My schedule is really screwed up for 'wheeling & also for getting to together with folks who live a normal life. I had lined up three items to purchase and planned out a road trip to get all three in one day. The last stop, a carb, is iffy but hopefully the guy can work it out on his end.
The first leg took me from Bellbrook ( south of Dayton ) to Maumee, just outside of Toledo. 154 miles. No problem, except that there is a winter storm advisory, it was colder than crap, and the wind is whipping rigs around on I-75 & causing white-outs. I passed 3 multi-car pileups, two in my direction. After negotiating the debris field of the 2nd one, I got about 10 miles & the front end starts acting goofy. I pull off and, sure enough, a flat tire on the RF. Crap. Small hole in the sidewall. Looks like some wreck parts cost me a tire. Crap. So I change the tire in driving snow storm at about 5 degrees. At least the spare on the Liberty is easy to get to...
I am about 5 miles from pay dirt when a lady in a Caddy SRX comes flying by & starts to change lanes under a really wide overpass. She comes out from under the overpass in mid-change, hits the ice, and starts a 360 that brings her right across my path. I try to steer around it, but the rear end starts coming around and I start to go sideways. I steer into it, stay off the brakes, and do a super slow 180 into the ditch. CRAP!
I am at enough of an angle that my door will not open. The trailer is straight behind me. WTH: Low-range & nail the gas. I come up out of it back on the road and turn around the right way. The lady is out of the SRX as it sits against the guardrail. Someone else has stopped. I decide to take off rather than let her know how I feel about her driving ability.
So I go on to Maumee and meet up with Tommudd & his well-built KJ. We go get my 360, strap it on the trailer, & have lunch. Good times, and I am on my way. Next stop: Navarre, OH to pick up the front D60. 159 miles. Good to go.
The Garmin fails me. It takes me the most direct route, no doubt, but when I am in it too deep to return to the highway, it begins: 25 mph on a two-lane no matter what the speed limit is. Traffic backed up behind the occasional idiot who has never seen snow before. Tons of tiny towns. On the plus side it only took me an extra two hours to get to Navarre.
Seeing the horse & carriages out in this crappy weather was strange for someone who does not live in buggy country. They leave strange tracks in the snow. Thanks to a great seller, the D60 gets lashed in beside the 360 in record time in spite of doing it in abut a foot of snow with more coming down. I never want to hear the words "lake effect" again.... But I am off to Reynoldsburg, OH to get the carb. as the seller called & was now off of work. Cool. 124 miles.
Even on I-77 things are lucky to crawl along at 35. Semi's slipping. Got stopped while they pull one back through a guard rail. Snow still coming down. Luckily the carb guy meets me at a Walgreens right off of the exit ramp. Quick exchange & I am off, back toward the homestead. 84 miles.
Everything is good until we get West of Columbus. The problem you get when you scrape the snow away completely & salt? Yep. Refreeze. Black ice. No one going anywhere over a few miles an hour. Crap. This goes for about 15 miles and then YES! Nice snowy highway you can actually drive on.
I get home at 12:15 AM after leaving at 8:00 AM. My 535 miles that, per Mapquest, should have taken me 8.5 hours of driving has turned into 16 hours and ten minutes of adventure. The trailer, motor, and axle are one solid block of ice that may thaw by June. And I never left Ohio.
And if you think I bothered to take pics in this crap....
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