In Which We Drive Through Hercules

Growing up in the Rocky Mountain West, I’ve always eyed winter storm systems with a grin.  Snow.  Cold.  As a kid, it meant possible snow days (including a memorable lake effect snow as a kid that dropped three-plus feet on my brother and I’s birthday).  As an adult it has often meant challenging driving conditions, cold days working outside, and having to keep a spare camera battery in my long underwear.  Double digits below zero drain camera batteries like nobody’s business.

So, when I knew I would be heading to the northeast in the midst of winter storm “Hercules” – when did they start naming winter storms anyway? – I shrugged it off.  The Suby is good in snow, and after topping Jackson Pass several times last year in blizzards, I knew how to slow down and crawl through weather.

Bit more traffic on the New York turnpike than in the middle of rural Idaho, though.

After a day and a half of driving through bad weather, it wasn’t the slick roads or snow that took out the Suby, but the unexpected event of a tire coming off.  As in disembarking.  At highway speeds.

Apparently four of five bolts sheared off the spindle.  I was able to brake / slide off the road and come to a safe stop, and some good guys in a nearby Kingston, New York shop gave me a tow and were able to fix the bolts and mount the spare.  Said spare was buried under the jenga-like load in the back of the Subaru, however, and said load had to be unpacked onto the floor of the mechanic’s shop.  Then re-packed.

Yeah, it was a long day.  I limped into Manchester that night, immeasurably thankful to be able to throw my goods into my little apartment and tuck into a local B&B as temperatures dropped to -20F.

Hey, I guess the storm could’ve been named Daisy.  I’ll take Hercules any day.

In a somehow fitting move, I received an email that night from the great Hugh MacLeod with his latest quote / drawing – “Life is not an adventure til it starts scaring you shitless.”

There we go.

Tags: Random Bits

Tagged as: Fire Girl Photography, moving, New York, Subaru, travel