… so, New York City, Williamstown, Craryville NY, Hudson NY and now Albany International (oh yes, that one flight to Canada qualifies us!) Airport. Tonight: the Doubletree Hotel by Chicago O’Hare… and tomorrow, Palo Alto again, we hope!
(photo courtesy of the Albany Times Union readers, www.timesunion.com)
Boy have we had an adventurous few days! Where do I begin? For those of you currently in the Northeast, you may be experiencing our own Snowpocalypse 2010, after having rolled eyes at the plight of the mid-Atlantic last week. Joe and I, silly, spoiled Californians that we are, have wandered right into the middle of the current shitsnowstorm.
We flew into NYC late last Wednesday and drove up to Williamstown on Thursday after hunting for sublets for the day. We stayed 2 nights, and then came back to NYC and spent a lovely few days frolicking in the city, seeing friends, eating, etc. A potential home beckoned to us for a closer look in wtown again, so we decided to make a trip back up on Sunday, see the place Monday morning and drive down to JFK in time for our Monday evening flight.
That was before the snow hit. As we were blithely driving back towards the Taconic State Parkway Monday around noon, the snow started falling. As we got on the parkway, it got heavier and heavier… soon we were merely crawling along. Other cars were still able to drive along, but our crappy rental car soon croaked. We tried to get to the side of the parkway.. but for those of you who know the Taconic, it doesn’t really have shoulders. Curves, hills, deers, crossroads, cops aplenty. Shoulders, none. Oh, and cell reception? Ha!!
This was not great but okay for now since any cars on the road were merely crawling along in one lane. After 45 minutes of hoping that a plow would show up and make the roads driveable, a state trooper pulled up.
Trooper: “You guys stuck?”
Us: “Yup.”
(For those of you not into reading mini-novellas, you can stop here. This basically sums up the next 24 hours of the story…)
Trooper: “Okay, back up slowly…”
We never thought we’d be in a position where we had to follow instructions barked over a police megaphone, but I count ourselves as lucky in this case. So we proceeded to back down the hill, with his flashing lights protecting and guiding us to a flat place where we could u-turn and exit. Luckily we were right by a diner, so we pulled in there. More on our time at the Martindale Chief Diner another time.
We spent several hours waiting out the storm along with 3 navy guys who were recruiting in the area. Eventually, we had to leave. The diner was closing soon, and there was no cell reception there. We were told of a way around the first big hill on the local road, and a town a few miles down the street.
“Here goes nothing…”
The back road around the hill worked perfectly. But then another hill presented itself. Our hearts sank. That’s putting it mildly. Mind you, these were snowy roads and slight hills, but other cars (4WD or not) were still able to climb them slowly. Nope, not our POS rental car.
Poor Joe did his best to maneuver the car out of danger, but all we could do is “park” on an unplowed side drive at the bottom of the hill.
Out of imminent danger but without being able to move, with no cell reception… What now? Oh, I’m so glad we are dutiful taxpayers. Support the troops! Our navy friends, knights in shining armor, pulled up in their white steed/minivan. We jumped in and hitched a relatively harrowing ride to Hudson, NY. Though they were headed to Albany, we had to stay put to figure out how to rescue the car. No tow trucks were available, most were attending to an 18-car pileup elsewhere, and another, tragically fatal accident, we found out. So we trudged to a local hotel, the St. Charles, and got a room for the night, feeling pretty miserable.
But, as the evening unfolded, and through the stress of the next several hours with cell phone batteries dying and computers ditched back at the car, the one thing that I kept thinking was: I’m so glad we’re here together.
If Joe were out there alone and I had any inkling of how bad the weather was, I would have been beside myself with worry. FREAKING out, is probably a better description. If I was out there alone… well, I’m not sure I would’ve survived a mile on the Taconic. So… in the end, (now that I am clearly posting part 1 of the story safely from my computer and a working internet connection), we felt okay. And I was in some random, tiny snow-blanketed town, safely holding hands with Joe. Home is where the heart is.
The saga will continue, with many lessons learned, for those of you who want more snowy details…
For now, exhibit A of the culprit responsible for our adventures:
