The blizzard of '06
Today I blog about a generous donation that will be fun for team members for years to come.
An 80" television, yup 80 inches - eighty inchorinos. The screen alone is 4'2" by 5'6". On the stand, the TV is over 6 ' tall and about 6' long. Mammoth...
So, I got the call from an old friend that his folks were upgrading their TV from the one they bought back in '96. When he said how big it was, I told him that I would bring over a 12 passenger van and some Reach members to pick the thing up.
Well, long story less long, the TV wouldn't fit in rear doors of the van - they rented us a Uhaul truck to get it back over Snoqualmie pass and sent us on our grateful, grateful way.
The fun part
Going up the last part of the summit we hit a snow storm. Sabrina and I in the uhaul, Peter and Shane in the 12 pas. van.
It was a whiteout. With no warning, we were in thick, wet snow and going about 10 mph. The uhaul had bald rear tires, the van - good all season radials. We were getting near the top when we came upon a snarl of stopped vehicles - some putting on chains, some simply spinning their wheels and some flipped around backwards - which Sabrina and I did once or twice before we actually came to a stop behind the traffic jam with vehicles attempting to zoom by on either side (and between cars too!).
So, winter drivers know that stopping on a hill with bald tires in a snowstorm means one thing. You are stuck!
The van passed us by as Peter executed a beautiful slow-motion right-side fishtail maneuver, navigating the 16 foot van between a semi on one side and the concrete median on the other (at a 45 degree angle, I might add).
Sabrina and I left our vehicle to help Peter and Shane maneuver the last few feet to the Snoqualmie exit. I drove the van to the store there and we regrouped in the road. It was decided that Peter and I would return to the stranded uhaul and Sabrina and Shane would attempt to purchase some chains for the poorly equipped truck.
After waiting in the truck for some time, watching the road crew clear the snow I was amazed at the maniacal, "I can make it over the pass!" driving of so many ill-equipped fellow drivers. Cars and trucks of every kind sped by in all sorts of configurations. The most noticeable were the ones with really bad tires - it seems the most popular solution is to get a few people to bounce up and down on the bumper as the driver presses the accelerator to the floor. This results in a lot of spinning noise, steam, and some wild trajectories.
Some front-wheel drive bald-as-can-be vehicles actually drove backwards in order to crest the hill.
Peter left to get the chains from Sabrina and Shane - we wanted to increase the odds of her survival by keeping her out of traffic and avoiding leaving her alone in a dark snowstorm.
After Peter left, a huge truck with a modified brush bumper pulled up behind the uhaul and told me to go light on the gas and he would push me over the pass. The big steel bumper of the uhaul matched up just right and over we went! It was beautiful. He was clearly sent by God to rescue our mission and to place the huge TV right where it was predestined to be.
Our troop was reunited on the downhill side and we cruised back to Yakima nice and slow.
We set up the biggest TV ever and it was all worth it! We can't wait to have some youth out here for a foosball/cards/movie night hosted by the Reach team.
It all brought back memories of driving around north of Spokane when I was in high school. With crummy cars and bad tires we constantly needed our fathers to get us out of the ditch or a snowdrift. I guess Fatherly help is never a thing of the past.
Please join us here as we pray in thanksgiving for the generosity of the Schumacher family and for all their intentions.
Peace,
Dan
An 80" television, yup 80 inches - eighty inchorinos. The screen alone is 4'2" by 5'6". On the stand, the TV is over 6 ' tall and about 6' long. Mammoth...
So, I got the call from an old friend that his folks were upgrading their TV from the one they bought back in '96. When he said how big it was, I told him that I would bring over a 12 passenger van and some Reach members to pick the thing up.
Well, long story less long, the TV wouldn't fit in rear doors of the van - they rented us a Uhaul truck to get it back over Snoqualmie pass and sent us on our grateful, grateful way.
The fun part
Going up the last part of the summit we hit a snow storm. Sabrina and I in the uhaul, Peter and Shane in the 12 pas. van.
