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Comments
The people in the State of Florida should be eligible to part of that $300m as a Fed Tax write-off.
-Dave
I never saw so many accidents in so short a timespan! People were driving like idiots, plus the warm road surface and the heavy snowfall combined to create a hardpack that was almost as slick as sheer ice. I watched schoolbusses slide sideways down hills. I saw morons in pickup trucks do the stupidest things, like driving up the left lane of a 2-lane road because the traffic in the right hand lane had stopped -- guess why -- that's right, because the road was blocked up ahead! That particular pickup slid sideways off the road into the ditch; I applauded the Fates as I watched him go. I saw a Taurus cram itself into the back end of a Jeep, plastic chunks flying every which way like so much shrapnel. I saw a Hyundai tilted at a 45 degree angle on an embankment, nose scrunched into a tree, wheelbase straddling a drainage ditch; I sure hope the driver looked down before getting out!
Through it all my Legacy GT persevered. The wipers got a bit iced up but never stopped cleaning the windshield; the winter tires probably paid for themselves 2 times over; the beauty of AWD shone through like the sun. I was never so glad to be in that car.
When I got out onto clear road again the front end was shaking like mad. I had to stop and clear the snow off the rims; I guess should have waxed them.
Cheers,
-wdb
Frank
-Frank P.
wdb, Quite a story! Glad you made it through unscathed. Was the snow on steel rims or the stock GT wheels? I've read that snow accumulates in GT spokes.
..Mike
..Mike
Serge
Jim
Bob
Your story illustrates either (1) the effects of global warming or (2) the hipocrisy of Northeast Corridor drivers. Folks up here like to laugh and point whenever they see news clips of people down South driving poorly in snow and ice, yet they fare no better - out of practice perhaps? I never shoveled snow in my life until age 30 and it took me a while to master snow driving, but I eventually learned. Now I have a better tool to do the job and, while not foolhardy, my confidence has increased.
Ed
A common occurence for me here in FLAUSA(as the ad campaign calls us)y'all
I remember when we lived in CT though...had some real scary moments on the Merritt Parkway near Shelton CT.
Was the chat informative?
Happy Birthday Paisan and Serge!
Patti
Frank P: (hey, where did all these Franks come from?) Yes, I could have used a frosty mug o' brew, that's for sure -- but then I can pretty much always be counted on for that sentiment. I was actually on my way to work though, so no such luck. Speaking of which, I was really really happy to have AWD etc. on the way home too, because the snow was blowing and the roads were iced over and/or shallow drifts had blown across them in many places. All in all it was just the kind of commute I imagined in justifying outfitting the car with better lights and winter tires. So in a way I'm glad it happened; now I can feel better when I rationalize my next toy purchase :-)
Mike S: WRX rims. i-Clubbers sell them at a very attractive price so they can afford 17" and 18" bling-blings (I think that's the right use of the term). Only the fronts had snow on them; it was not-quite-uniformly packed on the inside of rim, behind the spokes. The wide spaces between the WRX spokes made it easy to reach through with an ice scraper and clear it off.
Ed: Though hypocrites they may be, and not to say that there aren't a significant number of yahoos driving around these parts -- because there certainly are -- but this storm really was a fooler. Usually when the snow starts to fly you have a period of time where the roads just look white but there is not really enough snow to seriously affect traction. In this case the roads had 2" to 4" of snow on them in the blink of an eye. My guess is that even longtime snow belters were taken by surprise. In the news I read about one 10-mile stretch of 2-lane that had 9 reported accidents on it! Then again this was the first storm of the season to happen during a workday, so that probably had a lot to do with the number of accidents.
Proof to me that it was a freak storm was that the school buses were out; around here they don't take chances and usually send them home early if any storm of significance is forecast. No one saw this coming.
Happy birthday to one and all! Sounds like there's a lump of them, hope they're happy.
Cheers,
-wdb
Welcome back! Didn't know that you were out ill. We were beginning to wonder if SOA had locked you up to shield you from our questions about the 2003 Forester.
Hope you're feeling better.
Ken
Glad to see you up and about.
Serge
Jim
Anyhow, tonight is the pre-Whistler Seattle cocktail meet-n-greet party. Tomorrow, I (and about 29 others) are Whistler bound. Will be there until Sunday. I can't wait. Was outside before it was dark yesterday washing 1KWKWGN. It's amazing how dirty a car can get after going up to the mtns in the snow! I need to get some of that 3M stuff for the hood. I'm getting some chipping. Thankfully it's not as noticeable on a silver car (I know it's there though..)
