Spin a yarn...any yarn. ( Archived) (29)

You people suck at spinning yarns! Now just sit back and let the master yarn spinner show you how it's done!

We had gone to Carls house where we stayed on earlier trips mainly for the purpose of securing the place for the winter. The season for deer was already over, only bear remained open. I thought, what the hell would I do with a bear even if I was unlucky enough to see one? It was good getting out in the great North Woods one last time though. We had been hearing about a big snowstorm all day that was pounding NYC but where we were it was clear and cold with not a trace of snow. We started back
to NYC around 6 PM just as the first snow flakes began to fall. We were listening to the radio for weather and traffic reports. They were saying that the speed limit on the NY Thruway was
lowered to 35 MPH. We decided to take Rt 9W instead, a winding 2 lane road. As we were going South there were 3 factors which were working against us which we were for the most part
unaware of. 1, the storm was travelling from the South to the North. We were heading right into it. 2, The more time we spent on the road the deeper the snow was getting. 3, It was very
cold, 0f deg. if fact. If that wasn't enough, the tires on my car were virtually bald. I was planning to replace them when I got back home. We had been on the road about 2 hours as we were
nearing Storm King Mtn. near Peekskill NY. Carl was asleep in the back seat and Teddy was asleep leaning against the passenger door in front. I started down the mountain at about 40mph.
The road curved to the right in a long continuous arc. Barely perceptibly the back end of the car began to dog walk to the left. I automatically compensated with the steering wheel. The front end made no effort to respond. I found myself going perfectly side ways. The snow illuminated by the bright headlights, was moving from left to right. I could see the jagged rock outcroppings of the mountain flashing by as fast as the snow. I thought it might be a good idea to wake Teddy.
I shook him and told him to wake up and look out the windshield. Upon seeing the snow and rocks whizzing by he said "Why did you wake me, I always wanted to die in my sleep". I started to laugh when in a blink of an eye.......


That's enough

ok.

.....I suddenly found myself flying through the air backwards, I fell to the ground in the drainage ditch on the side of the road sliding head first down the mountain with my hands and feet clawing at the air. I was going about 40 MPH and freezing cold snow was packing into my shirt. Through it all I kept hearing a car horn blowing. I recognized it as the horn of my car and I couldn't figure why Teddy was blowing it. The thought that was going through my mind was to get to my feet as quickly as possible, run after the car, grab the front bumper and dig my heels into the snow in an effort to keep the car from crashing through the guard rail and into the abyss on the other side of the road. Little did I realize that the car probably came to a stop before I did. I got to my feet and ran up to the car
which had jumped the center divider and was facing North with the left wheels on the South bound side and the right wheels on the North bound side. It's possible that center island saved Carl and Teddys' life. I grabbed the drivers door handle. It was so cold that my hand actually stuck to it and nearly ripped the skin from my palm. It was then that I realized just how cold it was.
I was really struck by what I saw when I opened the door. There was Teddy sitting in the drivers seat (he never drove a car in his life and I've always wondered what it was like for him to be thrust behind the wheel of a car going sideways down a mountain in the dark freezing winter night).
He had both hands on the horn ring, not the steering wheel, the Horn Ring. He was staring straight ahead. Poor Teddy, He looked terrified! I thought I would bring him back from never never land by injecting a little levity into the situation. I said "Teddy, stop blowing the horn or you'll wake the dead". He came around. Some guy in a Chevy stopped to give us a lift. We had to retrieve our rifles which flew out of the trunk into the snow bank before the holes they made were covered over with the falling snow which was coming down very heavily. we got our stuff and the Chevy guy took us to the police station. a cop there drove us to a hotel in peekskill where we stayed the night til the train to NYC came the next day.
....to be continued.