kevin_standlee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kevin_standlee) wrote2011-11-20 03:56 pm
kevin_standlee) wrote2011-11-20 03:56 pm
Threading Through Storms
It was a bit of a near thing last night. When I stopped for coffee at Colfax, I saw on the Kingvale webcam that it was snowing, but the Northern Sierra Chain Control Map (note: both links change contents constantly to reflect current conditions) said "no controls." So I headed east. Above Emigrant Gap, the snow started to be noticeable. But the good news is that the split-lane configuration that was in place for the I-80 reconstruction project is no more. (Those of you who drove I-80 to Renovation from California may remember the diversion of cars into the normal downhill lanes.) They got the work done just in time, it appears.
I downshifted and slowed down considerably. There was another vehicle ahead of me also going slowly. I followed it, and others followed me. There was room to pass, so we weren't blocking traffic, and indeed some cars wanted to head through at what I considered an unsafe speed, but I was happy to convoy up and down Donner Summit at 40 MPH.
Approaching Kingvale, I called Lisa and she loaded the webcam; she did indeed spot my van going past the camera. I actually stayed on the phone with her clear over the top and down to Truckee, where things cleared up considerably.
By the time I got to Fernley at about 11 PM — remarkably good time overall, considering I stopped four times along the way — and got my computer set up, chains were required over Donner. CA-20 even had the rarely-imposed R-3 (chains and 4WD required). It does appear that I could have gotten across this afternoon without chaining up, but I'm just as happy to have done it last night.
I'm less happy to have left behind my backup hard drives, given the problems I've had. I have now hope that I don't have anything to seriously wrong with my hard drives for the next two weeks, or else I'll have to make a quick return to Fremont to get the backup from the fire safe.
It has snowed off and on today here in Fernley, including a slightly heavier fall that happened just as we walked to the post office to collect the mail, but nothing has been sticking. We've kept the fire going, and are pretty comfortable right now.
I downshifted and slowed down considerably. There was another vehicle ahead of me also going slowly. I followed it, and others followed me. There was room to pass, so we weren't blocking traffic, and indeed some cars wanted to head through at what I considered an unsafe speed, but I was happy to convoy up and down Donner Summit at 40 MPH.
Approaching Kingvale, I called Lisa and she loaded the webcam; she did indeed spot my van going past the camera. I actually stayed on the phone with her clear over the top and down to Truckee, where things cleared up considerably.
By the time I got to Fernley at about 11 PM — remarkably good time overall, considering I stopped four times along the way — and got my computer set up, chains were required over Donner. CA-20 even had the rarely-imposed R-3 (chains and 4WD required). It does appear that I could have gotten across this afternoon without chaining up, but I'm just as happy to have done it last night.
I'm less happy to have left behind my backup hard drives, given the problems I've had. I have now hope that I don't have anything to seriously wrong with my hard drives for the next two weeks, or else I'll have to make a quick return to Fremont to get the backup from the fire safe.
It has snowed off and on today here in Fernley, including a slightly heavier fall that happened just as we walked to the post office to collect the mail, but nothing has been sticking. We've kept the fire going, and are pretty comfortable right now.