Sheeit is serious in Bama....

[Big Muddy]

Got a niece in B'ham who is a dentist....she, along with thousands of other motorists got stranded in the snowstorm yesterday....she abandoned her car, and walked to a Hampton Inn, where she and hundreds of others spent the night on the floor of the lobby....they'll spend tonite there, too.

1,800 students are stranded in various schools around B'ham, too....the south just isn't prepared for this sort of weather.

[Chicken Dinner]

How much snow did they get?

[BarryBobPosthole]

One of my nieces moved to Atlanta from Missouri and she's been laughing her ass off at what's happened to the traffic there. there's parts of this that really can't be blamed on preparedness. Some of it is plain old dumbassery.

BKB

[Thumper]

Dang! Yesterday we had the a/c on! Today it's 53 frigging degrees! BUT ... starting Friday through all of next week, we'll be in the low to mid-80's! Lynn and I are gonna spend Sat-Mon at the Hyatt Regency on the beach.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Thump, when all those people come running out and try to roll you over back into the water try not to take it personal.

BKB

[Thumper]

Hey! I think it's time you go retrieve a tall stool ... you know the drill! ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

Which beach are you guys headed to Jim?

BKB

[Big Muddy]

Yep, it only takes one or two idiotic drivers to screw up the entire hiway for the thousands of other drivers, following behind them. ;)

[Big Muddy]

Which beach are you guys headed to Jim?

BKB


Is it too early to issue a tsunami warning??? ;)

[airbud7]

Yea, we got that ice/snow mix here to...

2455

[Big Muddy]

Uhhhh, Airbud, what are you doing, hanging around here???....why ain't you at the back of that Budweiser truck, waiting for some cases to fall out??? ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

AirBUD.

BKB

[airbud7]

its in my shed out back...:biggrin

[BarryBobPosthole]

This just in "Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Wednesday that he believes it was a mistake for businesses and schools to release people early at roughly the same time as Tuesday's snow hit the area"

Uh, yathink?

BKB

[Niner]

The problem is usually the Yankee transplants that drive 80mph on the stuff while saying "we drive on this stuff all the time back home".

[Thumper]

Which beach are you guys headed to Jim? BKB

We're just running over to Tampa for the weekend P-hole (Sat and Sun night). Lynn has a free room over there for a couple nights. Gonna hit an estate sale early in the morning, then the beach for a bit of metal detecting and just hang out until early check-in at noon, then go to lunch. I thought it was the Hyatt Regency, but just checked the itenerary and it's the Grand Hyatt.

http://www.tnetnoc.com/hotelphotos/944/38944/2631759-Grand-Hyatt-Tampa-Bay-Suite-2-DEF.jpg

http://www.golfpactampa.com/graphics/lodging/TA-GRH-03-360x260.JPG

We also have dinner reservations and get a 50% discount there.

http://www.grandhyatttampabay.com/websites/grandhyatttampabay/templates/hyatttampabay/images/banner_imgs/dining_entertainment.jpg

[airbud7]

2458

[BarryBobPosthole]

I miss Tampa from the time I lived down there. Actually lived in St Pete. Of course, Tampa-St Pete from the mid 70's to now is a completely different animal. I spent a few days in Tampa last year on business up by Temple Terrace where USF is and I was amazed at how much the place had changed. Tampa always felt like a small town to me when I was there in the 70's. One of my ex wife's good friends was dating a captain (which made it awkward socially as in those days they didn't fraternize with scum like NCOs much). He had a place just north of Tampa in a neighborhood that had a natural lake where we used to water ski a lot when we'd do stuff with them. It was what I'd call 'town and country' in those days. Now you couldn't swing a cat with it hitting someone's house. Man that place has grown up. The traffic is bad, and a lot of the old Florida is gone. Too bad. Seems like the SW coast is the only place any of that local flavor is any more.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yep, it's like any other place. One thing about it though, as in most places, us locals usually know where to go to get away from the non-local crowds.

Note: The Grand Hyatt is NOT one of those places ... but we'll have a car. :D

[BarryBobPosthole]

I wonder what Clearwater is like nowadays? Used to be some very nice beaches, some awesome little bars, and just an overall nice place to spend a day hanging out.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

Oh, the humanity!


Yea, we got that ice/snow mix here to...

2455

[LJ3]

2458

Since Sr. Noticer is asleep at the wheel I'd like to point out that Canada drives on the RIGHT side of the road.

[Big Skyz]

We are about to get slammed by snow starting any minute through Thursday night. Might be as much as a foot or more snow, but it will drift making things fairly difficult. Supposed to be a high of 18 degree's tomorrow. So what does all this mean to us in Montana? Not much, other than it's just another day in January. School's and businesses won't close. They won't be any 100 car pile ups, or thousands of fender benders. It will just be another cold winter day like any other. Now what we can't stand is when the temps get above a 100 degree's. Can't take that!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Since Sr. Noticer is asleep at the wheel I'd like to point out that Canada drives on the RIGHT side of the road.

Y'all expect me to shoulder this enormous load all by my lonesome.

BKB

[Big Skyz]

BBP, it depends on the time of day in Canada. You know, before or after the bar is closed.

