Brilliant

Brilliant. That is the kind of move I pulled today. As mentioned in my previous post it snowed here...and in turn the snow turned to ice. Well, most of this ice has melted over the past day or so on all the main, heavy trafficy roads. However, on all the side roads, there is still quite a bit of ice.

Today at work I needed to deliver something to the Fred Meyer HQ's located in SE Portland. In order to get to SE Portland I needed to cross the Ross Island Bridge. And in order to cross the Ross Island Bridge I needed to weave through SW Portland...which happens to have a lot of hills.

So I am driving on the highway and it starts to snow. This didn't strike me as a problem because it didn't stick to the road. Then I exit onto Corbett Road and drive up a hill...still not bad. I stop at the four way stop, turn right and continue driving...down a hill...covered in snow and ice. It was brilliant. As I was turning down the hill the thought crossed my mind that, "this is a bad idea". And it was a bad idea...but it was too late. I had already committed and there was NO WAY I was going to be able to reverse my way out of it. So I just slowly drove, which turned into slowly sliding, which quickly turned into rapidly sliding, which turned into rapidly sliding into a car parked on the side of the road. The good news is I didn't hit the car. I was able to turn the wheel fast enough that I nose dived it into the curb. Missing the car by less than two feet.

It was a very stupid move on my part. To make me feel even more embarrassed a group of men came out of their office to offer me help. They saw the whole event take place from their office window. The only comforting variable in this situation is that they watched SEVERAL people pull the same move I did. Their willingness to help went as far as willingness when we discovered that none of them could grasp enough traction to try and push my car to safety. So I turned the wheels to the curb (with my tail sticking out in the road - a prime target for someone else that wanted to pull the same brilliant move), pulled the parking break, turned off the car and headed into their office with them while I waited for Wyatt to rescue me.

And rescue me he did! After being told from AAA that they wouldn't be able to help me because, "if it was too slick for you to get up and down the hill, there is no way our tow truck towing a car is going to make it", Wyatt took maters into his own hands and freed my little Sam (my car) from bondage. During the duration of time that it took for Wyatt to leave home and come and get me, it had stopped snowing and warmed up a bit. (Yeah, I know, kind of crazy). So he took the keys from me, got in my car, slowly backed it up in reverse (while sliding), created enough clearance from the parked car (that was located less than two feet in front of me), and slid uncontrollably down the remainder of the hill. It was the sharp corner at the bottom of the hill and the grazing of the curb that contributed to his loss in speed. Did I mention he didn't bother to shut the driver side door while doing this? I was waiting for it to be ripped off as he flew past a parked car. I wish I would've gotten it on video...instead you're left with a lifeless documentation of the event. Too bad, because it was a job well done! Thanks Wyatt!

PS - Wyatt 'rewarded' himself with a Chocolate Hazelnut Shake from Burgerville. YUM!