Suzie's Snow Story

Colorado News
Howdy ,
Charlie and I had such an eventful weekend that I feel inclined to tell you all about it. As I think I mentioned, we were house and puppy sitting for a friend out in Stagecoach, which is a little lake town about 20 – 30 minutes away from Steamboat. It is a pretty drive in the day time, but at night the winding roads and “passes” (I wasn’t aware that this just means that a road is winding and really steep) are a bit treacherous. We navigated them Friday and Saturday thanks to my having to return to work in Steamboat on both days. We crept along the curvy parts gingerly as they are dangerous and I am in need of new tires (actually that is the main reason that I was doing the house sitting.) On Sunday, after I spent another 5 hours finishing the 7.5 hours of cleaning the house Charlie and I said a sad farewell to the toy poodles and PJ the cat, loaded up the Pathfinder with our turkey day leftovers, and heading back to Steamboat to relax a bit and maybe grocery shop. I asked Charlie to drive as I was tired and my joints hurt from all the stairs and bending to clean….plus I think he is a bit more comfortable driving in the snow to be honest. As we came down what I now know as Yellow Jacket Pass Charlie lost control of the Pathfinder. What I didn’t see at the time was 1. he didn’t have his seatbelt on 2. he was trying to not only not run off the road, but not run into what looked like a Ford Explorer that was in the ditch that we were heading for without passengers. He managed to avoid the Explorer, but we ran off the road and knowing that most of that drive is a couple thousand feet higher than Steamboat I thought for sure we were goners. I have learnt that I do not scream when in the face of what I thought at the time was certain death or manglement. Charlie reached his arm over to me in a mother-ish movement when we left the road with all four tires sliding sideways. As I watched the very small tree line approaching I looked over at Charlie and suddenly the SUV stopped. We were leaning so drastically to the left that Charlie and I sat quite still for a moment as we both thought the smallest move would knock us over the edge of a huge cliff. All we could see were the branches squished against the car. (there is a picture attached.) I tried to calmly call a tow truck once we realized that we were not going to fall off the mountain. It took about 6 friggin’ phone calls, but I finally got someone who knew where we were at and was heading out to us. Charlie and I sat in the car with the windows rolled trying to keep the heat in for about and hour. Charlie was wearing his slippers and a pair of shorts as we didn’t really intend on going anywhere but home. Neither one of us is harmed thanks to Charlie taking that turn at 25 mph. Just over an hour into the ordeal Charlie got out of the car to check out the damage and a Sherriff’s car pulled up. They assessed the situation, reported that we were not harmed, and offered for us to sit in the back of their SUV. I must confess it was the most comfortable back seat of a cop car that I have ever sat in….and if you remember my youth that is saying a fair piece. The tow guy was a moron and drove right past us taking up an additional two hours or so before he returned. His comment in regards to that was, “Well I saw the sheriffs car and you all standing outside, but I didn’t know it was you because you didn’t wave.” My personal opinion was that he was so stoned that when he saw the sheriff car he drove away to “freshen up” before returning. Once they pulled the car out the sheriff started it up and it squealed like it always does in the snow. The sheriff that was training the other sheriff was next to me and said, “Well she is running but your belt is squealing.” I responded that like my vehicle did not like the snow. Long story short Charlie drove us home and the pathfinder only has a few scratches on her. Charlie pulled a couple pieces that go to my bumper out of the snow. He then jumped in the driver seat again and drove us slowly home.
So since I am a camera freak as always I took some pictures from my cell phone and have attached those for you. Charlie and I are splitting the cost for some nice Blizzak snow tires for my pathfinder as well. I should have them on by the beginning of next week and am not driving outside of town until I have those on my car.
Sending lots of love from snowy Co,
Suzie Q