so, I ended up babysitting a little later yesterday than originally planned, which would have been completely fine if it hadn't started snowing fiercely. It was horrible...the snow and wind mixed together were beginning to look more an more like a blizzard with every passing moment. Once I finally started on my way home it was a little after 5:00, which just so happens to be rush hour. There were cars everywhere and they were all driving about twenty miles per hour because the roads were covered in ice.
The vehicle I was driving doesn't have four wheel drive and it has this automatic breaking system that can be a real problem. It's supposed to be helpful in preventing the driver from speeding up too fast on ice, but it's not real good when it stops you from moving forward at all on the ice. I can completely floor it and not go anywhere because it stops the engine from actually working (I don't know if I'm explaining this well...I'm sure you know enough about cars and I'll stop trying!). Ok. On with my story--- I drove over the bridge above the wild cat creek and continued up a VERY steep incline. I'm talking about the huge hill on Eisenhower Rd. This hill is very winding and narrow. The guard rails on the sides protect drivers from certain death down the steep drop off. The car in front of me was going really slow, so of course my little two wheel drive vehicle had no chance. My vehicle started going slower and slower until it finally stopped altogether. yeah, there I was at a dead stop in the middle of the huge hill. The cars began to pile up behind me and I was panicking. I called mom and screamed at her for help. Then, I completely lost it with many tears and repeating of "I don't know what to do!!!!" I think my mental state was more alarming to her than the actually situation I was in :).
The cars began to go around me and I was feeling really stupid. MY VEHICLE WOULDN'T MOVE!!! I tried to back up down the hill, but couldn't do a very good job with the pelting snow and my iced-over windows. Not to mention I'm probably the worst person of all time at efficiently steering myself while driving backwards. Finally some guy stopped and asked me if I was ok. My eyes were red with tears and I was all nervouse...I looked PATHETIC(Although, I was sporting my new haircut I had gotten that morning...my only saving grace)! He ended up watching for traffic and guiding me backwards down the hill in only a light sweatshirt. What a guy! It turns out that he slid into the ditch while trying to back up after me, which he probably wouldn't have done if he hadn't helped me. I felt really bad. Luckily a policeman was coming along and he helped the guy. I found out later that there were a bunch of other vehicles that had gotten stuck further up the hill also. So, I didn't feel quite as stupid.
I was finally on my way towards a new route home when I got stuck on another hill that was less than a half a mile away from the one I had previously been stuck on. I'm really not making this up either! It was HORRIBLE. This time some guy, with his cute smiling girl-friend in the passenger, seat got out and pushed me. I'm not sure how he managed to get my vehicle to move. I'm thinking it must have been an angel or something :). After that...I made it safely home.
In my defense of the complete loss of emotional control I experienced, I had just taken a mid-term exam in my speech class that morning (stressful) and still had to finish writing a 5-7 page research essay for my English class(more stressful). My teacher is really not easy to please and she was requiring a billion resources for our work cited. I ended up working on my essay till about 4:00 A.M. that night. I did run before starting it, hoping to release some of the stress from my tragic icy hill situation.
All I can say is I'm ready for spring break. I'm waiting for it with open arms!!!
