Kyle,

        I didn't want to be a prophet in that way. I am glad you had no
serious injuries. However, now when some unknowing one asks why you are
gimpy, just tell them your were struck in the head by a copy of Gray's
Anatomy!!

Later,
Bobby

>Bobby Greer wrote:
><snip>
>  This thing
>> >is a land whale with rear-wheel drive, so I can do doughnuts in the
>> >parking lot!  It's just like being in high school again!
>> >
>> >-Kyle
>
>> Kyle,
>>
>>         "Doing donuts" in the snow. Shame on you! Joyce(my wife) is
>>terrified
>> by driving in snow and ice. She's had three near fatal accidents on ice and
>> snow.
>
><snip>
>
>> Bobby
>
>Bet ya didn't know you were a prophet, eh, Bobby?
>
>Last Friday we got another inch or so of freezing rain (19 degrees air
>temp...wierd!), so they shut our office down at 1:00 in the afternoon.
>I have a 33 mile drive home, interstate all the way.
>
>I was about 10 miles or so from the house, in the right lane doing about
>25-30 mph.  No problem.  Anyway, this guy pulls up behind me decides to
>pass on the left.  He's not going a whole lot faster than me, but he
>decides to pass anyway.  Then some yahoo in a semi crests the hill
>behind me doing about 50.  He sees that he's about to plow into my
>*ss-end, so he pulls into the left lane only to realize that he's also
>going much faster than the guy that just passed.  So the truck driver
>hits his brakes and the trailer starts to fish-tail in my direction.  I
>look to my left and see the reflection of Laura's van getting larger and
>larger in his wheel hubs, so I start easing off to the right.
>
>Well, as soon as my left front tire hits the plowed snow, it sticks and
>I do a 180 down the (mild) embankment.  I slid backwards about 50 yards
>to a stop--no damage to the van or me except for a bonk on the head from
>a copy of "Gray's Anatomy" that I was supposed to return to the library
>(I'd looked for that book for days).
>
>I get out of the van to asses the situation and realize that she's stuck
>good and tight in about 12" of snow, so I get the shovel, boots, hat,
>gloves and Carhartt coveralls out of the back (carry a "winter driving
>survival kit"--it does come in handy).  It doesn't take long for a
>41-year-old crip to realize the insanity of his labor, so I pop the hood
>, put on the flashers and wait for the Highway Patrol to come by and
>call a tow truck.  Oh, yes, and issue the obligatory "failure to
>control" citation, as well.
>
>About that time, some young Good Samaritan in a brand new Mustang pulls
>up and offers assistance.  Says he works at Scotts Lawn Care (the
>fertilizer factory) and offers a ride.  Just so happens that I live off
>Scottslawn Road (known locally as Bhopal road, to you insiders.  We're
>just waiting for them to build a diesel fuel refinery next door...then
>we'll have some REAL fun!), so I take him up on his kind offer.
>
>Ever notice how teens think they're immortal?  Well, either this kid
>thought he couldn't die, or else he wanted to--real bad.  I'm not sure.
>Anyway, we make it (miraculously)about 8 miles only to end up in the
>median about two miles from home.  At that point I decide that it's
>safer to hoof the two miles home than risk another lift, so I start my
>cross-country trek in the freezing rain (no small feat for a gimper in a
>foot of snow with 2" ice on top.  Believe me, it tears hell out of your
>shins when you break through.
>
>When I got home I had to wait five minutes or so for Laura to quit
>laughing as I was covered in about 1/2" solid ice.
>
>I called my home builder neighbor with his "monster truck" and we set
>out to recover the van.  Pulling it out was no problem, but since it was
>pointed south on the northbound freeway we were in a quandry as to how
>we were going to turn it about in busy traffic.  Gary (the neighbor)
>said that he thought he could swap ends pretty quickly if I got in his
>truck, turned on the flashing lights and blocked traffic.  I jumped at
>the chance to drive his truck, given my redneck heritage.
>
>He was successful at extricating the van. However, he managed to repeat
>the "ditching" another 2 miles up the road.  Again, fortunately, there
>was no damage to either van or driver and we simply repeated the earlier
>process.
>
>Paitiently awaiting spring,
>
>-Kyle