We'd been waiting for it all day and it didn't start snowing downtown until right around 3-3:15. I left pretty much right when it started, but really only because I was ready to go and had skipped even taking a lunch because I really thought it was going to start snowing sooner. When I pulled out of the parking garage it was snowing pretty good and just starting to stick to the sidewalks, by the time I got to the Woodland Street Bridge (1 mile) the bridge was already starting to be covered in snow and looked slick. Traffic really wasn't bad for me, everyone was driving slow but it wasn't backed up at all. I drove slowly the remaining 2 miles to Lilli's daycare and decided to go a little more out of the way because one of the side roads I take can be slick (and a car slid out in front of me coming from that street a couple of weeks ago). By the time I turned on the road her daycare is on the roads were totally covered and I couldn't even stop to turn in the driveway where she goes. I had to slowly back up the hill, try again and ended up just pulling in enough where I could grab her and get out of there. We made it home slowly, sticking to the main roads and being sure to allow plenty of time to stop (her daycare is just two miles from our house.) I try to stick with the bus routes as much as possible since they get the most salt.
Poor Brent just wasn't as lucky. I called him a million times as soon as I left work to tell him to leave, but it just wasn't as "good" a timing for him, especially as he had to drive up through the storm for 20 miles from LaVergne. When he left it wasn't even snowing in LaVergne, but by the time he got near the 440 split it was pretty much down to a crawl.
And they crawled.
And once he got closer to the downtown split there were some lanes not even drive-able.
One of the most frustrating things was just trying to stay in contact. He called me a couple of times in transit to let me know he wasn't even moving, but then the lines got jammed and neither one of us could even get or receive calls which was incredibly frustrating and stressful. Since Lilli and I got home a few minutes after 4 I went ahead and had the TDOT traffic cams up so I could "see" how his commute was looking, since I knew it would take a while. Here's the interstate downtown, he would have been on the left side somewhere.
And here's the worst part of his ride home - the Silliman Evans bridge downtown, always the first to ice and it was just a mess today. Brent would be on the left side, the one the most deserted and iced over.
And of course Brent was taking pictures while he was on the bridge.
The notification boards were on "Icing Conditions, Please Use Caution".
More of the bridge downtown
So Brent finally made it home after just over 2 hours (normally a 25 minute commute). What a nightmare!!! I actually have coworkers who left 15 minutes after me that are still at work. Pretty much right at 3:30 all of downtown Nashville decided to get out, and our parking garage was gridlock as was downtown Nashville since the interstates were also a mess. It's insane to think if I was just a few minutes later in leaving it would have made hours difference in getting home (and poor Lilli!). Of course Pippin thought the evening commute was a piece of cake.
I think right now the only thing I am looking forward to is that it's Crockpot Thursday so dinner will be ready when we get home, although I have a VERY strong feeling I'll have a pint sized helper with me tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment