Winter Sport !

I have blogged about many of my vacation trips in the past. But I have never done this kind of a trip in my life so far where I almost reached my destination but could not make it…where there were signs/omens but I did not read it…

I was waiting for the winter to come to see some snow and do some winter sport. Since there is no snow in our place, I decided to visit Lake Tahoe where it snows and lot of winter activities happen. 

I booked a hotel well in advance to get a competitive rate. The trip was planned on 20^th of this month (December). On 19^th, I did some last minute purchase (some gloves, caps etc) and we were all set. We wished to reach there before check in time (3 pm) coz the sun sets very early and then it will be difficult to drive since there will be snow fall during evening/night.

I could not sleep well at night and I woke up with severe headache and thus the trip got delayed for 2 hours. When I was about to enter the road from driveway, there came a ‘red’ truck and there came a thought in my mind ‘ is that any warning?’ then I thought ‘how can I be such a superstitious person?’. As soon as I entered the road, there came a red car for which I had to stop. Then I thought maybe these are coincidence or just a warning to be a little careful. So, there we gooooo

Since we started late, I wished ‘if only the traffic lights were all green, I could save lot of time’. The first light was green, so was the second, third, forth, fifth… hey this is great !

We had checked the Google map for planning and I use GPS to drive. GPS showed a different route than the Google one. But we followed the GPS. But all of a sudden, for no reason, the GPS said ‘recalculating’  and came with a different route. Usually this happens when there is traffic jam/block etc and it also depends on the settings. This time, we had no idea (usually it is my wife who handle the GPS and route and I just drive. So she is good with GPS stuff than me but even she could not find out why the route changed). We missed a billboard which gave a warning about some road closure. We did not care much coz our GPS has traffic update and it can tell us which road is closed and where the traffic is heavy.

We started climbing hills. The temperature started dropping. 5, 4, 3, 2 …I was thrilled and kept looking at the thermometer. I was waiting for 0 to come and finally there it is minus one…wow. It was a great feeling and there it is – SNOW. I saw a board ‘Chains required’ but did not see any car with tire chains. I have seen similar boards like 'ICY' and something related to tire chains during summer too. So, I thought these boards are always there.

Before traveling we asked one person who already have done this route and he said he did not use any chain though there was snow. And I read that there are places where we can stop our car and put chains and there will be professional people who we can hire. I had practiced how to put chains but since I did not feel any difficulty in driving and saw nobody is using chains, I went on. I thought there will be BIG snow ahead where we might require chains. On and off, I saw these guys who were removing snow from the road driving bulldozer and some other equipment (I still do not know its name)

Then, the GPS stopped working…it could not load maps. There is no phone signal and hence we can not make any calls, nor any search. I told my wife:

“I wonder why we are the only people in this road”

Then there I saw another black car (mine is black) ahead of me. It was a relief but then I saw him turning back. I went ahead and it looked dead end for me. There is no road but HUGE ice or snow or whatever. And there goes a road on to my right. Wife said she is sure that our road was supposed to be a straight road and there is no need to take right turn. We were just 30 miles or less away from our destination

So, I turned back and asked a driver of one of those bulldozers. He said

‘Lake Tahoe is that way but the road is blocked and it might take a day to open this road. You have to go all the way down…..” and he gave us a different route (which was the Google route, which had less trouble).

Then there came another guy and he told me:

“You are not using chains. If the highway patrol see you, you MIGHT get a ticket”

I said thanks to them , turned back and proceeded. My wife started getting worried coz – it is snowing, we need to climb down all the way and this will take longer than we expected, may be 2-3 hours more and by that time it will be night.. and she said

“This is what that billboard said, I guess…it said this road is closed ”

But then why the GPS did not inform us? No idea..It gave us the worst route..…

Everywhere it is snow and ice and it made me happy rather than worried and the happiness weighed more, may be. But this does not mean that I was not worried. And I felt I better put chains but there came a thought:

“the road is closed so, there is no chance for police patrolling this road and that driver said I MIGHT get a ticket so chains may not be mandatory ” and wife just said “yes” she was not worried about the chains but other things coz I was driving without any problem. Then….

I spotted a police vehicle well ahead of me and I pressed break. I was on the right side, obviously, closer to the center of the road, but the car started moving to left, skidding. I am going in the wrong direction. There is no control even after putting the hand brake. The car moved slowly and hit a huge chunk of snow and stopped (luckily, coz I think else we could have fallen into the valley....I do not know coz everything was covered in snow). I wasn’t worried and did not lose my presence of mind and managed to back it slowly and proceed further. By that time the police van disappeared. But I said:

“I think we need to put the chains”

We were going down and hence I thought I will stop at some level/even place or turn out place. There was one such place but it was already occupied by the cop! And he caught the other black car. I stopped my car and started putting the chain. Then the cop reversed his van and asked what happened and I told him that I am putting chains. Then he said:

"Follow me and pull over there". I did.

He came out of the van, so did I (we are not supposed to come out of the car when a cop stop us. But he will come to us. Not like India). He asked:

“So, you stopped there coz you knew that you cannot pass me without chains, right?”

“No, sir… Those bulldozer drivers asked me to put chains and I was looking for a right place…I am driving on such conditions for the first time in my life”

He stared at me and asked:

“Did you see those board reading chains required?, there were many of them”

“Yes”

“Then why you did not put chains while coming up? You were supposed to do that”

I had no proper answer and I said I did not find a proper place. As a matter of fact, I expected some special places with pros available to help (that is what the internet say). He did not agree:

“No, there were lots of places”

I just said “I am sorry sir” and he said “can I see your driver license, registration and insurance?

