Well we had a storm a brew’n last night here in Austin. It was raining and the weather was below freezing, so of course we had nice fun icy roads. Since I live a top a nice tall hill, I couldn’t really go anywhere. Plus, it was really too cold to be outdoors!
So I stayed in and watched television. I finally had to give in and turn on my heater. Ugh, I hate fake heat. It dries me out and makes me miserable, but it was better than shivering. It was seriously cold in my apartment and I just couldn’t deal with is anymore.
This morning I woke up and didn’t even think to call the weather line for work. I just got in my car and started on my way to work. I live up in the hill country, outside of town. It’s even colder and windier up here than in town, so the weather is always more drastic where I am. I wasn’t even twenty feet out of my parking space (I was still inside my apartment community gates) and I spun out. There was this man walking his dog and I totally spun out in his direction. He just stood there freaking out, instead of moving out of the way. Which was hilarious for several reasons.
1. I was nowhere near hitting him.
2. I was going so slow that I probably would have bounced off of him.
3. Not only did he not move, his dog was in front of him and he didn’t seem the least big concerned that I might hit his dog.
4. I’m sure he was not amused that I was laughing as I was spinning towards him.
I got out of my apartment gates and headed down the slight hill to the 4 lane road that I have to drive on to get to work. I slid down the hill and kept bumping into the curb. I stopped and decided to call the weather line to see if I needed to go to work. The line said 3M was closed until 10, it was 6:50 at the time. Damn. I tried to reverse and go home, but I couldn’t get back up the hill, it was too iced over. I didn’t want to keep going forward because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop and I would slide out into traffic.
What to do? Do I abandon my car and walk back home? Um, no… too cold to walk. So I waited until there was no traffic and went down the hill to end up spinning out in the intersection. Good times! I’m already halfway to work at this point (I live across the street from 3M), and I don’t get paid for missing work, so I might as well go in right? I was going extra slow, like 10 miles per hour or less, so it wasn’t speed that was making me spin out.
So I keep going toward work, and I get to my turn to go into the 3M property (crossing oncoming traffic) and I spun out again (full 360) in the intersection. I sit there (as traffic is coming at me) thinking about this. “If the road here is this slick and people have been driving on it, surely the roads on 3M are going to be worse, and that road is crazy curvy and inclined. Yeah, I’m going back home.”
So I went back home and went into my complex through the main entrance since I knew I wasn’t getting back up that hill at the back entrance. I parked and walked into my apartment and called Dale, who was about to enter 3M property and had driven in from like 20 miles away. Aww man, way to make me look bad. So I decided to give it another try. This time I drove even slower and managed to make it in without spinning out once.
Yays! I made it in alive! It’s now 9:01 and Dale and I are still the only two people in my area. Sadness. We should SO get bonus points for risking our lives to make it in.
