"So, what do you do for fun on a Friday night?"
"Well, let's watch people stranded near Donner Pass!"
@paul_ipv6 @ai6yr Yeah, good advice. But i like DIY. I HAVE to know how to do it myself. So yeah, pain, cuts, blood... and you learn to bring proper gloves, lighting, and skill. This is the process. Learn or die.
@paul_ipv6 @ai6yr
I should add that I don't like cold. Not my thing. I enjoy looking at a winter scene through a large plate glass window from indoors where it's nice and warm. Going out in it is "interesting', for a short while.
I remember my first encounter with Donner Pass. Put on chains many other times but only remember one other time besides my Donner experience and that was much worse. It was in Idaho near Yellowstone Park in winter. I won't go into detail because you'll all think I'm insane for even attempting such a thing.
My father had taught me about the story of the Donner Party and it was in the back of my mind. While I was struggling with the chains in the blowing snow, etc., the little voice in the back of my mind was talking. "People died here, you know... Not far from here, you know... For the same reason you will die here if you don't solve this, you know... You chose to come here now at this time... You could have waited... But you didn't... And now you're in it... You're really in it... Nobody will come to help you, you know... It's just you and your machines against the weather that doesn't care about you at all. At all... You're just dust...fertilizer for the trees, you know..."
@shuttersparks @ai6yr
We lived in Riverside, CA, when I turned 16 and got my license. Dad interrupted my Saturday morning routine one day, dragged me out to the car in the driveway, and showed me how to put chains on. Then he made me do it. Twice. On a hot, dry day on a hot, dry, paved driveway. And again the next year. That training came in handy 15 years later on a snowy morning when I slid into a ditch on the way to work one day.
@dougfir @ai6yr That's great. I was fortunate that I was raised by a serious and highly experienced vehicle driver. He taught me well starting at age 12. At age 16 I received 2 weeks of training in high performance driving at the school at the Nurburgring. Very exciting. Given what I did afterward, probably saved my life several times. But putting chains on was never part of any of my training.
Being young and knowing that zillions of people put chains on, how hard can it be? Everybody does it. Can't be that hard.
Hahaha. Youthful hubris. Actually it's not that hard if you know what you're doing, but I still hate doing it. If you don't know what you're doing, well... good luck.
@dougfir @shuttersparks @ai6yr You had a good dad
@shuttersparks @ai6yr
if you're ever stuck on the side of the road near donner in the chain install area and you've never put on chains, pay the $40 (or whatever they're charging now) to let the pros do it. :)