Unique experiences

Left the house at 7:30 AM. Temp was almost 40 with a slight wind. Rode towards the office and made a detour up the street to Amici Espresso to snag a scone. I noted rain in the forecast, but wasn't too concerned about it as I'd just be getting wet on the way home. Rain started failing pretty heavily starting around noon, and didn't show any signs of letting up for the remainder of the day. I peered outside about 2:30 PM and was greeted with the sight of snowflakes that appeared to be the size of my palm raining down from the sky. No ordinary snowflakes, these apparently had weight due to the speed they were falling at. I decided to leave the office at 3:30 since I hadn't taken a lunch break, and the snow was getting heavier, and it was, despite the assurances of the weathermen, starting to accumulate.

I suited up, let some air out of the tires on the LHT and headed out into the mess. The roads were very wet, and sloppy. My Oakley's were quickly getting covered in a thick layer of snow and steam, and my eyes were getting pelted by huge snow flakes. I stopped briefly to clear my glasses and continue my ride home. As the vehicles pelted me with slush as they sped past, I missed the accident occurring at the intersection up ahead. I arrived on the scene at the same time as the police officer and proceeded to thread my way through the accident scene while the cars were forced to sit and wait. Leaving the scene, I look ahead at the cars coming down the hill (too fast for conditions) towards the accident scene and I'm confronted with something I hoped to never see: A school bus fishtailing downhill towards me. As I considered my choices (keep riding straight, or dive to the ditch) the driver managed to get the bus under control and not hit any of the cars stopped ahead of him. Cresting the hill, I was forced to pull over for the paramedic, fire truck and ambulance headed towards the accident. It was interesting that I pulled over and stopped immediately, while the automobiles continued to travel forward until the last possible moment. (As an aside, what is it with people and not pulling over for emergency vehicles these days?). At this point, I turned onto a side street and finished my ride home.

Sitting here now, my lawn is completely covered in snow. Hopefully it's gone by tomorrow morning, so my commute is dry. Lucky for me, my fenders show up tomorrow.