Saturday, March 03, 2007
Wish you were here :)
posted by Anonymous : 2:52 AM
On Thursday, Omaha felt the brunt of Mother Nature's icy fist in the form of one of the worst blizzards the area has felt in quite some time. The World-Herald said worst since '98. I don't remember said blizzard of '98, but maybe I was spared having to drive in it since that was the year I got my license.
This year, I got stuck on an on-ramp from the interstate to the busiest street in Omaha: Dodge Street (or technically called "West Dodge Road" at that specific geographic point). Yes, ON the ramp. Not on the street or interstate. Whoah was me when the city neglected to clear the top of the ramp that met with Dodge, where a PT Cruiser was hopelessly sputtering about, while I sat behind a Ford Focus and VW Jetta, both primed to try it next. Yes, it was grim. I was officially stranded in one of the most absurd places one can be. I tried backing off the ramp, but nay, apparently a spot I was able to clear on the way up was not letting me back down as I frantically tried to reverse my Mazda 6 through that impenetrable mess of slush/snow. I resigned to pulling back up the ramp behind Focus and Jetta. The drivers of those two vehicles got out and we huddled for ideas. How many ideas can you think of in that situation? Yeah, you can imagine how stupid we felt.
But thanks to a bunch of rogue snowplow drivers and car-towers(?) who came out of nowhere with their four-wheel drive trucks that just bounced around the snowy terrain like it was just a mound of dirt, the ramp got cleared out, ending with me turning my car around completely and exiting the ramp the wrong way after a plow cleared it and blockaded it from any traffic trying to travel up it with any normalcy. I did this upon the instruction of the snowplow driver who rolled down his window to fully articulate the plan: "There's no fucking getting past that fucker up there, so you're just gonna have to turn that fucker around and fuckin' drive down the ramp to get out." And no doubt he meant it. I had spent an hour and a half there, and was more than ready to not be there.
So, to anyone not in Omaha or anywhere in the midwest, that's what you missed. And to anyone in Omaha, if you happen to be driving on I-680 between the Blair/Irvington exit and Fort St. exit, look out for some badassed bermuda triangle-esque phenomenon where everything suddenly whites out and the road goes from half-cleared to full of that shit snow that sends your car wobbling awkwardly, on the verge of a tailspin. There's some sort of wind tunnel effect going on there.
Oh, and regarding the photo above, that was actually included in an MSN article and is of a section of Dodge St. (in front of Family Fun Center, for those who know the area).
Wasn't there some talk of spring beginning soon?
On Thursday, Omaha felt the brunt of Mother Nature's icy fist in the form of one of the worst blizzards the area has felt in quite some time. The World-Herald said worst since '98. I don't remember said blizzard of '98, but maybe I was spared having to drive in it since that was the year I got my license.This year, I got stuck on an on-ramp from the interstate to the busiest street in Omaha: Dodge Street (or technically called "West Dodge Road" at that specific geographic point). Yes, ON the ramp. Not on the street or interstate. Whoah was me when the city neglected to clear the top of the ramp that met with Dodge, where a PT Cruiser was hopelessly sputtering about, while I sat behind a Ford Focus and VW Jetta, both primed to try it next. Yes, it was grim. I was officially stranded in one of the most absurd places one can be. I tried backing off the ramp, but nay, apparently a spot I was able to clear on the way up was not letting me back down as I frantically tried to reverse my Mazda 6 through that impenetrable mess of slush/snow. I resigned to pulling back up the ramp behind Focus and Jetta. The drivers of those two vehicles got out and we huddled for ideas. How many ideas can you think of in that situation? Yeah, you can imagine how stupid we felt.
But thanks to a bunch of rogue snowplow drivers and car-towers(?) who came out of nowhere with their four-wheel drive trucks that just bounced around the snowy terrain like it was just a mound of dirt, the ramp got cleared out, ending with me turning my car around completely and exiting the ramp the wrong way after a plow cleared it and blockaded it from any traffic trying to travel up it with any normalcy. I did this upon the instruction of the snowplow driver who rolled down his window to fully articulate the plan: "There's no fucking getting past that fucker up there, so you're just gonna have to turn that fucker around and fuckin' drive down the ramp to get out." And no doubt he meant it. I had spent an hour and a half there, and was more than ready to not be there.
So, to anyone not in Omaha or anywhere in the midwest, that's what you missed. And to anyone in Omaha, if you happen to be driving on I-680 between the Blair/Irvington exit and Fort St. exit, look out for some badassed bermuda triangle-esque phenomenon where everything suddenly whites out and the road goes from half-cleared to full of that shit snow that sends your car wobbling awkwardly, on the verge of a tailspin. There's some sort of wind tunnel effect going on there.
Oh, and regarding the photo above, that was actually included in an MSN article and is of a section of Dodge St. (in front of Family Fun Center, for those who know the area).
Wasn't there some talk of spring beginning soon?
Welcome to "What Is Recoil?." If you would like to post something on this blog, but don't have a WIR-Blogger login, then send me an e-mail, and I'll make it happen. SHAZAM!
-Rick
(co-creator)
Rick | Dynamarx | rus-trick | ryan | The Potato | JDM | DrNewsie | Mr. MS | AK | Brooke | Stein | Moses | G | CarrieOkie | Jen | Duhn | M. Moore | Laura | Mr.T | kat | abby | Greg
09/2005 | 10/2005 | 11/2005 | 12/2005 | 01/2006 | 02/2006 | 03/2006 | 04/2006 | 05/2006 | 06/2006 | 07/2006 | 08/2006 | 09/2006 | 10/2006 | 11/2006 | 12/2006 | 01/2007 | 02/2007 | 03/2007 |