It's Thursday again, which means it's time to link up with
Jamie,
Lindsey,
Jenni, &
Sarah for "Live and Learn Thursday"!
This week has been super crazy in terms of winter weather here in Pennsylvania. On Monday, we had a sudden snow squall long after the time when school could be delayed or cancelled. I walked out to start my car, and was surprised by how much snow there was. I headed off to work, already dreading my drive up the mountain because the roads aren't usually good on a mildly snowy day.
I started losing traction right here in my hometown part of the trip, and I probably should've just turned around, went home, and used an emergency day. BUT I had things to do at school and classes that I didn't want to miss because I was supposed to be out on Tuesday for a conference. So I pressed on.
I typically am a slow driver in the snow, but I was actually doing pretty well. I was going between 35-45 on the mountain (which has a speed limit of 55 mph). Soon, I started to catch up to an SUV in front of me, so I needed to slow down. Unfortunately, as the mountain became steeper, and because I started slowing down, I began to lose traction and was having difficulty climbing upward in my Prius. My speed ended up being around 20 mph, and I was FINALLY able to get to the top. I was so frustrated and a bit scared by this point, so I pulled off the road at a pull off spot and grabbed my phone to call off of work.
I saw a truck pull off in front of me, but I didn't think anything of it. Just as my school's phone started ringing, I looked up and saw Tony, the security guard at my school. It turns out that he had been traveling a few cars behind me that day. He asked if I was ok, and if I wanted to ride in with him. At first, I hesitated because I can be an even more paranoid passenger than a driver, but really, what else was I going to do? I maneuvered my car (with a lot of difficulty) to the best place I could to leave it, grabbed my things, and climbed into his truck.
His truck handled the crazy roads much better than my car, and even though we were late, we weren't the only ones! It turns out that a few hours earlier, when the decision needed to be made for a delay or cancellation, things were fine. The roads were mostly clear, and there wasn't any precipitation. It just hit all at once.
I am truly grateful that Tony was traveling to work at the same time I was that day. He didn't have to stop. He could've kept going. Honestly, if he hadn't, I probably would've been stuck waiting for AAA to come pull me out of the area I pulled off of the road. I wouldn't have been able to get out. (Luckily, when we returned that afternoon, I was able to pull back onto the road without any trouble.)
So, it is true. Chivalry is not dead.
What did you learn this week??
