Friends,
The weather swells on TV mentioned a little something about how something might’ve happened in my little burg over the last couple days. One of them even mentioned there was quite a bit of snow. Amazing.
There was even something about the greatest amount of snowfall in decades up here. I’ve been able to measure 22 inches, which is higher than I’ve ever seen. Granted, I haven’t lived here long, but the consensus in town is that this season has been extraordinary. Oh, there have been road closures too. Here are a couple posts from a paper of record:
A slide occurred today near Mountain Center, leaving rocks on Route 74, the California Highway Patrol reported.
The slide was reported at 7:55 a.m. [February 9th] in the area of Route 74 near Strawberry Creek Bridge, according to the CHP.
But this is really fun for everybody as well…
All of Highway 74 between Hemet and Palm Desert is closed due to icy roads and heavy snow falling on the Palms to Pines Highway to Pinyon and Idyllwild.
Highway 74 was closed at 1 p.m. until further notice, except to residents, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Several vehicles and big rigs have gotten stuck in snow banks and chain restrictions are in affect.
Highway 243 is also closed near Poppett Flats from Banning to Idyllwild for all northbound traffic due to heavy snowfall and snow removal.
For the uninitiated, that’s all roads in (and out, let’s not forget that. -ed) to this one-horse town. By the way, a horse would be handy right about now.
I threw a set of chains on the Jeep Grand Livingroom and headed into town yesterday and while stopped to tension those chains, I ran into a neighbor I’d never met before. She was walking her dog out in the slop and ice and we started chatting about the snowplow issue. “My street hasn’t been plowed,” she started. “The funny thing is I just gave my Isuzu Rodeo to my son and bought a Mini Cooper. It’s now covered in snow in my driveway. Do you think I should have the guys from AAA come up and put the chains on? It’s pretty expensive…” Clearly desperate measures must be taken, so I asked, “Do you like soup?”
I think she’s gonna be stuck up here for a while, but what a place to be stuck in.
– bob