So last week, as I posted, I was planning on going into my business as the weather was forecast to be very bad.

When the wind did pick up (about 1:00 pm) I left the house for what is normally a 15 minute drive. Full tank of fuel, food and water for three days, warm clothing (and gear so that if I actually HAD to, I could walk to safety) and a phone. I expected te drive to take not more than an hour and that I would arrive with plenty of daylight….

When I was about a mile from my destination, I encountered a Semi-truck that was sideways in the road…a line of cars was stopped, with nowhere to go. While the roads were bad, they weren’t THAT bad, so I figured I would turn around and go another route….

Not so much.

As everyone had stopped, about a mile or so BEHIND me, there was another accident involving a Semi blocking the road.

Can’t go east, can’t go west. No other way out that was possible to traverse in anything but a Snow-Cat or a snowmobile…While I had a tow strap, I wasn’t going to move either of the semi trucks with my 3/4 ton 4WD truck.

So I sat….and waited….and waited.

Now this isn’t going to be a slam on either the Indiana State Police or the Lake County Sheriff, although neither did their job that night (to be fair, they likely had a LOT to do, but still….).

The point here is that all the plans you or I might make for getting out of Dodge if/when we might need to can be ruined by the mistakes or bad judgement that another person might make. Escaping a flood?? What about the idiot who waits until it is too late, then drives into water too deep for his car, blocking the road? Yer stuck, and nothing will help. Maybe you are running away from a hurricane……but everyone else is too, and the roads are jammed and someone runs out of gas in the middle lane?

Your best plans can be destroyed in an instant by others. Plan for that too.

I’d quit.

My boss is an asshole.

Y’know, I don’t mind the occasional 18 hour or 16 hour day…..I really don’t mind 2 or even three in a row.

But 6 in a row is starting to drag on me a bit. If I’m lucky I’ll only have 12 or so today, and maybe 8 tomorrow.

Fatigue is cumulative. I ain’t 18 anymore.

Some weeks you earn your money. I guess this one is my turn.

Too busy to blog, can’t even read the other blogs.

no time.

gotta keep things running. They at least pay the bills.

go read the folks on the left side.

Just the highlights:

Left for work at 1 pm to beat the weather. Figured I’d arrive while it was still light outside. Note: BEFORE the weather turned bad.

almost made it to work…..

Almost.

Some total assholes who shouldn’t have been driving corked up the road about a mile from my destination….At 2:45 PM. 4wd doesn’t help in snowdrifts when they are around a semi truck and trailer. Then another one about a mile behind me. I was truly trapped. Trapped by fools.

Thought about walking it, but the weather was….bad. Even though I could SEE the lights of my destination about a mile and a half away.

40 MPH winds (gusts to 70). temps in the single digits (then lower) heavy blowing snow. . I did have the gear to walk it (if I had to), but wasn’t willing to risk my life .

Both the State Police and the County Sheriff chose to deny responsibility for getting a tow truck, so I and the other 60+ people spent the night in our cars until 4 am when they (finally) got the wreck out of the way. I spent the evening checking on my fellow trapped travellers every couple of hours, and even though it was -15F(!!!) by the thermometer with winds and blowing snow, no one froze. Several did run out of fuel, but we moved them to vehicles with enough fuel (and room!) to keep the engines running so no one froze. Did make for a long night though, having people come to MY truck for help. Somehow I became the person in charge….why I don’t know. Still, one must do what one must.

I had a full tank of fuel, food and water for three days, and gear to keep me alive in the weather, with or without my truck..I was never in danger…… Still, it wasn’t fun. Sleeping in the front seat of a pickup isn’t good for anyone’s back.  I did get about 3 hours of actual (sorta) rest.

Spent the next days dealing with stranded travellers.
Protips: Don’t enter the domain of a MAJOR winter storm with clothing suitable for Orlando and nothing else,
Don’t travel in the winter without some survival gear….
Don’t drive into blizzard conditions in a car with less than 6″ of ground clearance.
If you NEED medication, have enough with you for several days, especially if not having it is life threatening. Have enough food and water (and fuel) in your car to sustain you for more than an hour….
Think about LOOKING at the weather forecast for your route (a fair number of people were, apparently, unaware that there was a MAJOR winter storm forecast for the area).
If it is gonna be cold, think about using a bit of gas line antifreeze so your car doesn’t die on you.

Something I have noticed:
Stressful situations bring out true colors of character in people:

Good people are even better towards their fellow man. this accounts for 95% of the people, even though some are useless as possible. they are at least nice.

The assholes balance this, however. Their assholishness seems to become more pronounced at times like this. They make the average for humanity be just about even., maybe slightly negative.

I did suggest to one person that if he didn’t behave, he could brave the cold and snow as he cold be tossed out. Good sense prevailed and he learned to behave very quickly. Others saw this and chose to modify their behavior as well.

The good news is that, despite fatigue, I didn’t draw any blood on anyone, even once……

It has been fun.

More later after I get some sleep.

9″ since late last night. not much wind until a few minutes ago, then it seemed to get interesting. Very interesting. Visibility is now somewhat variable: from 1/6 mile to less than a few feet.

I tried to take a picture to post, but all that came out was white….like looking out from inside a jar of mayonnaise, kinda sorta ish….

Temps are falling, but not rapidly (yet) and things are looking like we have an actual winter like the ones I remember from my childhood. Haven’t seen conditions like this at all for the past 10 years or so. Might just get interestingish.

But hey, the fuel in the truck it treated, it is plugged in, and if I have to go into work the emergency survival gear is already packed and I am as ready as I can be.

We were out earlier in the Prius and it wasn’t that bad (yet) and if the winds don’t drift too much snow it’ll be ok, the plow boys and girls are doing a fairly good job.

Tonight will be interesting. Near record cold and blowing conditions making wind chills dangerous for those not smart enough to dress accordingly and/or stay inside.

Read this article.

Interesting how they see things, Innit?

Blame everyone and everything except liberals and Democratic policies. 

It’s like reading “Pravda” in the ’70’s and ’80’s.

Over $100 MILLION .

Yep, Chicago had 88 fewer murders last year (415). A good thing, right? Sorta. It was only 20 fewer homicides than occurred in 2011( 435).  The number of homicides in 2012 was 503.

But that took over $100 million dollars in overtime (partially because the City has chosen to reduce their police officers for several years running, but still.

And a significant portion of the “savings” was just changing the definitions of “Homicide” to reduce the numbers.  “Figures lie and Liars figure” and all that….

But even if we take the numbers at face value (a risky proposition) and assume that the extra police presence made a difference (doubtful) then the city had to spend  $1.136 MILLION for each homicide that they (supposedly) reduced in a calendar year.

Worth it? Not to most people. More than 70% of these homicides were drug or gang related.

You’d think that with all the budget and pension issues that the city has, they’d not spend all that money saving lowlifes in the South Side of Chicago.

(not that there is anything but causal evidence that the extra money spend on police presence really made a difference anyway).

What is a human life worth? Depends on the human, doesn’t it? Is it worth over a million dollars to “save” a gang member or drug dealer (but I repeat myself) from being murdered by a rival? I’m not so sure.

Seems like a lot of money for a dubious level of return. 

An even more Beta male than Pyjama Boy.

Only this one was real.

He and his girlfriend just told me how driving in snow in NW Indiana was the “worst, most scariest night of my life”.

No wrecks, no slide offs, nothing. And to be honest, the roads here were slippery, but really not that bad.

A more weaselly cull of  a man I have never met. If this is what civilization is helping to breed, then I don’t want to be civilized anymore.

If this is the future f our country we are doomed.

Oh, and BTW, his name was “Lance”.