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*Arrrrghgglllllllul!* or Adventure?
Last night started out all right: dog-play session with the Austrialian shepherd home (plus bouvier, airdale and vizsla pup) and Italian take-out. Drove north to Rozwalk...noted rain but she was still game so we dogwalked (as we usually do regardless of rain, fire, wind, etc.).
Heading home. Traffic normal...until it came to a stop. Not slow-down, but a no-doubt stop. Usually this means the CHP is doing a weave to allow a stall or accident to get to the shoulder of the freeway. Checking on a highway conditions XM channel informed me that there was "an accident" ahead.
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tori04 called to warn me NOT TO GET ONTO THE FREEWAY! Unfortunately, I was already stuck...and within a short distance from my exit! She elaborated on the minimal traffic report description: this is what really happened....
Five bigrigs crash and burn in a transition tunnel...fourteen trucks in total wrecked...the I-5 and CA-14 both closed. nrrg.
She also told me that if they back traffic off the freeway, I was welcome (wet dogs and all) to hunker down at their place. I settled down, listened to the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks in extra innings and watched the cars not-moving. I also saw the usual idiots do their thing: getting out of their car to see what was happening by walking down the emergency vehicle lane (where a dozen emergency vehicals had just sped by); leaving their cars, so that when the turn-around started, they blocked lanes; people too timid to turn around ("Ooo, eee! Can't never-ever-EVER drive the otherway on the freeway!!!") or use the U-turn.
Finally got to one of the escape routes (after sitting for an hour)-- a break in the center-barrier that allowed us to turn onto I-5 north. Turns out that I was actually fairly close to this, so my total wait was about 1.5 hours...and getting onto I-5north was a LOT better than the turn-around, where the next exit was jammed.
Drove over to Casa Tori and she was the perfect host, even cooking up some chicken bits for Rondo and Apache. I was able to use my emergency supply of kibble and all was good.
They left early this morning to get to a class, so I called them to see if the freeways were open: their advice was invaluable! The 14 fwy was open for two (later, three) lanes and the traffic was only heavy getting to the freeway. Remember that I-5 is the MAJOR north-south freeway connecting northern and southern California and the Newhall pass (where the truck disaster occurred) is the only way to get from the Santa Clarita Valley to the rest of L.A. without a 50-100 mile detour. So the roads were a mess as people used two-lane roads and the limited freeway access to get places. Thank goodness this was a Saturday and not a commute day. The conditions harken back to the days-weeks-months after the Northridge Quake in '94. I sure hope the freeway isn't structurally damages or commuting will be an ugly mess for months.
This isn't the first time I got stuck like this: I was sitting on the freeway for four+ hours one day when a gasoline tanker over-turned on the freeway and I was stuck until they could back 4 miles of jammed traffic off. I missed Ken (Macklin) and Lela (Dowling)'s wedding because of that!
Anyway-- we're home. The dogs are happy. Many and huge thanks to Tori, Aaron and Zoi!
Heading home. Traffic normal...until it came to a stop. Not slow-down, but a no-doubt stop. Usually this means the CHP is doing a weave to allow a stall or accident to get to the shoulder of the freeway. Checking on a highway conditions XM channel informed me that there was "an accident" ahead.
tori04 called to warn me NOT TO GET ONTO THE FREEWAY! Unfortunately, I was already stuck...and within a short distance from my exit! She elaborated on the minimal traffic report description: this is what really happened....Five bigrigs crash and burn in a transition tunnel...fourteen trucks in total wrecked...the I-5 and CA-14 both closed. nrrg.
She also told me that if they back traffic off the freeway, I was welcome (wet dogs and all) to hunker down at their place. I settled down, listened to the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks in extra innings and watched the cars not-moving. I also saw the usual idiots do their thing: getting out of their car to see what was happening by walking down the emergency vehicle lane (where a dozen emergency vehicals had just sped by); leaving their cars, so that when the turn-around started, they blocked lanes; people too timid to turn around ("Ooo, eee! Can't never-ever-EVER drive the otherway on the freeway!!!") or use the U-turn.
Finally got to one of the escape routes (after sitting for an hour)-- a break in the center-barrier that allowed us to turn onto I-5 north. Turns out that I was actually fairly close to this, so my total wait was about 1.5 hours...and getting onto I-5north was a LOT better than the turn-around, where the next exit was jammed.
Drove over to Casa Tori and she was the perfect host, even cooking up some chicken bits for Rondo and Apache. I was able to use my emergency supply of kibble and all was good.
They left early this morning to get to a class, so I called them to see if the freeways were open: their advice was invaluable! The 14 fwy was open for two (later, three) lanes and the traffic was only heavy getting to the freeway. Remember that I-5 is the MAJOR north-south freeway connecting northern and southern California and the Newhall pass (where the truck disaster occurred) is the only way to get from the Santa Clarita Valley to the rest of L.A. without a 50-100 mile detour. So the roads were a mess as people used two-lane roads and the limited freeway access to get places. Thank goodness this was a Saturday and not a commute day. The conditions harken back to the days-weeks-months after the Northridge Quake in '94. I sure hope the freeway isn't structurally damages or commuting will be an ugly mess for months.
This isn't the first time I got stuck like this: I was sitting on the freeway for four+ hours one day when a gasoline tanker over-turned on the freeway and I was stuck until they could back 4 miles of jammed traffic off. I missed Ken (Macklin) and Lela (Dowling)'s wedding because of that!
Anyway-- we're home. The dogs are happy. Many and huge thanks to Tori, Aaron and Zoi!