Gratitude

[ny biker]

Long list tonight. We had a "dusting" of snow this evening with temps just below freezing, and apparently the local DOTs didn't pre-treat the roads, leaving thousands of us trying to drive home from work on icy roads. I don't remember exactly when I left the office, but I think it took about 2.5 hours to make what is usually a 35-minute trip. So thank you to:

- the meteorologists I follow on Twitter and watch on local news, for telling me to be prepared for the tonight's snow.
- the firefighters, EMTs and police who are out there helping people in this mess -- and every mess.
- my 8th grade physics teacher, for teaching me what I needed to know about the laws of motion to be able to drive safely on slick roads, and especially how to get up the untreated hills.
- my friend who showed me, on the way home from a bike ride years ago, how to cut over from I-66 to Route 50 when 66 is jammed, and also pointed out that shopping center in between. I stopped at the grocery store there tonight to take a break and pick up the last few things I'll need to get me through the "crippling blizzard" this weekend.
- the people driving the trucks that treated Routes 50 and 7 inside the beltway.
- the driver of the car making the right on red at the intersection near my office, for pulling up far enough for me to not crash into you as I discovered to my horror that the roads in that area were utterly untreated and that my brakes were completely non-existent above 10 mph.
- to the service manager at the local Toyota dealer who has kept my car running well for more than 100k miles -- it's easier to remain calm under bad conditions when you know you can trust your car.

ETA: Many thanks to whichever school teacher taught me how to read a map. Knowing multiple east-west routes and how to get between them when the one I was on jammed on got me home at least an hour earlier than I would have if I'd only known one way to get home.