Yesterday I made it back to the gym! While moving I figured I was getting enough exercise and haven't been working out ... but enough with that excuse ... I'm back in the program!
It was a cold morning and as I pulled into the Gold's Gym parking lot at 8:00 am there were a few snow flakes fluttering down. Those were the first flakes we've seen this winter here in Charlottesville and it seemed kind of fun!
My usual workout strategy is to get up, go straight to the gym, workout, hit the sauna and then come home to shower before starting my work day. That way I only need to shower and dress once. OF course that means I'm pretty sweaty (from the sauna) as I leave the gym. No problem - it's just a short trip home and then straight in the shower...
However as I left Gold's at 9:00 am I was stunned to see everything blanketed in white. The snow was falling fast and every flake was sticking. I playfully tested the traction in the parking lot and discovered that there wasn't any! Turning the steering wheel too quickly or tapping the brakes would send my van sliding across the parking lot. I realized that I was in MAX treacherous driving conditions.
As I crept home, I congratulated myself with each passing mile that I had not yet wrecked the van or ended up in a ditch.
The first sign of trouble came as I crossed the long bridge over the reservoir. The traffic wasn't moving up the hill on the other side of the bridge. I was frustrated to see several large trucks turning around. "Oh great!" I thought. "They would have to turn around at the very place where I needed to maintain speed so that I could make it up the hill!" However as I crossed the bridge and started up the hill I learned why they were turning around. There was a 4 car accident just up the hill completely blocking the road. I realized that I too would have to turn around.
I backed into a driveway to my right and then gently, slowly began to point my van back towards the reservoir. Before I could even complete the turn my van started sliding -- not in the direction I was driving but SIDEWAYS! I stopped going forward completely, but the van kept sliding!! And there was NOTHING I could do about it. The road was graded down towards an embankment on the other side and there simply wasn't enough friction to hold my vehicle on the road. I tried "driving in the direction of the skid" (the classic advice hah!) but there wasn't enough space and time to regain traction. All I could do was smile to myself as my van slide off the road and into a ditch!
Given the terrible driving conditions and the sudden onset of the snow I figured that there must be hundreds of accidents and cars sliding off the road all around town. Rather than wait for hours trying to get towed out of the ditch, I decided to abandon ship and walk the five miles up the road to my home.
So I locked the van and set off. I had on my gym sneakers, sweat pants and a light jacket. No hat, no gloves. I like walking and ordinarily a five mile walk would have been great! However I soon realized that walking in freezing temperatures with my hair still wet from the sauna was not very cool. Actually it was VERY cool! As the wet strands of hair on my head began to turn to ice I was forced to make a makeshift hood by pulling my coat up over my head which exposed my bare mid section. So I walked with my coat pulled up over my head until I couldn't stand the cold down below. Then I'd drop the coat and walk until my head began to sting and freeze up and I was forced to pull my coat back up.
This ordeal only continued for a couple of miles because a passing driver finally stopped to ask if I needed a ride. I gladly accepted and soon I was home with a hot shower, a hot bowl of soup and an Internet connection that still worked!
Today was sunny and as the temperatures rose above freezing the snow on the roads quickly melted. I arranged to have my van pulled out of the ditch.
Beyond the fun of it, there was a greater purpose in all of this. You see my van has three very large "Ron Paul for President" signs on it -- one in the front and one on each side. So as my van lay stranded in the ditch it was actually a beacon of hope for America! Thousands of drivers who passed it would have seen my van and taken note of the Ron Paul signs. If I was able to spread the name of Ron Paul and a message of Hope for America, then sliding into a ditch was a small price to pay.
Mark Century
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