Fall is arriving and while the cooler mornings are making for some very pleasant runs in that I'm not sweating the moment I step out the door and I'm not having to get up at 5 am, I must say that I don't like the shorter daylight hours available. Another down side--heavy rains are back, esp. in Texas. While Texas really, really, really needs the rain it makes for white knuckle driving at times because I think everybody there has forgotten how to drive in the stuff. It certainly doesn't help that the rain was coming all at once in certain areas instead of slow and steady.
Last Thursday and Friday the I35 corridor from Waco to San Antonio was bordering on nightmarish. Wrecks everywhere, flash flooding (although that wasn't quite as bad as a few years ago when every low spot on the interstate was underwater), and just general stupidity on more than a few motorists' parts (truck and 4-wheeler).
Friday in particular was adventurous, it ended up taking me 3 hours to drive the 64 miles from the south side of Austin to Salado. Austin, well it's just Austin. It's going to be stop and go through there no matter the time of day but it was well before rush hour started so it shouldn't have been quite as bad as what it was, esp. with no accidents.
From the 272 mile marker to the 285 (Jarrell to Salado) though I was only able to average around 7.43 mph. The cause of the delay was the Salado Creek overflowing its banks onto the interstate........Normally this is a very pretty little creek that you can walk across, maybe knee deep at most. Friday it was a raging monster! Now by the time I reached it, the water had subsided to where it was no longer covering the interstate but still very scary looking.
Very blurry pic
Note the stop ahead warning sign
One of the 4 news crews filming the traffic backup and flooding.
I ended up shutting down at Robinson even though I had the hours available to drive because my nerves were shot from the traffic. Had entirely too many motorists pulling directly in front of me and slamming on their brakes and since I didn't have a race to get in for on Saturday there was no need to rush home.
Traffic tip of the day--if it's rainy, misty, overcast, etc.....please use your headlights. Certain colors of cars (white and dark colors) just get lost in the spray and are practically invisible during these conditions.
3 comments:
I like when nature cuts loose like that. Especially if im home and not driving in it!
Aaron,
I agree, cool stuff but I most definitely would have preferred to have not sat in the traffic jam prior to it. Surprisingly this week it was back to normal. I would have thought the creek would have been way up still with all the rain they're (we're) still getting.
That is my biggest fear....Someone cutting me off and hydroplaning! I try to leave enough space for just such occasions, but inevitably, someone feels the need to fill it!
Me too, Aaron!! I love nasty weather!!
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