Winter Driving in a 4×2

I don’t recommend it. Seriously.

Getting up the mountain was a bit of an adventure Friday morning. Got stopped at the base by Georgia Patrol and asked if my truck was two-wheel drive or four. When I answered they said, "probably won’t make it but we can’t stop you from trying."

I told them if I ended up in a ditch put me at the bottom of the "save me" list. I made it up about a hundred or so yards before I hit first patch of ice I had trouble with. Slowed down a bit and my tires spun but I coasted through it. About fifty yards past that it was pretty well solid sheet ice all the way up. I managed to willpower my way from clean patch to clean patch for another mile and a half, then I noticed the guy behind me (in my defense he was the third or fourth person to be behind me, not everyone is as stubborn as I am) had two wheels in the grass. He was practically skimming the guard rail. Then it hit me: the ground is frozen hard enough to support my truck but sheet ice can’t form on grass, at least not thick enough so the weight of my truck won’t break through. I managed to scoot over to the rail and it worked like a charm. I managed to crest the top of the switchbacks and had no problems the rest of the way. At the county line it was like someone had thrown a switch: the county I live in has salt and sand trucks, the county the switchbacks are in doesn’t. Totally weird.

Blondie finally made it in to work after Other Senior Manager told her I made it home and since I was going up and she was going down she could probably make it. When I heard about that I giggled a little. I seriously thought she’d say she couldn’t get in, since the road I drove was the closest open road she could take across. The road she should have taken the day before was closed due to massive amounts of sheet ice that had built up overnight (it doesn’t get a lot of direct sun) and some downed trees the DOT was having problems getting cleared away.

Made it in to town yesterday. I needed to pick up a few things. I also grabbed some gas for Critter, who had sent me a text she was about to put lawnmower gas in her car. I send a frantic text back telling her NO! and I could bring her some. I can put a gallon or two of lawnmower gas in my truck every now and then: I’ve got a thirty or so gallon tank to dilute it and a 5.4L V8 that will burn almost anything that’s even marginally flammable. She’s got a tank half the size of mine and a small four cylinder engine, the oil in the gas would have gooped it up way too much.

She was worried about having to go into town to give the kids to their grandmother for the weekend, but she’s got a grassy driveway that I had no problems with and a front-wheel drive car. I was right, she made it back no problems. OtherGuy wouldn’t even try, he parked a quarter-mile away and walked. Go figure.