RANT

I took a walk in the 300-area wasteland around noon-ish today. The sky was grey, the air a bit nippy, and the ground brown. Of course.

I look out the window about 1.5 hours later, and the ground was completely white. Completely. There was a moment of sheer joy, followed by panic. I decided to leave work early not for fear of the snow, but because people in the Tri-Cities are absolute morons about driving in the snow.

You see, the road conditions weren't terribly bad -- in fact, because the snow was so fine and the temperature well below freezing, the snow practically blew off the road. Or it would have had not some thoughtful individuals already put sand down on top of it. Yeah.

It took me twice as long to get home because, first of all, slow people were clogging all the lanes, even the fast lane. Secondly, everyone was going about 20 m.p.h. below a reasonable speed, and thirdly, every major road and bridge was backed-up to a standstill. I decided early on that I needed to avoid the main highways, and took a cleverly devious route home. The difference between my usual drive and the one I took today is illustrated below:












Normal Drive




















Today's Drive

I learned one thing -- if the Tri-Cities didn't have its quota of rednecks, I'd still be out in it right now. Follow the hicks in trucks -- they think they're invincible. :)

That's all.