西雅圖老吳
友風子雨，明月入懷。
感恩節到來了，西雅圖今年的感恩節沒有下雪，但是7年前感恩節前夕的一場大雪，造成交通大癱瘓和很多車禍，至今仍然心有餘悸。寫下來，因為雪季已經到來，你或許可以從這次的雪夜行車中得到某種啟發，安全行車更有經驗。寫下來，是為了感恩，感謝我們在北美這塊土地上平安過了一年又一年。
2010年11月22日，是感恩節前夕的周一，早上我到西雅圖東區，下午就飄起毛毛雪花，傍晚就漫成滿天飛雪。雖然天氣預報今天會有雪，但沒有人知道雪會下得這麽大，這麽早。
我必須回西雅圖，歸心似箭，吃過晚飯後才６點多，我就準備啟程，但這時車上的雪已有半尺厚。
我打開引擎和熱氣，清除完車上的積雪後，車子終於上路了，雪也越下越大。
溫度表上顯示隻有華氏２０度，相當攝氏零下７度，雪花飛到玻璃上，馬上變成漿糊粘在上麵，雨刮吃力地劃著它們艱難地前進。
一路走走停停，看到不少車熄火而停到路邊，不時有警車呼嘯而過，好在大路還沒冰凍，車輪接觸路麵的感覺還是正常的，不會磕磕碰碰。
車子上了５２０大橋，道路狀況開始險惡了，原來沒有結冰的道路在橋上結冰了，車輪把冰輾壓的哢哢響，不時要跳點搖擺舞，更多的車子在橋邊拋錨，原來的雙線隻剩下單線可以行走。
手機響了，剛回來一天的兒子在電話裏告訴我，橋上的溫度比陸地低，水麵風大，容易結冰，開車要分外小心。
剛放下手機，果然看到對麵開來一輛雙節客車的車頭差點撞到路邊的擋牆，兩節車廂的交點幾乎彎曲成直角，斜停在路上，其餘的車輛都停了下來，也不知何時才能解圍？好在不是我們這個方向的，不然就要遭殃了。
正存僥幸心理，我前麵的車都停了，時間一分一秒地考驗自己的耐性。我想輕鬆一下，就打開音響，故做鎮定，閉目聆聽……
不知過了多久，車隊才慢慢爬行。到出事地點，才看到原來是一輛小車打著緊急燈停在橋中線，把原來就很窄的道路又占了半條線的位置，隻有減速才能穿過這個通道，這樣車就堵了。
這輛小車是應該推向路邊的，可能是沒人幫忙吧，車主隻好停在中間了。我想，如果有多幾個人幫忙這位車主的話，也許就不會堵車堵那麽久了。也難怪，在這冰冷的的夜晚，有多少人願意下車來受罪呢？我心裏在呼喚雷鋒，助人為樂的風格在雪夜中顯得更加可貴。
我不知道今晚有多少車熄火，那車裏的人要怎樣度過這個可怕的夜晚啊！一般車子出事，最好的辦法就是打手機，請警車來，但這橋很擁擠，平時橋上出事，警車就很難鑽進來，更不用說這個冰天雪地的夜晚。阿門！我隻想感恩，好在我的車子沒有熄火。
這個晚上，我這趟平時開２０分鍾的車，足足開了６小時才到家。最難過的關卡，是在五號高速公路的出口，可以選擇往南走或者往北走，往南走道路暢通，我是要往北走，但是走不動了，隻有等待。
在等待的半小時裏，很多往北走的人改走南的進口。我也想把車頭也掉往南算了，但最後一刻終於打住，等！還是等！賭一回運氣。因為現在你往南走了，要兜個大圈子再往北，也許那個圈子也堵車。更“找不到北”了。
前麵的車終於爬動了，我緊隨著進入高速進口，才看到原來是兩部小車拋錨了，有人在雪地上推車，剛好推出一個小車能過的縫隙，隻有車技好的才能穿過去。
那雪地好滑啊！你一不小心，穿過去的時候萬一刮到兩邊的車子，人家不放你過麻煩就大了。好在我終於穿過去了，冒出一身冷汗。
車子走上五號高速公路，還是步履維艱。誰也不知道前麵究竟是發生什麽事，隻有緊跟，我計算了一下，一小時隻走一英裏。
實在等不及了，隻好開出一個出口，改走當地（ｌｏｃａｌ）的小路。
這時已經開５小時的車了。夜深了，天空一片漆黑，大地卻一片白茫茫。路上一輛車都沒有，與五號高速公路上擁擠的車流成鮮明的對比，一種孤獨感和恐懼感即刻襲來。
街燈在暗夜和白雪中閃爍，不時看到有的少男少女踩著雪具在街道上滑溜，好不逍遙自在。大雪對有的人來說是那麽多美好和浪漫！深更半夜了，家家戶戶都在壁爐前烤火雞吧？據說這種大雪的日子，屋子裏的氣氛最溫馨，最適合造人。而最不浪漫的感覺隻屬於開車的人。
小路上積雪太厚，一不小心，你的車子就熄火，或者滑到路邊，你是叫天天不應的，以前就有人的車在雪夜出事，到人們發現時，車主已經奄奄一息了，想起來十分可怕。
我小心翼翼，但還是出了險情。有一座公路橋臨時封閉，你還是要開回來，重新選擇路線。小的車道坡度較陡，雪深近尺，你一不小心就會翻車。我握緊方向盤，找一條比較平坦的路繞彎回頭，心裏一直默默祈禱，祈禱一路平安。
