Pride Goes Before A Fall

Drove my good friend I. to Hay River today to catch a flight tonight to YK. She heads to Edmonton in the morning, bound for New Zealand for a month...I'm insanely jealous...I may have mentioned that before...

It was a little snowy on the road in. This is later today. It was actually a LOT FUCKING SNOWY on the way in...not the worst I had driven in, but certainly nasty. So I took my time on the dirt portion, which is about 50-60kms or so, and drove just 60kms. Then we hit the pavement and things were somewhat better, as it had been plowed, but still lotsa slush on the road, swishing under my car and tires. Things improved the closer we got to Hay River, and then about 8 kms before HR...I either was going a little too fast, or hit a clump of slush in the snow rut, either way...we spun around a couple of times and then flew into the ditch on the other side of the road, facing the opposite direction. Thankfully it was a soft landing and no one was hurt. It could have been so very much worse - we could have hit another car coming in the other direction, we could have landed in one of the MANY roadside ponds such as the one pictured here, or flew off into one of the many rivers and brooks we cross, or flipped the car and ended up seriously injured.

The guy who was not far behind me pulled over and offered to help. We first tried to drive it out, but the grass was slick under the snow and there was no traction. Then another driver stopped (unlike the MANY who whizzed by, slowing only to rubberneck) and they hooked my car to the first guy's truck and we were out in a few minutes. Everyone left, and I tried to turn the car around...and had some difficulty in doing so.

There is some kind of mud flap/plastic protector behind the front wheel that somehow parted from the car and got snow behind it, and because it was closed in at the bottom (by design) the snow was trapped inside, puffing it out right up against my front tire, making it very difficult to turn. The plow driver came up behind us while I was out sizing it up, and helped get some snow out, but it turned out my hand was the only one small enough to get at it, so I scooped some out, and we limped the last few kms into town to the car wash where I was able to get the rest out and the plastic slipped mostly back into place.

While I was rooting out the snow, my friend ordered up some food for herself, as she was catching a flight in about an hour; we picked that up, then dropped her off and I set about trying to take off the hubcaps as they were packed tightly with snow, and I didn't want them on at all. Couldn't figure THAT out at all, and nothing in the owner's manual, so headed to Kal-Tire to ask the stupid question - do you know how these hubcaps come off? I wasn't a total idiot, I did try to take the nuts off in case they were like the ones on my work van - fake kind of nuts nthat hold the hubs on and then real bolts underneath...I didn't have fake nuts. Turns out I have aluminum allow wheels that do not have hubcaps and I am stuck with the snow jammed into them...dammit. I headed to the grocery store to pick up what I needed, grabbed a pizza, wolfed that down in the car. Met up with a local from Res who did exactly the same thing I did, only she nearly hit the plow driver that stopped to help me out. I then decided I wanted to get back on the road while it was still daylight and I was off again...

The return journey was nowhere near as terrible. The first 60+ kms were clear and mostly dry, having been plowed and melted off. The next bit was slushier, so had to slow down again, and the dirt was ok, having also been plowed...just messy. It still took me 2.5 hours (usually is only 1.25 hours) but I didn't go off the road, and am home safe and sound. I saw about 14-15 places where others had landed in the ditch as well...not a good day on the road. I should have slowed the hell down...