New York Winter

Furnace Call

 

Called out at 2 a.m. to repair a faulty furnace, by 4 it had been a long night.  By 6 it was even longer, but that is about when I finished the repair and started the 35 mile trip back to the garage at the company where I worked.  Did I mention it was bitter cold?  The outside temperature was somewhere below zero, and there had been a frosty spit of snow during the night.

In a hurry to see an end to this escapade I was traveling faster than conditions warranted even though that was yet less than the posted speed limit.  As I traveled along on a city bypass highway I saw in the distance a large truck in the opposite lane heading my direction.  As I approached it I could see it was a snowplow, and further that it was stopped in the opposite lane.  I slowed somewhat as I got still nearer, but not seeing any other moving vehicle I was yet moving along at maybe 40 mph.

As I neared enough to go by it suddenly a car pulled into my lane from behind the truck, its driver attempting to pass the stopped vehicle in his lane.  I couldn’t move into the truck’s lane, nor could I remain in my own, so I headed for the ditch on my side of the road.  As I entered the 3 foot high bank of snow on the side of the road the violently flying snow instantly covered my windshield.  I entered the ditch at an angle, held on to the steering wheel for all I was worth, and hoped for the best.

It seemed like forever, but in actuality was no more than a few seconds until my pickup came to a halt.  All of my body parts seemed intact and still attached.  In a heated cab I had been driving with my coat removed.  My first thought was to put it on.  Then I attempted to get out of the truck to assess where I was, and what I was going to do about it.  The door wouldn’t open easily.  It opened a few inches and stopped against hard packed snow.  I closed it and opened it again more forcefully the second time.  I gained a couple of more inches.  I tried again, and this time a hand from outside grabbed the top of the door and helped me pull the door open.

I was astounded that somehow my closest neighbor stood there in the knee-deep snow, asking if I was alright?  I assured him I was, but felt I needed to tell him what I was doing there.  I said, “I was driving along minding my own business when suddenly a car from the other direction entered my lane.  I had to go in the ditch to miss it.”

He said, “I know, I was driving that other car.”

By that time the adrenaline was slowing down.  I asked Larry for a ride to an all-night restaurant down the road a bit.  He complied, and from there I called my workplace.  I told them to call me a wrecker, but they sent a large company truck instead.  When that truck arrived the driver phoned our workplace again and proposed they call a wrecker, which in due time arrived.

The wrecker towed me to the local Ford dealer as I was driving a Ford pickup bought from them.  They took my truck in, melted snow off of it using a warm-water hose for a half hour before thoroughly inspecting it for any damage.  Free of any damage I went on my way, and took the rest of the day off from work.