Captain's Quarters

Yesterday St. Louis was hit with a real snow storm for the first time in a couple of years.  While most of the County only got 4-6” of snow, it was the timing and intensity that hit so hard.  There wasn’t a drop of moisture before 10am, which meant that most folks had to go into work.  Starting after noon the snow started falling at a rate over one inch an hour.  It piled up too fast for the road crews to catch up.  Some businesses and offices were smart and let their employees leave at noon.  I was one of the unlucky ones who got sent home at 2pm.

Normally my drive from Clayton to Creve Coeur takes about 15-20 minutes, but I figured I would take at least twice that due to the snow packed streets.  I’ve learned by now that bad weather turns St. Louis highways into parking lots, so I set off on the sidestreets.  My drive through the empty streets of University City was eerily beautiful

But soon I made it to Page and ran into a complete standstill.  The snow was coming down hard, and cars were stalling all around me.  Here’s a pic my buddy Jaison took on Page that looks exactly like what I was seeing.

I wisely found a good detour route and made it over to Olive, where traffic was much lighter heading west.  By now it was about forty minutes in and I had gone eight miles.  I was determined to make it home, but the worst was yet to come.  The Olive and I-270 interchange was a complete disaster.  Traffic heading eastbound and on the highway was completely stopped.  Like drivers out of their car stopped like this.

I managed to avoid the stalled cars and powered my way down the home stretch.  It took me an hour and I was lucky.  I heard the backup on I-64 was in the 3-4 hours range.

I’m telling this story because I want to give a shoutout to my car for performing like a champ.  Now, I know what most people think of my car.

But like Nickelback my car showed me that it’s popular for a reason.  Despite the Cruiser’s goofy appearance, there is a lot to like.  It was made right here in St. Louis at the old Chrysler plant, and it drove like a tank yesterday.  As much as I loved my old Saturn, Chachi, it never drove well in bad weather.

If my car is the Nickelback of cars I guess that makes me a Nickelback fan.  Therefore I’ve decided to officially name my car Chad after the God of Buttrock himself, Chad Kroeger.  So here’s a big thank you to Chad for getting me home safe yesterday.

Ciao,

The Captain

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