The Epic Voyage

Friday January 4th, 2008: The Epic Voyage

I heard on the radio that the weather was bad and getting worse going over Donner summit. I knew that I had to be at Elizabeth's 8th Birthday Party the next day at 2pm without fail. So, I left work early on Friday to start the epic voyage from Reno to Grass Valley. The chain control started in Truckee. It was raining heavily up to that point and the winds were blowing hard. It rapidly turned to snow going up the hill. Now I know what a blizzard is. It was like a thick fog. Very hard to see where you were going. On the other side of the hill, it was much worse. There was several places where for a second, it was just white. No visibility at all. I was afraid to stop for fear some one would barrel into me, but at the same time, what if I barreled into someone else????

The traffic was light. Good thing. I think it was all the horror stories on the radio that kept everybody away. We were going about 30 mph and all was fine. Then about Eagle Lakes turn off, there were lots of red tail lights ahead. We stopped for an hour. I got out of the car. We were 1 mile from the hwy 20 exit. I talked to some others. No one knew what was going on. We saw tow trucks pass in the shoulder and a couple of plows and Cal Trans trucks. Here, I took a picture. It was the only one I took going west that day because all the other times I was glued to the steering wheel.

After about and hour, we started to slowly move. Then it became apparent what happened. About a dozen big trucks (tractor trailer rigs) had all experienced the same frictionless surface: an uphill turn that was slightly slopped to the left. So, as each one came to it, their unchained tails slid sideways and blocked the left lane. They were all stopped in the middle of the road putting chains on the far rear wheels and waiting for their turn with the tow truck to get straight again. The snow was coming down in heaps. We all weaved through the maze of stuck trucks. No more problems after that, just slow going. I noticed when I got to about Alta, that the road was close going East. I arrived in Grass Valley about 6 pm, 4 hours from when I started.

Saturday January 5th

We had lots of snow (about 5 inches) in Grass Valley just in time for Elizabeth's Birthday Party. All but two guests called and said they would like to 'beg off' because of the weather. I could not blame them. But we had a crowd anyway because Elizabeth has 4 siblings. With them and her two guests, it was a nice sized party in spite of the snow. The cake was great! But, when the party was over, I found that 80 was closed, so I stayed over in Grass Valley.

Sunday January 6th

I set off about 2pm to go back to Reno. The storm had calmed down to a howl and was just raining in Grass Valley. Driving was easy and the views were spectacular. I had one had on the wheel and the other free to take some pictures with the phone. (apologies about the poor quality).