Ice capades

I took the dogs to the kennel yesterday. I got there 2 minutes before they closed. The doors were locked in fact, but they opened up for me and the kids. I was late because the firewood guys showed up just before I was to leave and unloaded the truck by hand instead of just dumping the wood. Since it was snowing a little I tarped it with the only tarp I had on hand. It was too small so it looks like a horse blanket on an elephant, but the best I could do. Then I hauled ass to the kennel. Thankfully, the roads were in decent shape and empty since everyone was watching the Packer game because I was flying. The snow began in earnest when I hit the kennel's exit. By the time I had unloaded the dogs (less than 10 minutes) a good coating of snow was forming on the truck. I slid a bit when I pulled out of the parking lot.

I got back on 172 to head over to the mall. As I get to the end of the ramp I witness cars sliding every direction about a half mile down the road. Headlights point at me, then away. I braked and the ABS kicked in for like 30 seconds. The dude behind me passed me on the left. I popped the hazard lights on and approached the area slowly. A column of smoke is rising on the right. I pulled off on the shoulder and get out of the truck. Passengers from another car ahead of me are already making their way down the hill. I ran (yes, I ran! Ankle be damned!) down the embankment, following the tracks of the pickup that now lay upside down against a chain link fence, the engine running, lights on and lots of smoke rising from the engine. The other people were calling for anyone in the truck and trying to look into the cab. The passenger window was smashed to about half it's size and we couldn't get to the driver's side which was squashed as well. The passenger door wouldn't open. Two cops showed up toting a huge fire extinguisher. I finally convinced the guy crawling around looking in the cab to cut off the engine and the smoke stopped as soon as he did. We couldn't find anybody in the truck. I look around and see a pile of tarps and some 2x4's on top of the bed's hard top liner spanning the bottom of the ditch. I toss the tarps aside and the sand tubes and the wood and lift up the liner but there was only water under it. We fan out looking for anyone who may have been ejected when the trucked rolled over. I find a side mirror, the side window glass, a bag of frozen brats. One woman comes up with a soft briefcase and starts going through it. The guy appears to be in the Navy and from Sheboygan. A glove, a hiking boot. some cassette tapes, (cassette tapes, no shit!) a back pack. But no people. We searched the area in the falling snow and looming darkness (it's about 4:20 pm by now) for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, I see cars sliding into the ditch back toward the exit and we hear loud metal bangs as more cars slide into each other farther up the road. The cops said they had a report that someone may have picked whoever was in this truck up and taken them away. There were so many tracks on the hill it was impossible to tell if someone had actually walked away from this accident. We couldn't see anyone in the cab and the only other place a body could be would be under the hood of the truck.

The cops said we should go since there wasn't anything else we could do. I kind of didn't want to leave since I felt safer there than up on the road with the bumper cars, but I made my way up the hill and back on the road. I did about 25 all the way to the Oneida exit. There were lots of cars in the ditches, including a Domino's pizza guy. Someone's not getting their pizza in 30 minutes or less. Meanwhile the snow is falling harder. I make it to the mall and hurry inside to get warm. My feet are freezing from tramping through the snow and water. My hair is wet with snow. Crazy.

As I'm walking back to the truck, I can hear chants of Go Pack Go from the stadium. That place must really be rocking for the sound to carry that far. I turn on WTAQ and listen to the announcers talking about the heavy snowfall. No shit, dude. I drove home very carefully.