BOY TRAPPED

Where the inside of my mind leaks onto the screen.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Four Wheel Drive

Last night while we were driving home from Seussical rehearsal in the snow storm, I commented to my sister Michelle that perhaps I should pull over and turn on the 4 wheel drive. I decided the car was handling fairly well, though, so I wouldn't bother. About 5 minutes later, I lost control of the Jeep as it started fishtailing its way from the far left lane of the freeway to the far right. Knowing that the Jeep handles terribly in the snow, I decided my best option was to allow the car to continue on its current set path, rather than to try to brake and send it off on some unpredictable trajectory. I figured this way, the cars around us would have more time to make the decisions they needed to make.

With this decision made, I looked ahead to where I figured we would end up and noticed that we might come quite close to the poles of an exit sign. I calmly turned to Michelle and said, "Just so you know, I've lost control of the car, and there's a good chance we're going to hit that pole right there." She looked over, took her own assessment, and replied, "Nah. The brush is going to slow us down. We won't hit it."

Thankfully, she was right. The brush and thicker snow on the side of the road slowed us to a gentle stop about 5 feet before we would have hit the pole. Neither of us were particularly panicked or scared, and Michelle said, "Well, now you can put the car in 4 wheel drive." I did, and we drove the rest of our uneventful drive home.

The weirdest part, though, was that I had time for all of that while sliding off the road. I mean, I guess we did cross 4 or so lanes of traffic, but still, I would have expected the process to happen much faster. I'm glad my kids weren't with me, because I'm sure that would have made me feel much more panicky, and I'm glad Michelle was with me, because she handled it all so well. Still, it was an experience I'd rather not repeat.

4 comments:

Steph said...

So scary!! I am glad you didn't hit anything! I have been in that position 4 times more than I would like to admit! Maybe I should think of going back to driving school!!

Nene said...

WHOA! How did you stay so calm - I would have been screaming and screeching! :)

Kris said...

Wow. I'm sorry you had to go through that and I hope you don't have to repeat it either. All of my experiences of sliding have been much quicker than that so I'm glad it wasn't worse for you.

Jay said...

I have been in that position 4 times more than I would like to admit!

That's what she said. (couldn't resist)

Gotta love that fun winter driving I couldn't help but laugh at how calmly you handled the situation that is so you though. Glad ya'll didn't hit the poll or worse.