Racing with a Snow Storm

Racing with a Snow Storm

A 1970 Toyota Corolla

I have both a brother and sister. I am the oldest, 2 and a half years older than my sister Babs and 9 and a half years older than my brother Pete. Being the oldest I could usually get my way and was not above taking advantage of my siblings. Well that was mostly Babs as it didn't apply to Pete much because of the large age difference. I indeed took advantage of my sister a number of times but have to point out she was not a pushover by any means. I once traded all my old 45's to her in exchange for a couple of albums she had that I wanted. I then borrowed back the 45's. When I decided I wanted to learn how to play the guitar, I got Babs' to sell me her guitar for $5 but never actually paid her. Those are two examples I remember. I am sure Babs remembers many more and some of them might even be true...

The Divorce was done and now I needed to sell the Toyota for no profit. It was a 1970 Toyota Corolla 2 door sedan with an 1166cc engine. I didn't owe all that much and the remaining balance was less than the blue book value of the car. So, I thought who could use a car in the family. I thought of my sister and sold it to her and her husband, Ron. They were in New York and the car was, of course, in California. I decided I'd drive it back to New York.

It was mid-November. I heard a storm was coming in so I started out in the afternoon after my shift on Friday and drove up to Reno. I wanted to get ahead of the storm and I also wanted to check in with Donna's old roommate Emily. (I am having trouble remembering her name and I'm tired of calling her Donna's roommate so I am going to call her Emily. As I remember, it was something like that.) I got along well with Emily and I figured she would also put me up for the night. I could then get a jump start in the morning as I would have already cleared Donner Pass. The next morning I headed out bright and early from Reno, but before I even got out of Nevada a storm came in and it was snowing. I had hoped to maybe get into Wyoming by that evening but by the time I got to Salt Lake it was still snowing, and snowing hard. The snow was accumulating, and it was late. I decided I better stay the night in Salt Lake. I looked for a room but could not find any in my price range, or even close to it. Every place was booked. So I decided to head back out. It was after 9:00 in the evening as I drove up into the mountains to the east of Salt Lake. Before long, I did not see anyone else on the road and the snow was piling up quickly. It was getting hard to tell where the road was. I had to start using the poles on the side of the road (the ones that are there to tell the snow plows where the edge of the road is) as a guide. I finally came up on a truck. I followed him for an hour or so. The truck eventually pulled over but I was afraid to stop in the mountains thinking that if I did I might not get out of the snow that would pile up around me. It was slow going and it was stressful, but I manged to get through the mountain passes and eventually into Wyoming. It was still dark and it wasn't snowing on the Wyoming side of the mountains. I found a place to pull off to the side of the road, bundled up and tried to get some sleep. I woke up after an hour or so shivering. I turned on the car and ran the heater to warm up and then went back to sleep but soon woke up again shivering. It was beginning to get light and it was snowing again. I started up the car and drove on. After awhile it stopped snowing. At the Evanston exit I stopped to get some breakfast but as I got back to my car it was snowing once more. I started back up and decided to only stop for gas for as long as I could last. Any eating would need to take place while I was driving. After a bit I got out in front again. By mid-day I finally seemed to put some distance between me and the storm but I needed some sleep. I was almost to Laramie. I found a rest stop, pulled in, bundled up, and went to sleep. I got to sleep for a couple of hours this time. When I woke up, I was shivering and damn, it was snowing! I started back up and drove on past Cheyenne and into Nebraska. I once again pulled ahead of the storm. I stopped for gas and decided to get something to eat somewhere between North Platte and Grand Island. It was at that point I noticed my back left tire was practically bald. I checked the others and they were the same. Yikes! I had been driving through all this with bald tires? I decided that I was pressing my luck so I drove into Grand Island to find a tire store. Problem: it was Sunday afternoon and nobody was open. It started snowing again so I got back on the highway and high-tailed it. The storm kept trailing me and every time I stopped it seemed to catch me. I was alternating driving in the snow and just ahead of it. When I got to Illinois the snow turned to rain. It was now Monday and I found a couple of tire stores. Well, Japanese cars were largely only on the coasts at that time and no one carried tires the size my little Toyota Corolla needed. I found a cheap motel. I showered and then set the alarm for 8 hours later and went to sleep. I woke up and it wasn't snowing or raining. Yea! I got back on the highway. I got through Indiana OK, but as I reached Ohio I caught up with that other darned storm and once again I was driving in snow. In spite of this, I decided to take the north route through Pennsylvania. This route is part of Hwy 80 today but it was a lesser highway at that time. The north route was through the mountains but it also avoided the tolls, saving money was still a big consideration for me at that point. But heck, I'd made it through the Sierras and the Rockies, surely I can make through those much smaller mountains in Pennsylvania. It was just snowing lightly but it was cold and the roads were frozen and consequently very slippery. The going was slow. It was about 9 in the evening when suddenly I came up on cars stopped in both lanes. Nobody was moving. I sat there for a few minutes and then I got out of the car and chatted with a few of the others who were stopped. One person said that a big-rig truck went into a skid and jack-knifed across the road blocking all the lanes. It was clearly going to be awhile so I decided to just go to sleep, which was what most everyone was doing. I woke up to the sound of a honking horn coming from the vehicle behind me. I looked up and there was no one in front of me. I started the car up and started driving. About 20 minutes later I again came up on cars stopped in both lanes. I turned off the engine and went back to sleep. I was again woken up by the honking of a horn. No one in front again so I took off. This was repeated one more time before I finally broke through. I made it to my parent's house mid-morning the next day bald tires and all. I said a quick hello and went to bed until that evening. I had been lucky and stupid but I was alive and the car was now in New York.

Babs and Ron came to pick up the car. Ron had been one of my best friends since Junior High School. Ron told me years later that the car had a number of problems and turned out to be not quite the bargain it appeared to be. Well as I said, I was always good at taking advantage of my sister and here I managed to do it yet again. Although this time it was with with the best intentions.