ifoh designs: Information Foragers Of Hyperlinks & Designs

It is almost time to get out ye olde snowboard and make my way up north to the mountains for some fun. I have not gone much in the past few years and only got to go once this past year, so I am itching to get back at it. For those of you familiar with Rhode Island, we went to Yawgoo Valley, which is not much of a mountain at all, but the commute is so reasonable you gotta love it. Anyway, it was a great day, and fairly cheap so that is always a plus. About 2 weeks later, near the middle of March, I made plans to go by myself to Wachusett, and left work a little early to get on my way. I work in Quincy, so it wasn’t too bad of a commute, or shouldn’t have been too bad of a commute I should say…

It had to have been the worst snow storm of the season, no in fact it was the worst snow storm of the season, or for that matter the worst in some time. I had thought I forgot my hat, so I went to Marshalls and Job Lot up the road from my work to see if they had one, and neither had one. I went out to my trunk and gave myself an ultimatum. I said:

God if I am supposed to go snowboarding today then when I open my trunk let me find my hat in there.

After a few minutes of searching I found it, so that was good enough to get me behind the wheel and on my way. So as I said I left work early at about 3pm, after those 2 stops it was about 3:30pm so I headed off up 93 (that is a if not the main artery into Boston). Now those of you who are from the area and have driven this route can testify that driving anywhere near Boston during a weekday commute is not on the list of top-10-favorite-things-to-do. Needless to say by adding in a nor’easter to the mix it was about 100 times worse. GREAT. As soon as I get onto the highway I was dead stopped, actually before I was on the highway I was stopped on the on-ramp. This was awesome. It was still early because the afternoon session started at 4pm but I figured I could make it there by 5 and still have about 5 hours of riding to look forward to. Time is ticking by and the snow just keeps coming down and down and down. It is now around 4:45 and I am just getting outside of Boston heading north west of the city towards the mountain. Keep in mind I am not only about 12 miles from my original location (work), and it has taken just about an hour. Radio reports kept announcing road closings as well as my Dad calling letting me know that he saw a lot on the news. I decided to press on. My patience was running thin from being glued to the road for so long and with the blinding snow it was not a pretty sight.

I guess it was at about 5:30 or so and I was in Lexington, MA, 45 miles from the mountain and not making much progress at all. I kept going though. What the hell was I thinking? I got about 5 miles more up the road and saw that none of it had been plowed up ahead. I decided to turn back, finally. After stopping at a Shell gas station and being so stressed from driving I bought a coffee, which I had not drank in a long while and some combos. So fueled up on caffeine and combos I began my return trip to Providence, RI (roughly 60 miles from where I was). I did not get home until almost 9pm that night. What sounded like a great idea and winter activity, turned into the drive of a lifetime.

This year as the season approaches I am going to remember this trip and do my best not to let my passion take over my safety or sanity for that matter.

• Posted at 4:16 pm in life
• Leave a comment