終於回到家裏，已經是１２點半了。如果不是抄小路，可能要多走一個小時。我看了溫度表隻有華氏族15度，相當於攝氏0下10度。這個風雪之夜，西雅圖有幾百輛車出事。
我的一些朋友，原來開半小時的車，在高速公路上卻開了十幾個小時，除了又冷又餓之外，最難以啟齒的是沒有地方能方便一下，風雪之夜，到洗手間卻成為最美妙的回憶。狠多人從傍晚開到清晨，直到耗幹汽油熄火，說“雪夜驚魂”不為過。
過後，和網友談起這次雪夜行車，大家總結了一些經驗。一是雪夜開車要準備毛毯和燈火，一旦在偏僻地方出事，可以自己取暖和照明，也便於別人救援你。二是最好有雪胎雪鏈。三是在雪季來臨之前，要及時更換雨刮的橡皮，因為老的雨刮橡皮平時看起來可以應付大雨，但是一到冰雪天，橡皮承受的壓力加重，就不能順暢地劃過玻璃，就可能影響你的視線。四是油門要輕踩，可以把變速箱減到低檔，讓汽車自動減速，嚴禁急刹車。五是把車胎放掉一些汽，車胎越軟，越能防滑。這些都很值得借鑒。
以下是西雅圖時報關於11.22大雪的一篇文章
November 23, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Twitter becomes friend, lifeline during 9.5 hour commute from Seattle to Tacoma
Posted by Tiffany Campbell
Around mid-Beacon Hill on Southbound I-5 last night, I began to realize what a dumb idea it was to attempt to drive home.
I didn't leave in the afternoon, before dark. I didn't pack an overnight bag. And I waved off several generous offers of a place to stay before leaving the city. At 6:45 p.m., I sealed my fate by pulling onto I-5 Southbound. I wouldn't arrive home in Tacoma until 4:15 a.m.
Things started slow and steady, but after nearly two hours, my progress slowed from a roll to parked. And with hands free to start checking my Twitter and other reports, I realized I was in for it. And to clarify: my car was in park while I was tweeting.
I had a half tank of gas, two Luna bars, my iphone and a half bottle of water. These items, plus a social media lifeline, would be my only companions for the rest of the night.
This is where I realized I was actually so far left as to be crawling along on the shoulder. I was surrounded by a wall of cars, idling, while the snow kept falling.
Finally, on Twitter, I first learned from @KING5Seattle that all lanes were blocked at the bottom of Boeing Field - a jack-knifed semi, a bus, other vehicles.