[Sunshine]

:)

[Big Muddy]

My niece sent me this pic taken from roof balcony of Hampton Inn, where she was stranded....her new Audi is down there in that mess some place....guys in 4x4 vehicles are going around, offering free rides home to folks who live in the vicinity....she hopped a ride with a nice fellow in a big black F150 4x4, and she is now home, safe and sound, but without her Audi.

She said the trip to her home 6 miles away, even in the guy's 4x4 truck, was mostly sideways and sometimes going backwards. ;)

2459

[BarryBobPosthole]

So folks are just abandoning their cars on the highway? It'll never get cleared up that way!
BKB

[Big Muddy]

Lots of them stayed with their vehicles, and spent the night in them, until they ran outta gas....then, they HAD to abandon them, or they'd freeze to death....10 degrees.

My niece was dressed in her dentist work scrubs and a light jacket....nothing else....she stayed with the Audi for 6-7 hours, moved about 1/4 mile in that time, until the gas gauge showed past empty....she made a wise decision to abandon the car, and walk about half mile to the Hampton....screw the Audi, it all worked out safely for her, thank goodness.

She said she was working on a patient at 10 am, yesterday....she went to work and there were no weather warnings out, other than the routine cold weather warnings....someone walked into her office, and told her the building was shutting down, and to leave, immediately, due to snow and ice accumulation....she did as she was told, and got caught in it on the interstate.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Amazing. I remember back in the 70's I made quite a few trips across old highway 90. This was when 10 was being built and there would be massive traffic jams from about the Florida border to Mobile and between Mobile and Pascagoula, Ms. We were headed over to Destin or Pensacola to party and it was nothing for someone to get out of the car with a jug and go party with people up and down the highway. Traffic would be backed up for 10 miles. We'd find them swaying by the side of the road down on the other side of the jam. It was part of the trip, both ways.

BKB

[Penguin]

Ummm, ummm, ummmm. Gads!

I guess they just don't figure it is worth it to be prepared. Mayhap they're right. But great googley moogley this is easy enough to deal with if you have the right tools. Hells bells, this isn't even a serious snow!

Damned glad I wasn't caught in that mess. I have a kit in the back and could have rode the storm out no problem but I'd have been mad as a hornet over it. Having a 4 wheel drive with snow tires has its privileges but it can't fly you over 10,000 abandoned vehicles stacked ditch to divider wall. :)

Will

[Thumper]

In my trucking days, I was hauling a load across I-40 and it was snowing like crazy. Not much was moving, but I was in a two truck "convoy" and in constant contact with the truck in front of me via CB radio. All of a sudden, just before we hit Flagstaff, AZ, he started yelling, "WHITE OUT!! WHITE OUT!!" and instantly "disappeared" from sight. I glanced to my right and noticed I was right next to an exit. Somehow I made that turn and got off the highway, but it was too late for my "partner" (I didn't know him, we were just talking on the radio) as he had already passed the exit. Luckily, there was a truck stop there and I pulled in. As it turned out, I was stuck there for 3 days! At the exit, you had to go downhill into the truck stop. Once it quit snowing, things got icy and every truck that tried to climb that hill ended up sliding backwards until they ended up in the ditch. What a mess ... I'd bet there were 10-12 trucks all jack-knifed on that hill. Nobody could get in OR out!

They started clearing the interstate first, then started clearing the exits (and towing all those trucks out of the ditch), BUT ... just a couple miles ahead, I was going to be headed North on a small State highway up to Salt Lake City and the reports I got were that the road was iced up for miles and would take a couple days before the plows and salt trucks could clear it. I finally delivered my load in SLC three days late. :(

[Niner]

It ain't the snow that's the problem. It's the ice that the snow turns into.

Southern states DOT departments just can't budget for a bunch of salt trucks that MIGHT get used once a year. They've got potholes to fix 300 (or so) days a year.

[Thumper]

I'm not sure the State of Florida even OWNS a salt truck! (or a snow plow!) ;)

If we get any iced up roads, they prolly throw beach sand on 'em.

[Bwana]

Hey Thumper, when you are in Clearwater please stop by Frenchy's Rockaway Grill and have some shrimp for me and then head south to the little Cuban place for a good sandwich and Sangria. Wish I was there with you.

[Thumper]

Yeah Bwana ... Frenchy's is one of our old haunts. We go for the grouper sandwich mostly. BUT ... we go to the original joint ... just a little hole in the wall and not too fanacy compared to the other, more touristy locations he's opened over the years. This place is an old "locals" hang-out that's been there almost 35 years.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nitd_ekCTeg/T0hh_KrdmKI/AAAAAAAAEaU/Rh4ZLjw0g0c/s400/CwaterFrenchys.jpg



And here's the Rockaway where the tourists go! (can you see the difference?) :D

http://www.infobarrel.com/media/image/81790_max.jpg

[Bwana]

I am aware that the Rockaway is the touristy place but it is handy while walking the beach even if the original is only a couple of blocks off of it v

[Thumper]

No prob Bwana ... A family in Florida that is here from NoDak is SUPPOSED to play tourist! That's what makes it fun. I'd have to assume the food is the same or comparable anyway. No clue as I've never been to his other places ... but a beach bar is the place to be when you're ... well ... at the beach!

When are you coming back down? Gonna be in the low to mid 80's here over the weekend. :D