thoughtsandcrosses: The Englishman who went up a hill and came down a snow storm...

Wednesday December 29th

I awoke to a white exterior. It had indeed snowed overnight. I knew straight away that I would not be heading north into Utah. My other option was to go to Vegas, but I didn't quite feel like it. I started to think maybe I would stay in Flagstaff for a few days. It would be kind of fun to be snowed in for a few days. A forced stop on the unknown road. Then I remembered something. I had planned to visit some friends of the family in San Francisco on the 2nd January. I also knew that they were going to be in Scottsdale, near Phoenix, up until December 31st, and had extended an invitation to me if I wanted to. Originally I had said I would I'd be fine meeting them on January 2nd, but now I had an idea. If indeed I did visit them in Scottsdale, I could then extend my car rental, and stay on the road a few more days. I sent an email and made a phone call. I left a message and hoped for a quick reply. If I was to leave Flagstaff, it would have to be soon. It was still snowing.

My phone rang, and it was Nicola (I will explain the full story of how I know them later). She said I could go and visit them and they could provide me with a bed. I quickly chatted with Felicia and Michelle as to whether I would be best to go straight away or in the morning. They advised straight away because by tomorrow the roads might be closed, and it's also safer to drive in fresh snow than to wait overnight when it might ice over. I decided to go for it, and as I was driving south the snow would soon clear. I scraped the car, set the heater to blast, and made my way. The GPS predicted just over 2 hours, though I expected longer as traffic would probably be slow. Not long out of Flagstaff I started to wonder if I'd made the right decision. Within 10 minutes I had passed one pick up truck on its side, and a car that had spun off the road, and an accident between two cars. The speed limit on the I17 was 75 mph, but I had so far gone no faster than 40mph. But the roads had been ploughed and gritted, so I reckoned it would be ok. Ten minutes later traffic came to a standstill. Something must have happened up ahead. I sat there, windscreen wipers going to keep the fresh snow away, Blur playing on my ipod, and nowhere to go. People started to get out of their cars and take photos. And throw snowballs. Then a fire engine went past. And the highway patrol. And a recovery truck. And an ambulance. I had no idea how long this could be. After about an hour and half, things started to move. They must have cleared the accident. We edged forward, at about 5mph. I passed a number of cars stuck on the side, with police attempting to winch them out. Still at 5mph. No faster. As the accident had held up traffic for an hour and a half, so the road had filled up with snow for an hour and a half. It was treacherous ground. Still at 5mph. Then out of no where I went into a spin. Only a little one, but I knew I was no longer in control. I only slid a little, but I could feel the back of the car beginning to spin out to my left. Before I had a chance to do anything the car had spun 90 degrees, the front of the car was now in the snow to my right, the rear of the car sticking halfway into the lane. I put the hazard lights on and got out of the car to assess the situation. A number of cars drove by with people starting out of their window, but no one stopped. After about 5 cars there was a large gap before the next bunch of cars, so I thought I'd see if there was enough traction to reverse back into the road. With my fingers crossed, I gently put my foot on the gas, and to my relief the car backed up. I slowly realigned the car and continued my journey at 5mph. I passed a number of other that had spun heavily into the snow, and two full articulated lorries that had been abandoned on the side of road, no driver in sight. I eventually got to lower ground (Flagstaff is at 7000 feet) and the snow disappeared.

Then the rain arrived. It rained all the way to Phoenix. At times I could hardly see in front of me. Especially when passing a truck. After 5 hours, I eventually arrived in Scottsdale, pulled into the drive, turned the engine off, and for 2 minutes I just sat there, staring out of the windscreen. Now I'm not overly religious, but I certainly thanked someone for keeping me safe on the road. Who I thanked I don't know. The Good Lord? Moses? Eric Cantona? My parents? Whoever it was, thank you. I got out of the car, sheltered from the rain, and knocked on the door...