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A brief narative of my driving experiences last Wednesday in my 240, and further testimony of the importance of having Snow Tires on your car (and not "All Season" tires) for those of us who live in the "colder" climates.
The forcast here in West Michigan for Wednesday afternoon 11/24/04 was for some mild snow (the first snow of the year, and also on the busiest driving day of the year). Even though it was supposed to melt as it snowed (no significant accumulation), I fully intended on putting my snow tires on my Wagon before I left the house that morning. Needless to say, that didn't happen...
That afternoon, the slow snowfall quickly picked up the pace while I was on my way to the Volvo dealer (about an hour away). I wanted to pick up some parts for a project I had planned over the Thanksgiving weekend. In a very short amount of time, the highways and roads accumulated about 1 to 3 inches of standing slush. My summer driving tires provided about as much traction as hockey pucks in the slippery mess, and highway traffic slowed to a crawl. Several semi-tractors began to obstruct the highway bridges/overpasses when they failed to move after traffic forced them to stop on an uphill climb. Fortunately, I succeeded in making it to the Volvo dealer after more than 2 hours on the road.
Further assessment of the situation showed deterioriating conditions, and increased traffic congestion (most of the highways were becoming parking lots as everybody left work early and started their family trips) so I called a nearby friend to wait out the storm at his house a few miles down the road. While he only lived a couple miles away, it took another two hours to get to his house as traffic in Grand Rapids ground to a halt. Impaired accident vehicles were commonly scattered in the center turn lanes, and stalled cars were abandoned in the roadways (adding further congestion). Upon reaching my friends house, I only had to wait another hour or so before the plow fleet got caught up and cleared the roads for me to get home.
When I pulled into my driveway I was unable to make the climb up to the house (my driveway rivals many ski resorts and there was a good inch or more of slush on the ground). After several failed attempts that didn't even get halfway up, I left my 240 by the road, climbed the sand dune to my house, grabbed two of my four snow tires, and walked back to the car. I swapped the two snow tires onto the rear axle, and then drove up to the house like it was dry pavement. Upon reaching the house, I put the two remaining snow tires on the front axle, and my car was truly ready for the weather (like it should have been that morning).
I hope all of you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving holliday, and enjoying safe transportation. God bless, and drive safe.
Fitz Fitzgerald.
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'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 250k miles.
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