Complex Numbers

I'll Pass

As I've mentioned in here before, when I do these road trips, I usually avoid interstate highways. Not that I don't appreciate interstates (they are, from a civil engineering perspective, a triumphant achievement), but I like to take my time and see sights that most people, hurrying from point A to point B with the promise of a few official rest areas in between, don't get to see.

Not this time, though. While I still believe in journey before destination (to quote Sanderson), my time schedule is a little more rushed than usual, this trip.

The point being that, tomorrow, I expect to be taking I-80 into California (or, as Californians probably call it, "the 80," which, please stop that). And I-80 traverses, as I've also mentioned in here before, Donner Pass. (See "Donner's Blitzen"  from last year.)

Thing is, Donner Pass tops out at something like 7000 feet. Which means traveling it in late fall or winter (and probably early spring) can be a crapshoot, as the Donner Party found out long before there was a road, let alone a superhighway. And it is supposed to snow there tomorrow.

I don't mind driving through snow (I drive a Subaru for several reasons, not least of which is all-wheel drive), and they tend to clear interstates first. But there's just something about the prospect of getting stranded at 7000 feet in a blizzard at a spot where, famously, people got so stuck that they resorted to cannibalism, that makes me cautious enough to at least check the weather forecast first. Especially given what just happened in the PNW (excessive rain even for the PNW, massive floods), which I'm too far south to have experienced.

I think if I leave early enough, it'll be fine. And I'll probably get in one more blog entry before I make the attempt. But if you don't hear from me after that, remember, I'm tough and stringy and probably not very tasty.