Bad day in Texas

[Matthew Hajicek]

Could you imagine an 18 wheeler in your rear view obviously traveling far to fast to have a chance of stopping before hitting the back of your car  

Not an 18 wheeler, but a large SUV did that to my wife a few years ago, at a red light.  In the summer.  On dry pavement.  In the middle of the day.

The driver admitted she was distracted looking at her phone.  Cop on scene declined to issue a ticket.

[Del.]

As I have gotten older I am more conscious of my driving. I have slowed down on speed and keep my distance safe. Most people just don't understand the power of a vehicle. Dangerous out on the roads more than ever.

[mowens]

There was an ice storm the first week I lived in Dallas. Even a shallow incline was almost impossible to get up and I've driven on ice quite a bit.

[MIL-TFP-41]

There was an ice storm the first week I lived in Dallas. Even a shallow incline was almost impossible to get up and I've driven on ice quite a bit.

I remember one from when I lived in Ft Worth. 1/4 - 1/2" of ice over everything. Took me 20 minutes just to open the door to my truck. Then I got stuck on a speed bump. Never thought I would have to chain up in Texas, but I did that day.

[RobertELee]

Could you imagine an 18 wheeler in your rear view obviously traveling far to fast to have a chance of stopping before hitting the back of your car  

Had it happen last year. Leading a pack of vehicles, the road suddenly turned to glare ice. I'd never seen anything like it, just a perfectly straight line across the road with zero warning. Driving a 3/4ton work van I was sliding sideways down the road for a half mile. Was able to steer it to the shoulder and stop, tried going but the one wheel wonder didn't let me budge. Looked in my side mirror and see a Freightliner coming right for me. All I could do was brace for impact. It's a truly scary feeling not knowing how hard it will actually hit you. Thankfully he was only going about 15mph at the time of impact but it made my van slide about 150 feet. Thankfully it just bashed in the back end and I was sore for a few days.

Best part of the story was about 15 minutes later a tow truck that was coming to pull a car out of the ditch slid across the road and took out the front half of my van. Thankfully I was standing in the ditch at that point. Van was totalled....

Scariest part was a little ways behind the Freightliner was a propane delivery truck, thankfully people were finally able to start waving vehicles to stop and he was the next in line to hit the ice. Can't imagine what would have happened if that truck had not been able to stop.

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[Incogneeto]

There was an ice storm the first week I lived in Dallas. Even a shallow incline was almost impossible to get up and I've driven on ice quite a bit.

 :_thumbup:

[BrianP.]

And stay tuned for more weather related fun in Texas next week. Some of the weather models are showing the chance of 12" of snow... In Dallas. :huh:

Those same models are calling for snow in Houston and even El Paso.

12" of snow is a mild storm. Just last week we got a little over 17". Snow is not bad but ice just plain sucks.

Ice can also make unbelievably  beautiful scenery. From the last real bad ice storm in 2008. Knocked power out for a week or more in many places.

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[ghuns]

...12" of snow is a mild storm...

To those of us up north, sure.

To people in Dallas? It's a little more than that.

[huskermcdoogle]

Everythign is pretty much shut down.  I went out in San Antonio on thursday to get my covid vaccine.  It was 32 and raining/thunderstorm conditions.  I got home and decided regardless of the fact there was no ice that I wasn't going anywhere that day.  An hour later my boss called me and told me I had better not even think about going out.  He lives about 20 minutes north of me and had ice all over everything.  Roads wern't fronzen, but overpasses and whatnot would be.  Glad I decided to stay home.  If there is a call for heavy rain I typically won't go to Austin unless I have a pressing need to do so.  It all comes down to risk management.  I feel fortunate that I can pick and choose when to leave the house, and how it won't effect my base pay whatsoever.  We take personal safety and driving safety pretty seriously.  If I make a trip away from my local area which I will do typically 2 to 3 times a week.  I can expect to spend 5-6 hours/300 miles minimum in the car in a given normal day.  That adds up over the year, especially when you toss in a few longer trips where the mileage doubles and the time is 8-9 hours in a day, typically two days in a row.

Stay safe out there.  There are a lot of yahoos on the road.  I don't worry about myself going off the road.  I worry about other people hitting me.  I have no problem keeping it between the lines or bar ditches when it's as slick as can be.  Growing up in Vermont trained me on that.  About the only thing that ever used to cause me trouble was our 1/4 mile long driveway drifting over 20" deep.  My two wheel drive truck couldn't push through it without chaining up.  Over 30", forget it.  You were better off driving through the field if you could get through the snowbank.  I miss those days.  Though I don't think I have said anything about it here yet, but I will be moving to NH at the end of March.  Same company, different position, now will be closer to family.  Looking forward to being home again.  Guess my Texas chapter in my life is about over, gonna miss somethings about it here.

