January 15th . . . Interurban/Green River Trail

[East Hill]

Well, the P.O. never sleeps, and I think it would have been nice to have had one snow day, but I have yet to not make it into work due to snow. However, I'm not a teacher, and I would not want to have to deal with children, their parents, and snow!

So I'll keep going to work even in the snow. I am just glad that Mr. East Hill is very good at driving in the stuff.

But it's getting awfulllllyyyy boring here at home. Can you imagine living in a place like Buffalo?

East Hill

[salsabike]

Yeah, I was born in Buffalo, moved to Albany when I was eight and grew up there. They NEVER--or almost never--have snow days because they have the equipment to clean it up fast. Here, we get an inch and we're all in trouble because of the icy hills and side streets. Bah.

[Eden]

But it's getting awfulllllyyyy boring here at home. Can you imagine living in a place like Buffalo?

East Hill

Grew up in Pittsburgh, went to college in Rochester NY (just up the road about 60 miles from Buffalo). Its just different out east. Everyone knows how to deal with snow so people know how to drive in it and have good snow tires on their cars, the cities knows how to deal with it and have the equipment to do it properly and effieciently. This much snow wouldn't have been even thought about in either of those places.
Due to its proximity to Lake Ontario, Rochester was for sure the worst of the two weather wise. Out here - pffft, this is nothing, though I fail to understand what it is about the climate here or maybe what they make the road surfaces out of that forms so much ice! In Rochester it generally started snowing around Halloween and melted out completely some time in March or April. You could expect at minium one big snowstorm in the winter that would dump up to several feet of snow, perhaps even the lovely blowing kind that is almost impossible to shovel or plow since it just blows right back, several weeks of sub-zero temperatures - we're taking -20 to -60 wind chills here, and maybe top it all off with a nice ice storm right around Easter.
Pittsburgh's weather isn't quite that nasty, but there was definitely still snow and ice. Pittsburgh, unlike Rochester (really flat), and more like Seattle is a city built on a series of hills, but since snow and ice are always a factor there there are plenty of salt trucks out and about to keep the roads clear. I never saw cars with chains or studded tires until I came out here strangely enough. We rarely had days off school because of snow - in fact I think the entire time I was in high school we did not have one snow day.
Our biggest problem here is that this kind of weather doesn't happen enough. Its not worth it for the cities to have a lot of plows or salt trucks (I would bet you wouldn't even be allowed to spread salt here - the runoff would contaminate salmon streams) and many, many people do not have good tires on their cars. Plus it seems like the roads ice over very easily. I'm not making light of it mind you - its definitely not a good idea to get out there and drive- its a real mess, but elsewhere it just would have been taken care of. One thing my husband and I have noticed is how few people shovel/de ice their sidewalks out here.... Out east if you fail to clear your sidewalk and someone slips and falls you will be liable so everyone does it. On the other hand you don't ruin your shoes out here because you are walking in rock salt all day long (it really eats leather shoes!).

[mimitabby]

Eden
I suspected you were from back east. But you do explain it well!
I grew up in New Jersey. We had to WALK in snow like this.
We had to wait until a foot or more fell before we could take a snow day.

[Eden]

Show you how naieve I was - until I saw (and heard) chains on busses and cars out here I never knew that was what made the ching-ching-ching sound of the salt trucks.... I always thought it was the salt spreader making that noise It was always a sign that it was going to snow, no matter what the news weather was saying, if it was going to snow the salt trucks would be out before it happened, no trucks, no snow - they must have had access to better forecasting. It really is nicer to not have the salt though. it kills everything on the sides of the road, eats cars (rusts them out really fast), eats shoes and is probably not really great to be putting into the water system all of the time.

[Susan126]

Oh wow . . . you have to watch this video that was shot this morning in Portland, Oregon. Talk about cars and ice not mixing!!!!

Icy Hill in Portland Oregon this morning

[mimitabby]

Oh wow . . . you have to watch this video that was shot this morning in Portland, Oregon. Talk about cars and ice not mixing!!!!

Icy Hill in Portland Oregon this morning

THAT is amazing!

[Eden]

I took the Marin out today for some shopping - the kitties need their food! It actually wasn't really all that bad. The last time we had ice I tried out the Marin and didn't make it a block before I hit the pavement, but it handles pretty nicely when its slushy snow- though I did have to whack the front fender every once in a while to clear out the slush clots. Ventured down to the U district and the only hairy bit was going down through Interlaken park as its a back street and mostly in the shade so still pretty snowy. The Burke was mostly just wet or a little slushy. Went to Ballard to buy my husband an exercise ball since they are on really good sale at Fred Meyer right now $10! (he's getting jealous of my abs - my coach has me doing just two 1/2 hour sessions per week on the ball and its actually pretty amazing how much it does tone you up) and then over to the U Village to get the kitties food. Took a different route home, since I needed to make my ride a little longer and wanted a less icy and steep route, so up MLK to home. It was starting to get dark, a bit colder and a little more slippery when I got home, but all in all it was actually not a bad day to get out.

I'm thinking if I got knobby tires for the Marin if it would be even more stable. The ones that came on it are wide, but slicks none the less. Its and interesting bike, kind of like an Ford Explorer, looks a bit like a mt bike, but really isn't meant for the actually wilderness....., but cross tires should fit it.