Subaru Saved Christmas

[MorganM]

We didn't have to travel far on Christmas day but we did have to go from Burnsville to Eagan then to Rosemont. Just the weather we had over that WED and THUR made the driving conditions very bad. Christmas morning I knew my wife was coming home soon and they had just plowed the street making a waist deep drift of heavy snow. I knew her car wouldn't make it through that and even if she got a run at it the driveway wasn't plowed yet either and she'd just get stuck there. So I warmed up the OBS and 'plowed' the driveway =) No problem in the unplowed drive and just punched right through the drift.

 

She had a rough time getting home and suggested we take my Subaru. We loaded up what we could in the hatch back and took off for Eagan. The roads through Eagan were significantly worse than Burnsville. Glad we had opted for the AWD vehicle at that point already. Those 4% grade hills on Diffley were rough and Northview Park Rd was even worse. I had to slow down to 25-30 just to maintain good control of the vehicle.

 

Travel during the day was fine. It warmed up a bit, the plows had been out all morning, and things were just wet. However the rain and sleet would come back to haunt us once the temps droped back down.

 

When we left Rosemont it was about 11 PM; all the rain and slush from the day had iced over completely. I had to force my doors open as they were frozen shut! Cedar and 42 were all glare ice. Saw more than one idiot fly through an intersection after they realized too late they were driving way too fast on sheer ice. We all got home safely and had no trouble driving on some really terrible roads.

 

Best part was pulling into the garage; safe and sound. I know if we had taken my wife's car we would have gotten stuck at least once, possibly ended up in a ditch, or wrose.

[Scoobywagon]

Glad you had a nice day with the family. Glad you made it home safe.

 

Happy new year.

[RobJ426]

We used to live in Mankato and then for two years I had to commute daily from Prior lake back to Mankato while my wife did an internship at Hennepin County Med Center. I remember those days- arriving home in a dripping sweat even though it was 20 and blizzarding out. As long as I could see through the three inch unfrozen slot the frozen wipers were making and I could keep the car between the scattered farm mail boxes spaced about every 75 yards I knew I was still on the road....

 

I'm with you in spirit! Glad you had a safe Christmas.

[heartless]

we had pretty much the same here in central Wisconsin. Went to my mom's on Christmas day - only an hour away - rain/sleet during the day on & off - thankfully we had switched trips around & didnt have to go to Madison (normally a 3 hr trip one way) that day.

 

Saturday was the Madison trip - car doors were frozen shut that morning - had to use some hot water to get in! drive down was a snap, hit a few light snow flurries on the way down, but not bad.

 

The trip home was a lot worse (for those NOT driving a Subaru!!) the spotty light flurries had expanded and dumped more on the hiway - saw several single car accidents (people in ditches) and one multi vehicle involving 5 cars!

 

Was very grateful for the AWD Subie! she got us home safe and sound! and the trip home was only a half hour longer than normal - even with all the slow downs for the unfortunates in the ditches!