the Christmas that almost wasn't.
Dec. 19th, 2008 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sergebroomMy wife and I are in the Bay Area, to celebrate the Holidays with her family, although we might have instead shaken off our mortal coils if I had not made a decision that goes against my own nature.
We left early on Wednesday morning. Let me say that it is not a good idea to begin a long-distance drive after barely 3 hours of sleep. I had planned to go to bed early. Alas, even though I was officially on vacation, I had to work until midnight the day before. Such is the dedication of yours truly.
Still, I thought (or strongly hoped) that we could make it to California's Bakersfield by evening. But it then started snowing in Arizona's Flagstaff. Heavily. By the time we reached Kingman, at the border of Arizona and California, 150 miles later and with 340 miles left before we could reach California's Bakersfield, the snow had not let up. And I wasn't getting any more alert. I hated having to do this, but I told my wife that we could go no further. I think she was quite relieved.
If I had kept us going, we might have at the very least totalled our minivan, considering how many accidents I saw on the California side the next morning. True, those accidents had happened that very day, after the storm had died, but had been caused by black ice that had melted away not long after we showed up. Three cars had skidded off the road and were stuck, but undamaged. One car must have rolled over a few times because, though it was upright, its roof was completely caved in. There was an upside-down pickup truck and a jack-knifed big rig. All of this on a 10-mile stretch of I-40.
It only confirmed what I've come to think, after moving from Canada 20 years ago,. Snow is pretty to look at, but not to drive thru. It WAS weirdly beautiful to see the whole Mojave Desert completely covered in white, all the way to the Tehachapi Mountain Pass, in California. It was even weirder to finally make it to the other side and see everything green. (Feel free to insert Shangri-La jokes.)
Well, we made it.
I'm at my team's San Francisco office right now and one of the first things that one co-worker said was that my hair didn't look wild, for once. I told him I had decided to get a hair cut after my previous trip to the Bay when another co-worker's 4-year-old daughter had made a similar observation.
By the way, remember that, tomorrow evening, a few people will be making light by the Bay:
http://serge-lj.livejournal.com/174820.html
We left early on Wednesday morning. Let me say that it is not a good idea to begin a long-distance drive after barely 3 hours of sleep. I had planned to go to bed early. Alas, even though I was officially on vacation, I had to work until midnight the day before. Such is the dedication of yours truly.
Still, I thought (or strongly hoped) that we could make it to California's Bakersfield by evening. But it then started snowing in Arizona's Flagstaff. Heavily. By the time we reached Kingman, at the border of Arizona and California, 150 miles later and with 340 miles left before we could reach California's Bakersfield, the snow had not let up. And I wasn't getting any more alert. I hated having to do this, but I told my wife that we could go no further. I think she was quite relieved.
If I had kept us going, we might have at the very least totalled our minivan, considering how many accidents I saw on the California side the next morning. True, those accidents had happened that very day, after the storm had died, but had been caused by black ice that had melted away not long after we showed up. Three cars had skidded off the road and were stuck, but undamaged. One car must have rolled over a few times because, though it was upright, its roof was completely caved in. There was an upside-down pickup truck and a jack-knifed big rig. All of this on a 10-mile stretch of I-40.
It only confirmed what I've come to think, after moving from Canada 20 years ago,. Snow is pretty to look at, but not to drive thru. It WAS weirdly beautiful to see the whole Mojave Desert completely covered in white, all the way to the Tehachapi Mountain Pass, in California. It was even weirder to finally make it to the other side and see everything green. (Feel free to insert Shangri-La jokes.)
Well, we made it.
I'm at my team's San Francisco office right now and one of the first things that one co-worker said was that my hair didn't look wild, for once. I told him I had decided to get a hair cut after my previous trip to the Bay when another co-worker's 4-year-old daughter had made a similar observation.
By the way, remember that, tomorrow evening, a few people will be making light by the Bay:
http://serge-lj.livejournal.com/174820.html
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no subject
Date: Dec. 19th, 2008 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 19th, 2008 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 03:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 12:15 am (UTC)Glad to see you made it safely. I second Kouredios.
no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 01:12 am (UTC)Drive safely, get home in one piece, and Happy Merry Channukah-mas. Or Chrismakwanzakah. Or whichever you celebrate.
no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 22nd, 2008 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 22nd, 2008 01:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 22nd, 2008 01:22 pm (UTC)Good thing you stopped
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 02:07 am (UTC)I WANT to be in San Fran, weather has to be better than it is here. The wind over night kind of freeze-dried the roads, but our drive, with a tall fence to the south, has good bits and slithery bits.
Best wishes and say hi and seasons greetings to the flurospherians you meet for me!
Re: Good thing you stopped
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 06:03 am (UTC)I have it on my calendar, I'll wave at you across the country.
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Date: Dec. 20th, 2008 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 01:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 06:59 am (UTC)Susan
http://www.rixosous.com
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Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 21st, 2008 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 22nd, 2008 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 22nd, 2008 01:14 am (UTC)