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Travel > Back East Blizzards, Been There
 

Back East Blizzards, Been There

I told y'all, didn't I? A few days ago in my Pineapple Express that you'd better hope our Las Vegas storm didn't come to where you live. Now some of you are going to find out why. There's lots of energy in that weather system.

In early 1996 I was on a business trip to Baltimore and got stranded in a blizzard as big as this weekend's storm that's snarling things up. You can imagine how exciting this was for the weather people on the local network channels, they had continuous live storm coverage for 24 hours. I was watching that in my hotel room and dining on the cheese and crackers I'd bought ahead of the storm, and then the people I was going to meet with called and invited me to their house to sit out the storm so I braved the roads (12 lanes of I-95 in northern Maryland totally empty but for me) and forged on to their house.

I ended up battling 3 and 4 foot drifts and I was lucky to get out of the hotel room and stay at someone's house for the extra days I had to be there. My flight home was delayed to a couple of days later, but overall, it worked out fairly well. I met some nice people, and it was an unforgettable experience.

They had the neighbors over for dinner and turned out these people had visited my uncle's trading post out in the styx of Colorado, plus they had worked in the same phone company office in New Jersey as my mother's cousin and my in-laws next-door neighbors in Colorado. Don't forget I was in Maryland, so this reminds me of the Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation theory.

When I was ready to go home, I drove my rental car through the still-deep snow back to Dulles Airport. I was supposed to take the Hertz shuttle to the airport and then try to get a shuttle to a nearby hotel for the night. There was a man there from England renting a car and he was asking the counter people for directions how to get to that hotel, so I asked if I could ride along with him. The roads were still piled high with snow, and he appreciated having a navigator. That worked out well for both of us.

I'm a little bit jealous of all those people who get to experience this big storm, as long as they've got power and food and supplies, and a good place to spend the nights. But if I was there I might not be so lucky as I was the first time, so probably just as well I'm not there.

Wishing everyone clear highways ahead.






posted on Dec 26, 2010 6:41 PM ()

Comments:

I feel for those miserable people in the airport trying to sleep. You were
fortunate to be an experienced snow driver. It was nice to have someone
to stay with.
comment by elderjane on Dec 28, 2010 7:43 AM ()
As I was driving over there I was worried that I'd never met these people, but decided since they had an au pair living there somehow it would be okay because it was more than just their little family.
reply by troutbend on Dec 30, 2010 10:14 PM ()
We haven't had a real blizzard since back to back winters of '77 & '78. But the 1991 ice storm was the granddaddy of them all. Ah, memories.
comment by solitaire on Dec 28, 2010 5:52 AM ()
I left Colorado so early this fall I didn't get to see any snow, and actually, they didn't have any until December. I wouldn't have wanted to stay that long.
reply by troutbend on Dec 30, 2010 10:17 PM ()
I have been watching this on the news - that is baadddd The news reporter went on to describe the floods happening in Australia - they ought to be having their 'summer' !
comment by augusta on Dec 27, 2010 4:13 PM ()
It seems like everyone is getting some kind of unusual weather this Christmas.
reply by troutbend on Dec 30, 2010 10:18 PM ()
It is an experience to be in the middle of one of these blizzards - but as you pointed out 'providing you have food and a heat source', it is an event you will always remember.
Must have been an amazing discovery, to fnd out that the new people you met on your trip, knew some f your relatives - it is a small world indeed! I aggre with your 'Kevin Bacon' theory
As I type it does, look as if tere is a small thaw going on. They have forecasted a slight one (only to return later in the week with 'bitter wind' -perhaps they'll be wrong)!
comment by febreze on Dec 27, 2010 3:28 AM ()
Okay, tonight we've got that bitter wind blowing from the northwest, and headed your direction. Just picture it, from here all the way to you in a few days.
reply by troutbend on Dec 30, 2010 10:15 PM ()

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