[CNCAppsJames]

...Though I don't think I have said anything about it here yet, but I will be moving to NH at the end of March.  Same company, different position, now will be closer to family.  Looking forward to being home again.  Guess my Texas chapter in my life is about over, gonna miss somethings about it here.

Like freedom? New England, where our nation was birthed, because of tyranny, now embraces said tyranny. Ironic.

Texas, except for all the commies that emigrated from blue states still embraces freedom and the adventure spirit. But I get it. Family is important. My wife and I were discussing this last night. My 3rd son and his wife are seriously considering moving to North Texas. She's not happy (for the right, yet selfish, reasons). So, we're coming up with some contingency plans should our kids get smart and GTFO of this Kommie laden shithole called California at some point. I already put my foot down, that should we ever be in a position to retire, we WILL be getting out. With property taxes alone quickly approaching $1,000/mo... that's a burden I'm not willing to support should I ever be able to retire. Of course, should the state decide to enact the insane "leaving the state" taxes, that may bump up our time-frame. And those fucktards in Excremento are seriously considering penalizing property and business owners that attempt to escape from behind the iron curtain.

[Del.]

FUCK TEXAS!

[Incogneeto]

...Though I don't think I have said anything about it here yet, but I will be moving to NH at the end of March.  Same company, different position, now will be closer to family.  Looking forward to being home again.  Guess my Texas chapter in my life is about over, gonna miss somethings about it here.

Like freedom? New England, where our nation was birthed, because of tyranny, now embraces said tyranny. Ironic.

Texas, except for all the commies that emigrated from blue states still embraces freedom and the adventure spirit. But I get it. Family is important. My wife and I were discussing this last night. My 3rd son and his wife are seriously considering moving to North Texas. She's not happy (for the right, yet selfish, reasons). So, we're coming up with some contingency plans should our kids get smart and GTFO of this Kommie laden shithole called California at some point. I already put my foot down, that should we ever be in a position to retire, we WILL be getting out. With property taxes alone quickly approaching $1,000/mo... that's a burden I'm not willing to support should I ever be able to retire. Of course, should the state decide to enact the insane "leaving the state" taxes, that may bump up our time-frame. And those fucktards in Excremento are seriously considering penalizing property and business owners that attempt to escape from behind the iron curtain.

Run...Run to Texas .Once you get past the culture shock you will embrace Freedom.
Don't look Back.

Tyler and Longview are Beautiful towns surrounded by smaller more beautiful towns.

you should take a trip to investigate.

Henderson, Kilgore lots of lake property. You would be surprised at what you can afford there.

[Jim at Gentex]

Guess my Texas chapter in my life is about over, gonna miss somethings about it here.

Tough decision there husker.
Yeah, being closer to family is a big consideration, so I don't think you will regret the move.

I have a nephew who was stationed at Fort Hood when he was in the Army, and he liked the Austin area so much he decided to stay there after he got out of the service.  He has thought about moving back home to PA, but he now has three kids and two exes there in Austin, so he decided to stay closer to the kids. (He can literally say "All My Exes Live in Texas" because it is true!)

But in your case with no family there, and only the job keeping you there, I think I would make the same choice to move closer to home.

Good luck!  

[pmartin]

FUCK TEXAS!

Personally I couldn't wait to get out of Texas. It had nothing to do with the politics or the people. I just couldn't stand the weather. It was back to Vermont for me the moment that I got out of the Army.

BTW Austin is the best city in Texas. If I had married a Texan and had to stay I would have chosen Austin.

[huskermcdoogle]

This is what I woke up to this morning.  9 degrees.  Far colder than it should get here.  Our infrastructure isn't meant to handle this.
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4 of 4 outside spickets were frozen last night, got three of them thawed out and reinsulated.  The one of those is going to freeze and split.  But hopefully the other three will survive.   Left one that comes up from the incoming line running, it's out there happily making ice.  The ones coming through the wall, I just have to roll the dice and hope for the best.....

I'll be glad to be back north where our houses are designed to handle this type of thing.  The family house I'm moving into can be winterized in 5 minutes.  We've got about a 95% success rate with coming back to find no broken or frozen pipes.  That said the other 5% of the time...  Well needless to say I learned at a young age how to solder water pipes.  Thankfully most of the plumbing in the house is mostly accessible.   Now, with sharkbite connectors and other quick connect type plumbing options, repairs are a bit easier, just cut out the split, or section where you can get a cutter in there, and then piece it back together in a few minutes with the push to connect connectors, bob's your uncle.