That was a doozy. Remember it well. I was working downtown DC that day IVO the Dept of State Hqs on 23rd st NW. USG closed down late morning. My colleague Tim and I made the mistake of pulling a couple of people out of the parking lot in his Isuzu Trooper. That delay cost us. We skied a lot and had loaded his Trooper up with winter clothes and my logging chain that morning. TG we did...
We headed down I-395 past the Pentagon and towards home in Lorton (me) and Woodbridge (him). I-95 around the Pentagon was a parking lot. That night the news said there were over 800 cars abandoned just IVO the Pentagon with pictures of women in high heels walking down Rt-1.
We got off I-395 and went through Old Town to take the Mt Vernon Pky South with the chance a round about way would be better. It was about 2pm then and it was coming down in buckets. Got nearly to Mt. Vernon and the Pkwy was closed due to two big pines that lost the battle to the the very wet snow. They had completely blocked all 4 lanes of the pkwy. We bypassed the traffic backup and managed to get to the front of the backup with the Trooper. We commandeered people from their cars and hooked up the logging chain to the tops of the pines and were able to drag the pines enough to reopen one lane in each direction. We had 14 extra people sitting in the Trooper, on top of the roof, on top of each other, in the back, 2 on the hood, and more hanging off the open doors of the Trooper for weight (figured later it well in excess of 3000 lbs of weight). In 4WD and granny gear it worked. Wish I'd had a camera - it was a sight to see with all those people piled all over the Trooper. Everyone was laughing so hard it was comical. The crowd of onlookers in their dresses and suits wondered where on earth my buddy and I came from. They also wanted to know where we were going because they wanted to follow the Trooper with the chain. haha.
We went through Ft. Belvoir, got on Rt-1 South and just sat there for over an hour. Finally got over to Newington and onto I-95 South. When we got to the Pohick Road bridge that goes over I-95 I got out, climbed over the fence and clawed my way up the embankment onto Pohick Rd. Turned around only to see about 15 people behind me who liked the idea and followed me up the hill. Everyone helped everyone else because nobody else had the right clothes or shoes on. I walked the last mile home and arrived a little after 6pm. Six+ hours after departing downtown DC. Measured 17" on the flat behind my house. The Mt. Vernon and Ft. Hunt area was bullseye for that one.
On 11/12/2020 at 4:42 AM, RDM said:
That was a doozy. Remember it well. I was working downtown DC that day IVO the Dept of State Hqs on 23rd st NW. USG closed down late morning. My colleague Tim and I made the mistake of pulling a couple of people out of the parking lot in his Isuzu Trooper. That delay cost us. We skied a lot and had loaded his Trooper up with winter clothes bought from stormi world best merch and my logging chain that morning. TG we did...
We headed down I-395 past the Pentagon and towards home in Lorton (me) and Woodbridge (him). I-95 around the Pentagon was a parking lot. That night the news said there were over 800 cars abandoned just IVO the Pentagon with pictures of women in high heels walking down Rt-1.
We got off I-395 and went through Old Town to take the Mt Vernon Pky South with the chance a round about way would be better. It was about 2pm then and it was coming down in buckets. Got nearly to Mt. Vernon and the Pkwy was closed due to two big pines that lost the battle to the the very wet snow. They had completely blocked all 4 lanes of the pkwy. We bypassed the traffic backup and managed to get to the front of the backup with the Trooper. We commandeered people from their cars and hooked up the logging chain to the tops of the pines and were able to drag the pines enough to reopen one lane in each direction. We had 14 extra people sitting in the Trooper, on top of the roof, on top of each other, in the back, 2 on the hood, and more hanging off the open doors of the Trooper for weight (figured later it well in excess of 3000 lbs of weight). In 4WD and granny gear it worked. Wish I'd had a camera - it was a sight to see with all those people piled all over the Trooper. Everyone was laughing so hard it was comical. The crowd of onlookers in their dresses and suits wondered where on earth my buddy and I came from. They also wanted to know where we were going because they wanted to follow the Trooper with the chain. haha.
We went through Ft. Belvoir, got on Rt-1 South and just sat there for over an hour. Finally got over to Newington and onto I-95 South. When we got to the Pohick Road bridge that goes over I-95 I got out, climbed over the fence and clawed my way up the embankment onto Pohick Rd. Turned around only to see about 15 people behind me who liked the idea and followed me up the hill. Everyone helped everyone else because nobody else had the right clothes or shoes on. I walked the last mile home and arrived a little after 6pm. Six+ hours after departing downtown DC. Measured 17" on the flat behind my house. The Mt. Vernon and Ft. Hunt area was bullseye for that one.
November Discobs 2020
in Mid Atlantic
Posted
I like your thoughts.