A big Happy B-Day wish for all those w/Feb B-Days and especially my Aquarian co-horts in crime. Nothing personal Serge and Mike...LOL!
Stephen
Have a great time at Whistler..
Finance Dept.? What do you do?
I didn't e-mail you cause I don't know if that's your ex-job addy on your profile.
-Dave
Ross
Ed
Happy Birthday - it'll be a special 40 on 02/02/02!
Patti
Patti
KarenS
Host
Owner's Clubs
Bob
The Edmunds Crew was making his head spin at the Philly Show last year. These guys make my head spin sometimes too with the overload of information.
Stephen - Happy Birthday and good luck finding a new job!
Patti - You guys just hired an i-clubber yesterday! Did you meet him?
-Dennis
Jim
-mike
Yes Dennis - I'm working with our new Rep. and putting him through the training process. I'm confident he'll work out really well. See - I told you all - there are opportunities at Subaru! In August, I'll be celebrating 20 years with the company. I bore easily (ask my first husband ;-} ) so that says something! Come on down to Cherry Hill!!
Patti
tempting :-)
I don't think working @ SoA is boring.
Working for a bank and looking at all those $$$$ that isn't yours is boring. :-D
Hey all, how about we take a day off from work and go for a fieldtrip to...
Cherry Hill!!!!
-Dave
-Dennis
Patti, is it a work day at SoA?
-Dave
Cheers Pat.
Being on the sales end, I love hearing Subaru AWD stories that I can repeat to prospective customers.
Saturday night I had my own Subaru AWD story. Now, in South Florida, it is not going to be nearly as interesting as the freak snow storm in PA, but it was a white knuckle experience none-the-less!
As I was approaching home, it was absolutely pouring rain. Buckets were coming down, high wipers could hardly keep up with the rain (and I need new blades anyhow!)
Well, all of a sudden, I saw stuff in the road that I had to swerve to avoid hitting. They looked like cinder blocks or something. Anyhow, thank goodness there were no other cars on the road to have to consider, so I was able to swerve in and out of the blocks a couple of times -- and all this at 45-55 MPH!
The Outback stayed absolutely glued to the road. Once I passed the blocks, I actually started to play around on the road swerving about. The car didn't even come close to loosing it! Whether it was the AWD or the RE950s or both... I don't think I could drive anything else........ Patti talks about not being bored of SOA after 20 years - I'm still on my Subaru Honeymoon after 18K miles!!!!
Pete.
Jim
And since someone mentioned Presidents Day! Feb 17 we are having another run to the pine barrens. Should be very interesting we have:
Subies
Suzukis
Vehicross
Isuzus
Pajero
Explorer
Should be cool to do a comparo. Maybe we can get patti to bring out a WRX or a Baja or a VDC????? It's right in SOA's back yard.
-mike
Being on the sales end, I love hearing Subaru AWD stories that I can repeat to prospective customers.
Saturday night I had my own Subaru AWD story. Now, in South Florida, it is not going to be nearly as interesting as the freak snow storm in PA, but it was a white knuckle experience none-the-less!
As I was approaching home, it was absolutely pouring rain. Buckets were coming down, high wipers could hardly keep up with the rain (and I need new blades anyhow!)
Well, all of a sudden, I saw stuff in the road that I had to swerve to avoid hitting. They looked like cinder blocks or something. Anyhow, thank goodness there were no other cars on the road to have to consider, so I was able to swerve in and out of the blocks a couple of times -- and all this at 45-55 MPH!
The Outback stayed absolutely glued to the road. Once I passed the blocks, I actually started to play around on the road swerving about. The car didn't even come close to loosing it! Whether it was the AWD or the RE950s or both... I don't think I could drive anything else........ Patti talks about not being bored of SOA after 20 years - I'm still on my Subaru Honeymoon after 18K miles!!!!
Pete.
mike k
Tired of fighting fires and a medic unit?? I don't think you have to worry about getting bored. Besides, we need you out there!
Patti
-mike
I am surprised that nobody from the Burlington Vt facility responded to my call...
Patti: If we were to sneak in, would you show us your dungeon? Always wanted to see one of them. And the secret vault where you keep the new products?
Stephen: Very sorry to hear about your job. I am a survivor here - coming up on my 20th this Spring. Just had another layoff as the semiconductor industry is still in the doldrums and saw good friends depart. I wish you well....
WDB: That storm moved quickly thru the Hudson Valley, but just left a dusting. It has been a relatively quiet winter so far.
Steve
Serge
http://www.farrockaway.com/carol/newyorker.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020206/62035_1.html
Frank