It was a whiteout. With no warning, we were in thick, wet snow and going about 10 mph. The uhaul had bald rear tires, the van - good all season radials. We were getting near the top when we came upon a snarl of stopped vehicles - some putting on chains, some simply spinning their wheels and some flipped around backwards - which Sabrina and I did once or twice before we actually came to a stop behind the traffic jam with vehicles attempting to zoom by on either side (and between cars too!).
So, winter drivers know that stopping on a hill with bald tires in a snowstorm means one thing. You are stuck!
The van passed us by as Peter executed a beautiful slow-motion right-side fishtail maneuver, navigating the 16 foot van between a semi on one side and the concrete median on the other (at a 45 degree angle, I might add).
Sabrina and I left our vehicle to help Peter and Shane maneuver the last few feet to the Snoqualmie exit. I drove the van to the store there and we regrouped in the road. It was decided that Peter and I would return to the stranded uhaul and Sabrina and Shane would attempt to purchase some chains for the poorly equipped truck.
After waiting in the truck for some time, watching the road crew clear the snow I was amazed at the maniacal, "I can make it over the pass!" driving of so many ill-equipped fellow drivers. Cars and trucks of every kind sped by in all sorts of configurations. The most noticeable were the ones with really bad tires - it seems the most popular solution is to get a few people to bounce up and down on the bumper as the driver presses the accelerator to the floor. This results in a lot of spinning noise, steam, and some wild trajectories.
Some front-wheel drive bald-as-can-be vehicles actually drove backwards in order to crest the hill.
Peter left to get the chains from Sabrina and Shane - we wanted to increase the odds of her survival by keeping her out of traffic and avoiding leaving her alone in a dark snowstorm.
After Peter left, a huge truck with a modified brush bumper pulled up behind the uhaul and told me to go light on the gas and he would push me over the pass. The big steel bumper of the uhaul matched up just right and over we went! It was beautiful. He was clearly sent by God to rescue our mission and to place the huge TV right where it was predestined to be.
Our troop was reunited on the downhill side and we cruised back to Yakima nice and slow.
We set up the biggest TV ever and it was all worth it! We can't wait to have some youth out here for a foosball/cards/movie night hosted by the Reach team.
It all brought back memories of driving around north of Spokane when I was in high school. With crummy cars and bad tires we constantly needed our fathers to get us out of the ditch or a snowdrift. I guess Fatherly help is never a thing of the past.
Please join us here as we pray in thanksgiving for the generosity of the Schumacher family and for all their intentions.
Peace,
Dan
10 Comments:
Man, the stories keep gettin better everyday! Your blogg is now bookmarked as my homepage.
That, my friend, is an intense story. It almost makes me want to go rent a uhaul with bald rear tires and take it over the pass, just to see if I could be one of those people trying to do it backwards. I would have to rent a uhaul to do it because I already put the studs on my car in order to avoid being in teh very situation you are talking about. Now I feel like a big wuss.
a stud-wuss?
all that and no damage to the tv?! you guys are good. but you forgot to mention the most important thing.. did the guy that pushed you have a beard? beard= Jesus
also, cool reach ensignia. gots to get me some of those. happy marketing.
That is a great story Dan. Maybe the best part is that that T.V. is now in St. Peters retreat center and I will get to see it. I hope you didn't put it on the top floor or it's liable to topple the whole building.
holy hara dan, glad y'all made it out alive. And the tv is awesome, mark and I tried out some halo during our evening back.
I love that T.V. man (tear tear)
I just want to say that I really enjoy Dan's use of the word "inchorinos"
dear pee pants pirate, i was rereading your blog on "coming clean" and as i read it a tear came to my eye. it just kinda hung there for a while, and i don't know if it was the chortle of my belly or the impact from the laughing of the 12 people i was reading it to, but it fell from my face and stirred up the memories in the pail of "the glory days" as i like to refer to them. well "big Dan B" i hope you don't mysteriously find that huge tv in the mens dorm after a perfectly executed seceret op. signed, anonymous "ignore the neame on the blogger title" rememberer
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