People kept calling and it was difficult to explain how trapped I was. In the far left shoulder, the wall of cars was not moving. Merging and changing lanes was not an option. I was also stuck at the North end of Boeing field, in between exits (I also couldn't see the exits, being in a smaller car and blocked in by semi-trucks, SUVs, etc.)
And so I sat. And Twitter became my lifeline.
I started tweeting updates to the Twittersphere, my @seattletimes colleagues, @KING5Seattle and others who were watching the mess and aggregating tweets from other increasingly desperate souls.
Hours passed. And I mean hours. It's hard to say what the most uneventful part was, but if I had to pick, it would be the crawl from the North end of Boeing Field to about the middle.
At the 4 hour mark, things started to get interesting. People were out of their cars, knocking on windows, waving their arms in exasperation. Many of them were walking for gas - I saw two young women trundling gas back in a milk jug.
A woman in front of me for several hours finally erupted out of her car, leapt over the guardrail and into the brush, flailing deeper behind some trees, clearly to pee. I suspected she had been eyeing that for awhile. When she emerged, she was covered in snow. She was my sister.
Finally, what had been a roll became dead stops for long stretches. I was grateful for tweets from @KING5Seattle, @wsdot and others, which were keeping me updated and also made me feel like someone else was awake, nearby and watching out for me.
The tweets let me relax a bit. If things got bad, if something worse happened, I felt like I had a major lifeline out.
Meanwhile, certain tweeters were becoming famous in the I-5 Twittershpere: @paolojr a fellow Tacoma commuter, was several miles ahead of me but keeping good humor.
Check out a sampling of his feed from last night here.
Then, it started to get creepy. It was dark, the wind was blowing, I had idled through a quarter tank of gas. I was worried about running out and having to walk. There were dozens of abandoned vehicles, strewn everywhere.
Twitter reports stated that lanes were open and the end was in sight. Then more reports of accidents at the same place, medical emergencies. Twitter was at once highly accurate and also highly subjective, depending on your location.
Eventually, I started to maneuver around the the abandoned vehicles. Some had their hazards on, some were dark. They were in the left lane or the right shoulder. As I progressed, some were in the middle of the lanes. Then, disabled semi-trucks emerged out of the darkness, stopped on the side or smack in the middle of the lanes. It looked like a scene out of any apocalypse movie, where the people abandon their cars on the clogged freeways as they escape.
I was far enough behind to the original accident that I never saw a crew or police. Around 48th Avenue South, just past the exits for MLK, things began to break free. Lanes were more theoretical at this point, with people maneuvering around several semis, in the middle lanes, who had stopped and were chaining up. The road was pure, lumpy ice at this point, but we were crawling so slow, not that many people were sliding. At about 2:45 a.m. I broke through the worst of it.
I was free! Except, I still had 30 miles to go to get home to Tacoma. I had assumed that with the epic backup behind me, the freeway ahead of me would be clear. I was wrong. For another hour and 15 minutes, I drove 25 to 30 miles an hour, gripping the steering wheel, my husband on speakerphone to keep me awake and calm, as I rumbled over snow and ice on I-5. I had not seen a plow or any other official crew in over 8 hours.
At 4:15 a.m. I pulled into my driveway, more than 9 hours after I'd left work. I'd been up for 22 hours. I was grateful to be safe.
http://old.seattletimes.com/html/reweb/2013503017_my_95_hour_commute_from_seattle_to_tacoma.html
其他博文鏈接：
西雅圖的這場大雪是在中午開始下，所以大家都去上班了，天氣預報根本沒有預料到雪會這麽大，不然的話就有很多人不會去上班了。因為車禍多，之後西雅圖就增加了很多鏟雪車，隻要下大雪，鏟雪車保證在大路上工作，所以2012年還有一場大雪的時候，事故就少多了。
我有一次下班時天開始下雪，急且大，我開車都到了上高速的路口，又一個轉彎回到local，到麥當勞買了一堆吃食，回到辦公室，坐了一夜，第二天接著上班，晚上下班，高速的雪已經清理幹淨。雖然在辦公室裏過夜非常不舒服，但安全。冒著大雪開車，太恐怖了。