Good morning, and welcome to the skating rink! It is icy out there…
First off, note that Highway 18 is very slick this morning. Much of it, down to around Panorama Point or so, is shiny, thin, black ice. (From Upper Waterman Canyon and down, the road seems dry, and temps rise above freezing… I do not see ice as a concern below that point.) It’s slippery enough that when you stand on the brakes, you will not detect any deceleration, and steering is fairly unresponsive. Now, there are cinders on parts of the road, and most sections have more “textured” parts of the roadway that can be used to gain a little traction. However, the main driven roadway’s tire tracks are a glistening mirror of slipperousity. Keep it slow, do not drive along next to other vehicles (that way when one vehicle wipes out, only one has to crash instead of a group of cars), and try to use the banking of the curves to maintain a neutral position in your lane.
Okay, the rest of Crestline’s roads are hardpacked ice and snow. It’s sorta slick (nowhere near as slippery as Highway 18’s ice skating rink, though), but most of it is reasonably rough in texture, even to the point of annoying washboard in many areas. Maintain a steady, even speed to include sufficient momentum to slingshot UP the hills, and you should have no problem negotiating Crestline area roads.
Chain control for uphill traffic is still emplaced at the same place as it was yesterday afternoon when you came up the hill: at the city limit signs, 2,500 feet, halfway between the Waterman Canyon Road exits.
There were some gusty breezes this morning, too… often sending billows of powdery snow across the road. Do not mistake this for new snow falling: the precipitation is over for now. However, you may still see snow blowing around.
Fog and rocks should not affect your drive this morning.
Oh, but it’s cold, by Southern California standards… I saw low 20s today. In fact, because it was so cold, I was inspired to walk to Subway at 2AM for a sammy, since, duh, that’s what people usually do at 2AM when it’s friggin’ cold outside. Sadly, I was assaulted by a couple of Nigerian princes who just barely beat me up a little, poured maple syrup on me, and tied a string around my finger to remind me of something (I totally forgot what). They were wearing basketball jerseys and kept shouting, “This is MARTA country!” I intend to call the cops later today, if I remember (maybe THAT was what the string was for?), but first I totally need to sort of delete a bunch of stuff from my phone. Anyhow, I am now available for celebrity interviews so that MORE people than the 25 who read this column will know who Kdog is, plus, I’m pretty sure that with the greater recognition, I should qualify for a big pay raise.
See you all on Monday, when I intend to be TOTALLY famous!