Terry and I got a call yesterday (Friday) morning that the Tundra was ready for pickup at the body shop. Of course, with the ice/freezing rain that fell much of Friday morning I had to tell the mechanic not to wait up for me, rather I would pick the truck up this (Saturday) morning.
Well, we got up early and waited for the town truck to go past spreading cinders. No sign of him by 8:00 AM...or 9:00 AM...or 9:30 AM. I had spread ice melt on the driveway so we could get out in Terry's little Aveo. And I was pretty sure we could drive down the hill in relative safety. I just wasn't sure Terry could get her little front-wheel drive vehicle back into the driveway. But I wanted my truck, damn it! So off we went.
The hill was indeed icy and there was a definite lack of cinders on it when we left. Once on the main roads, however, things were pretty good--not great, as there were some places where ice was still present and where melt water had refrozen, but good. We made the trip to the body shop without any hassle and managed to pick up the Tundra. We each went our separate ways after agreeing to meet back at the post office in town before tackling The Hill up to the Aerie.
I went to Agway and got 150 pounds of rock salt while she went to the store to get some cat liter and then to Papa V's for some pizza.
Shortly after 11:15 AM we met at the post office. I offered to let her drive the truck and its 4-wheel drive up The Hill but she declined saying it was too big for her and did I really want her first time behind the wheel to be on the icy road. Both were valid points. If she wasn't going to be comfortable driving the Tundra, I wasn't going to be comfortable letting her. I did allow her to take the lead going up The Hill.
When we left the paved road, we were both pleased to see there were far more cinders on the road that there had been when we came down two hours earlier. Yes, the Cinder Fairies had returned with a full truck load and spread all of it on The Hill leading up to our driveway. Sure, there was still some packed ice under those cinders, but you could not see it and, as long as your foot was steady and you didn't try to punch the gas pedal, your car's tires didn't know the ice was there either.
When we got home, we sat and enjoyed a little laugh about the way we both felt relieved to see the black cindered road. Better than any Yellow Brick Road, for sure. We ate our pizza and then I went out and spread some salt on the driveway where there was a little more ice than I cared to see. The sun never did come out like the weather dudes promised and the temperatures stayed right around 28-29 degrees so not much melting took place, but there's always tomorrow.
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