Yreka, Barely
Dec. 17th, 2010 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeI'm sure glad that I managed to get away from Fremont two hours early, because it meant I got to Yreka 90 minutes earlier than I expected. (I lost 30 minutes waiting for cookies at Sutter.) As I crossed Lake Shasta, the rain started getting heavier, and climbing higher, the large raindrops began to show ambitions of becoming sloppy snowflakes instead. By Dunsmuir it was definitely snowing. There's a long steep climb out of Dunsmuir, and I downshifted and started trying to follow the trail in the snow-covered highway up the hill. Fortunately, I didn't follow too slavishly, or else I would have ended up in the ditch the way the pickup truck I passed with a driver standing beside it. I thought of trying to stop and help, but I feared that if I stopped moving, I might not be able to get started again or worse, might start sliding back down the hill.
With the wiped-out pickup as a cautionary tale, I slowed further. I got behind some big rigs that were grinding their way uphill for a while. As near as I can make it out, there were two sets of tire tracks straddling the three lanes of freeway here, and things got a little confusing. Some other vehicles with more stomach for higher speeds passed me, and I pulled out from behind the big rigs and followed them up the hill at about 35 MPH.
As I climbed higher, the snow began to stick some more. I found myself following a van driving even more slowly than me. At one point, I thought about trying to pull out and pass, even though at that point, there were no obvious ruts in the left lane. About that time, I felt the rear end of the van break loose slightly. Fortunately, I was going less than 25 MPH, and I had been reviewing skid-control tactics as I ground my way north. I did not touch the brakes, but let off the gas and the incipient skid corrected itself. The vehicle ahead of me also wobbled a couple of times and I decided that 25 was more than prudent.
Somewhat to my surprise, the snow turned back into rain at Weed, then almost stopped completely and the road cleared. I was able to gradually work my way back up to full freeway speed until just before Yreka, when the slushy stuff began to fall again. I pulled into the hotel in Yreka just as it looked like the stuff was starting to stick to the road a bit.
I was monitoring the automated road condition radio frequency through this part of the mountains, and if I heard right, they put "R1 modified" (chains required for vehicles towing trailers) on I-5 just behind me at Weed a few minutes after I went through. I'm not towing, but if the snow continues the way it was when I went through, they'll be upgrading the restrictions soon enough. If I hadn't been able to get away from the Bay Area as early as I did, I might have been caught out and have to chain up.
My hotel room is quite familiar, as I've stayed in this exact room before. here's a picture from my previous stay. And after that slog through the snow, a soak in the hot tub sounds like a good idea to me.
The weather forecast for tomorrow morning is rain and snow, with snow at the higher elevations. I just hope it isn't enough to put chain restrictions over Siskiyou Pass or the other Southern Oregon passes tomorrow.
With the wiped-out pickup as a cautionary tale, I slowed further. I got behind some big rigs that were grinding their way uphill for a while. As near as I can make it out, there were two sets of tire tracks straddling the three lanes of freeway here, and things got a little confusing. Some other vehicles with more stomach for higher speeds passed me, and I pulled out from behind the big rigs and followed them up the hill at about 35 MPH.
As I climbed higher, the snow began to stick some more. I found myself following a van driving even more slowly than me. At one point, I thought about trying to pull out and pass, even though at that point, there were no obvious ruts in the left lane. About that time, I felt the rear end of the van break loose slightly. Fortunately, I was going less than 25 MPH, and I had been reviewing skid-control tactics as I ground my way north. I did not touch the brakes, but let off the gas and the incipient skid corrected itself. The vehicle ahead of me also wobbled a couple of times and I decided that 25 was more than prudent.
Somewhat to my surprise, the snow turned back into rain at Weed, then almost stopped completely and the road cleared. I was able to gradually work my way back up to full freeway speed until just before Yreka, when the slushy stuff began to fall again. I pulled into the hotel in Yreka just as it looked like the stuff was starting to stick to the road a bit.
I was monitoring the automated road condition radio frequency through this part of the mountains, and if I heard right, they put "R1 modified" (chains required for vehicles towing trailers) on I-5 just behind me at Weed a few minutes after I went through. I'm not towing, but if the snow continues the way it was when I went through, they'll be upgrading the restrictions soon enough. If I hadn't been able to get away from the Bay Area as early as I did, I might have been caught out and have to chain up.
My hotel room is quite familiar, as I've stayed in this exact room before. here's a picture from my previous stay. And after that slog through the snow, a soak in the hot tub sounds like a good idea to me.
The weather forecast for tomorrow morning is rain and snow, with snow at the higher elevations. I just hope it isn't enough to put chain restrictions over Siskiyou Pass or the other Southern Oregon passes tomorrow.
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-18 07:13 am (UTC)That tub looks wonderful. I'm sure you need it after today.
Pixie Dust for Safe Travels.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-18 08:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-18 05:10 pm (UTC)About the time I entered Texas I started seeing some flurries, and it had turned into moderately light snow by the time I reached Amarillo. I called the Texas Highway Department from a pay phone while getting gas, and they recommended pulling off the road - but it didn't seem that bad to me having lived in Chicago for several years at that point. I continued after consulting where there were Best Westerns along the way (figuring that I'd find something OK in a town with Best Westerns even if said Best Western was full).
At Vega Texas, conditions seemed good, so I pressed on. Similarly at Tucumari. About half-way between Tucumari and Santa Rosa I tried to pull into a rest stop to consult the map to see how far to Santa Rosa, since I was getting tired and conditions were deteriorating fairly rapidly.
I was driving my Jeep Wrangler (a.k.a. a Jeep Jeep) and pulling a trailer that was probably, technically, a bit to big and heavy. As I pulled onto the rest area off-ramp, I must have either hit a very icy spot, or tapped the breaks a bit to hard - probably the latter - and the trailer started to pull me around. I found myself facing towards oncoming traffic (fortunately there was none).
I'll admit at that point I remembered the other lever next to the shifter, shifted into 4 wheel drive, and managed to turn the whole rig back around, pull into the rest stop and decided that I should be able to make it as far as Santa Rosa, but not all the way to Albuquerque (about 80 more miles).
When I got to Santa Rosa, I checked into the Best Western and parked. Later when I was walking over to the adjacent Denny's for dinner, I noticed that nearly every car in the parking lot had either Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota or other plates from that part of the country, so I figured I'd gotten off the road at the right time.
The next morning, I learned that I-40 was closed from Santa Rosa to Clines Corners, so I had to take an unplowed US-54 to Vaughn and then US-285 up to Clines Corners. I ended up listening to Rush Limbaugh and Doctor Laura since I wanted to keep an ear on the reliable Albuquerque News station (which was still played music in 1989 when I moved away).
Actually conditions weren't bad. The road to Vaughn wasn't slippery, just covered in snow and my Jeep had no problems. From Vaughn I ended up in the middle of a large group of Semi-tractor trailer rigs which wasn't too bad, except for when someone passed us going the other way, too fast, and trough muddy water through the gap between the door and the soft-top door part. By the time I got back on I-40, the road was fine and I made it to my parent's without any further hitches.