To the rescue

We had about an inch of fresh, powdery snow over night and, being Sunday, the road crew never bothered to come by the Aerie to cinder the road.

Also being a Sunday, Terry felt the call to attend mass down in the valley. She waited until the 11:30 service hoping the cinder man would come by before she left or before she returned but neither happened.

Now, as I've said, the Aerie is situated at 2100 feet above sea level and around 700 feet above the valley floor and Route 6. We gain the last 200 feet along our road in about half a mile which makes the road a round a 20-30 degree slope (or at least it seems that way). Terry drives a little yellow front-wheel drive, five-speed Aveo that weighs next to nothing.

Well, the road was a bit slick this noon hour when she returned from church and she--being a bit more cautious than I--slipped and slid to a stop about 100 feet short of the driveway. I got the call to go rescue her.

Now, starting from a dead stop and trying to go uphill on an icy slope is a sure way to spend time spinning your wheels, so I backed into a neighbor's drive and turned to go down hill. No problem. I did a u-turn on a semi-flat stretch and headed back up the hill at 30 mph in 3rd gear with no intention of slowing down until I reached the driveway. I got about 10 feet further than Terry did before the ice beneath my wheels started spinning. My forward speed dropped to almost-but-not-quite 0mph while the speedometer said I was doing 20. I dropped the gearbox down to 2nd.

I tried moving from side to side to find a patch of cinder beneath the snow and managed to inch my way up the hill, into the driveway and into the garage.

Since Rick took the Blazer back west, I just may have to go out and look for a small, 4x4, pick-up for Terry to drive during the winter. I don't think she could take an ATV to church.