Forty miles round trip, that is, from my place into town and back. And today I can say that I made it yet again without smashing into another car, a moose or going into the ditch. Of those three I'll take going into the ditch any time. As my boyfriend said tonight, "It hurts less." Going into the ditch while driving in winter time Alaska, as least here in the Interior, is something that everyone does, at one point or another. I'm sure my time will come to give that big Uh OH and careen into a snowbank. However right now I'm really proud of myself for being able to manage with the wheels I have and NOT go into the ditch. It's one thing to put your own truck into a snowbank, but to put someone else's truck off the road is a lot more scary.
Tonight it was foggy coming home, which made driving even more interesting. It's hard to know when you have to speed up to make the hills if you can't SEE the hills coming up. It's way spooky driving blindly around curves.
Uphill curves are the worst part of my drive. Whenever I go up a hill, and there are some doozies between my house and Fairbanks, I have to make sure I am going fast enough to make it to the top. I can' t just jam my foot down on the accelarator to go faster when I'm going uphill. If you have ever driven on ice or packed snow, and I'm driving on both, you will know that the throttle is as much a way to control the vehicle as anything. Certainly more than the brakes, which you pretty much have to figure don't exist. It's kind of like driving a huge boat. There is no way to stop the forward momentum. With automatic transmission, I take the overdrive OFF, and that gives me the oomph to get up the hills, and gives me a little engine braking on the way down.
But curves, I was talking about curves. Uphill curves are the real test of driving under these extremely slippery conditions. Remember now that I am driving a truck with very little tread on the tires (it's borrowed, I'm not putting tires on it, okay?) so that it's imperative I have enough momentum to get to the top of the hill. BUT--I also have to be sure I don't have so much velocity that I slide off the curve! It's a real test of judgement, I'm telling you. Not enough speed and I don't make it up the hill and start sliding backward into the cars behind me, too much speed and I slide off the road.
Now imagine approaching one of those uphill curves without being able to see it because it's foggy outside. Can you see how that could be a little spooky?
I'm happy to say that I'm here though, made it again, and will make it again tomorrow, no doubt. I thank whoever it is who is watching over me every single time I get behind the wheel.