So, it is a ticket ! So far I have a clean driving record and here I am going to get my first ticket…This really made me very sad.

He asked me to go ahead with my chain thing and wrote a ticket. I was wearing a normal woolen glove and the temperature was minus 5. BIG mistake. There was a chunk of snow between the tire and the body of the car. I wet my hand…when I finished putting the chains, my hand/fingers froze (then I remembered my Romanian friend saying “if you do not protect yourself in minus temperatures, it will result in frostbite. And even might result in amputation” )

Cop gave me lots of advice and issued a ticket. My hands was paining like hell and became numb. I switched on heater and changed into another thicker glove. Slowly the pain started going away and I can feel my fingers…what a relief…

After sometime, the GPS started working and said some direction and then again it failed. This time it did not even turn on. But last time, what it said was to take a left turn. But that left turn was filled with heavy snow (coz snow wasn't removed).  I turned and my wheels got stuck, I cannot move at all. Wheels started spinning and the car started coming back. I told my wife:

“It is impossible for us, even with chains. Only 4 wheel drive cars can go through this road”

We were already late (coz of the chain I was driving at 20 miles per hour)..the sun started setting, GPS not working, no phones working, no cars passing, no food to eat, there is no restaurants around, no houses around, it’s snowing and the temperature is minus 5 or 6…

I managed to back my car from the snow, safely and started moving very slowly coz the road has become icy. I went further and said:

“I feel like there is no chain”

I stopped the car and checked…the chain is gone ! we need to turn back safely, go up and get it but what if the cop finds me again without chains?

I was sure that it might have lost in that huge snow.. and yes, it was there buried deep inside that snow I pulled it out but it was damaged !! Luckily I had some tool to fix it. But will it last for the entire trip? No idea.

Chain again and there we go…then the road looked better and I decided to remove the chain. There still was snow on the sides of the road but the middle looked fine. I stopped the car, removed the chain and said:

“what about taking a picture of mine?” and my wife became angry and said:

“Are you crazy? I just can’t believe you, really, I just can’t believe you”

“Ok, fine, no photo then.”

I told I want to make this trip and ready to drive through snow at night, taking the risk. But wife said we better go back home. It was a big disappointment for me. But I said:

“Yes, it looks like something tells us to go back… we are going back home…when you can make a call, call up the hotel and tell them that we cannot make it”

GPS started working and it worked all the way till we reach home and then became dead again.

Finally, its home sweet home….

Man ! , what a trip !

Life in the US - Part 2

County Libraries are one of the wonderful things here. The membership is free and we can borrow 75 books at a time! But the same reason becomes a con because people take more books than they want and thus most of the popular books will not be available (we can book a book). Libraries provide almost all info we need, for free. Means, they will provide free internet, info on schools and colleges, the California driver handbook, info about social security, upcoming events in that locality etc. There are lots of big print edition books for the elderly people. They keep lots of magazines and lots of other language books too (like, Hindi, Farsi, Chinese, Tagalog etc). Apart from books we can borrow Audio and Video CDs/DVDs too. With a single membership, we can use the facilities of the other libraries that come under that county.  

One thing when could not avoid noticing here is the lack of electric switches, in most cases. Most of the panel has only sockets but no switch. This is mentioned by Jackie Chan in his latest ‘Karate Kid’ movie. When the kid says ‘we do not have switch in America’ he says ‘keep switch and save the planet’. Yes, we have 24 hours hot water. Electrical equipment are just plugged into the socket and there is no ‘on or off’ concept, in general (of course there is switch for stuffs like in sink garbage disposer)

Unlike India, we cannot directly consult a specialist. As per the ‘system’ we need to consult our primary care physician and then that doc has to refer to respective specialist. If we break this system and visit Urgent Care or Emergency Room, we will end up paying more money. Some basic insurance might not even cover such visits.

Initially I thought I will take up some university course here. But the reality is education is very expensive here. So, most people (citizens) avail educational loans to study. Back in my native place, lots of people have a college degree and here it is not the case. Even in IT field, many of the locals are not computer engineers. That is one of the reasons why Asians dominate here in IT field.

It’s a rich country, but there is poverty and unemployment here in US too. And at present, it’s very high.  Recently the government cut funds for most of the things. But surprisingly they have funds for war, always. One reason for unemployment is the outsourcing. It’s not just some software but lots and lots of other things too. Go to any shop and try to find something ‘Made in USA’ and its tough time to find. Most items are Chinese and Americans really do not like it. They consider it as cheap quality. But there is not much choice left. This might sound surprising, but it’s a reality that Dell do not make any computer here in US, though Dell is a US company. There is not even a single company in US which makes spoons, forks and knives. Same with canned sardine, Levi jeans and cell phones (including iphone4) – none of these are made here. Here the labor cost is high and hence the corporates just invest their money on other countries to double or triple their return.

This country is strange. Here we can find people from almost every other country. Many ‘real’ Americans do not like this (including one of my acquaintances). This country gives citizenship even through lottery system. People from most of the Asian counties like India, Philippines, China etc cannot participate in the lottery system currently since their population is very high here. But people from lots of other country can participate in the lottery and if they win, they can come here and get settled. Looks like the founders of US wanted to make this a cosmopolitan country. 

That’s how things are here….

So? 

So, God bless America !