power goes out, since trees fall from the weight of the snow. There are no local snow plows, but the State did dispatch some to the I5 corridor in the middle of the night. Regardless, the traffic was backed up for miles thru Grants Pass on the freeway due to the sheer amount of snow. All schools are closed within 100 miles circumference of me.
That brings back memories. I learned to drive on Whidbey Island, WA, where it hardly ever snows... and when there is snow, it thaws almost immediately. In January of 1978, I relocated, and drove from Whidbey to San Diego, towing a second car behind me (that doubled as a "moving van"). We were actually moving a little earlier than originally planned, because a winter storm was hot on our heels. Because of the tow, my headlights didn't quite shine on the road surface, so night driving was a bit of a challenge. It was raining as we drove through Oregon; and since the tow limited my speed, other vehicles frequently passed me, throwing water on the windshield. Moving through Grants Pass at night, that water turned to "mud", thrown up by what I assumed to be construction vehicles, with flashing lights. It was hard to see through the "mud"; but after some time, it suddenly dawned on me that the "mud" was in fact slush, and that the "construction vehicles" were snow plows! It was my first time driving in snow - in mountains, with another vehicle in tow. I was afraid to hit the brakes, and there was nowhere to turn off... it was a white-knuckle ride until we finally reached the lower (and warmer) elevations. Come to find out later that we should have been using chains in the Pass, so we really got lucky. DW slept the whole time.