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.
1 comment:
This happened to my sister once upon a time. Nasty snowstorm, exit ramp from one freeway onto another. Truck stuck in front, another behind. About a dozen people spent the evening, night, and much of the next morning stuck there.
We couldn't leave our street for two days in that storm - massive plow piles on each end (we are a small street not needeed to access anything but our own homes). The biggest, baddest SUV on the block couldn't get over those piles and there weren't enough shear pins on the block to try and snow blow our way through it.
You are absolutely correct that any plan to move to safety on public roads is in serious jeopardy before the journey even begins. We all need to be prepared to survive in place for a while - wherever that place is.
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