FEBRUARY 12, 2014
It all started innocently enough. For 3 days we were advised that a winter storm was coming and weather.com became a permanently open window on my desktop. Snow was scheduled to begin falling at 12:30pm on in Chapel Hill. An announcement that classes were cancelled at 1pm and offices were still open until 5pm came through email. Fair enough. I will wait until about 2pm and let some of the student traffic clear. Worst. Decision. Ever.
After viewing the street outside my building around 1:30pm, I decided to pack up for what was certain to be a long journey home. Colleague and web guru John Zhu who usually takes the bus (service suspended) needed a ride home and this posed no problem as my daily commute takes me right past his house. So, off we went.
We left the parking deck at 1:49pm. At 2:49pm, we were still on campus having traveled less than a mile. We witnessed several examples of selfishness and poor driving such as pulling into an intersection, where there is no room for a car on the other side, hence blocking the intersection once the traffic light changes. My favorite.
Legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt (a gifted public speaker) once said, “There are few things in life that you can control and choose but one is your attitude, so make it a good one.” If I was going to average 2 miles per hour heading home, I was going enjoy the heck out of that drive.
In between judging poor drivers, I truly enjoyed having my window down and blasting O.A.R.. Poor John. I never even asked if he liked the music, I just cranked it. The flakes were large and even in a traffic jam (and blaring music), there was something very peaceful about this drive.
In the 3 o’clock hour we finally broke the campus perimeter to start down the hill on NC-54. As we made it down about a 1/4 mile, the scene, while not quite apocalyptic, was still mind-blowing. Cars just stopped and abandoned by the side of the road or in some cases in the MIDDLE of the road. To the credit of the commuters, I didn’t hear too many horn honks throughout my travels. At the base of the hill that leads to campus was a dearth of cars stopped. At the front of the line, some floppy-haired frat star got out of his car and said “There’s no way I am making it up that hill” much to the chagrin of the line of cars behind him. He simply surrendered.
Let me stop here. Yes, I am from Michigan and grew up in this snow stuff, but after living in this warmer and much friendlier climate for the last 12+ years, I get the struggles with the snow. I never make any “you southerners don’t know what to do..” comments. This was a fast and legitimate snowstorm and unlike Michigan, we don’t have a plethora of plows and salt trucks. However, I do believe if abandoning a car is even an option for you, please never leave your house within 24 hours of the tamest winter warning.
I drove just over 11 miles and saw no accidents. All of the traffic and congestion was caused by abandoned cars. All of it. When we happened upon a car in the middle of the road, the already slow traffic had to move down to 1 lane, making things even slower.
The next bizarre moment came in the 4 o’clock hour. NC-54 crosses over I-40. In addition to the abandoned cars, I figured that some congestion was being caused by folks trying to get onto the interstate. As I looked both left and right on the overpass, there were hardly any cars on interstate. Now, I am really confused. Is NC-54 the only road people are using?
At this point we are moving at a steady pace of about 4.6 MPH and we are about 1.5 miles from John’s house. We smell freedom. Then, traffic comes to a not so screeching halt. Screeching usually involves speed after all. In the distance, we see no car attempting to climb a very modest incline. You’ve got to be kidding me! We are so close. The hill is loaded with more abandoned cars. Even cars coming down the “hill” are treating the descent like Everest. After 30 minutes of having my car in park, some brave souls finally ascend toward the heavens (i.e 30 feet).
Once turning left onto Hope Valley Road, I was able to drop off John and travel 2 more miles quite uneventfully to home. I arrived strangely energized and realizing that I mostly enjoyed the whole experience. I half-believe Katie expected me to walk through the door cursing and throwing objects. I arrived at home around 5:35pm which is in the ballpark of when I usually arrive home, so in some ways the whole surreal commute had a splash of normalcy.
So, thanks Coach Summitt and O.A.R. for helping my commute today. Choose your attitude. Take pictures. Laugh at the ridiculous, rather than scoff at it. Share your story.
tOdd occurrences 
You are the best! Calm, rational cool under pressure!!
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