Boy oh boy has today been an interesting trip.
Started from Weirton, WV (West Virginia) and finally got home (south of Atlanta) after about 15 hours of driving.We left at 6:05 this morning and what should have only been 11-12 hours got delayed by 3-4 hours of ice road in Zainesville, Ohio.
I could see some cars were stopping but then they went around a corner past a bridge. As soon as I rounded the corner there were brake lights for about a good mile at a snails pace. Before I got to a stop a woman came up behind me in a Durango (whilst texting on her phone most likely) and locked up, swerving into the right lane.... idiot.
There were signs all the way along the route saying accident ahead but I don't understand how they got all the flares, cones, electric signs, and detour signs out for a crash.. I checked last night for any weather we might run in to and at 9:30 we were supposed to be in Columbus, Ohio and that is where the freezing rain was supposed to hit us.
Nope.. about two hours earlier than expected did it hit. Here is a map with some drawings to explain the horror:
From east to west was our travel, and there are three locations on the map I marked out.
Spot 1 is where the Durango nearly careened into the back of us, not even an hour and a half into the trip..
After that we got off (forced off) I70 and went on SR22. At the third arrow we waited about an hour while moving 100 yards at the maximum. Arrow 4 was about another hour of waiting.. At spot 2 my grandmother in the back had been waiting for about three hours in the car after eating breakfast on the go. As nature has it, we all had to go to the bathroom. The only public/private place was an elderly care home, and I thought I could pull into the front drive which was only at about a 4 % gradient for five yards.... Nope. Ice. So I had to back up, go up around a 8% gradient hill we were going down and found another way in. Stopped, did business, got back on the road.
From the number 2 spot to the arrow that turns right took us around 45 minutes. So far, we haven't seen the first police officer, or anyone directing traffic. Detour signs didn't exist anymore and I was getting pissed off. It was about 3 hours we had been sitting, and I'm not sure what the distance is exactly now but it wasn't more than three miles I expect. After we see I70 again I was even more pissed off, because there were vehicles on it going west, but moving slower than we were. I took the left to the next light which the entrance ramp was on, and there was an armada of police cars and an accident all the way at the end of the entrance ramp. More Ice.
I asked the cop where to now? The arrows show the rest of the way. Following those took about 5 minutes total.
I was completely pissed off with the way they handled that. There was traffic bumper to bumper from the 1 all the way to the 3, not guided (until the entrance) and no one at lights to stop other non-essential traffic. I have to admit that was the most 3-4 ridiculous hours of my life.
I just did a rough pedometer scale and it turns out it was about 9 and 1/2 miles from 1 to 3. A lot further than I thought but still... 3-4 hours to get through it all..
After getting back on 70, I was balls to the wall all the way to Cincinnati basically. Ice or no ice I was determined to get back home today..
) through Switzerland as their speeding fines are a bit frightening, but pretty much flat out through Italy and France. I asked my wife to drive the last hour to Calais as I needed a nap... woke up 45 mins later, glanced at the sat nav and she was doing 120mph. I love my wife 
