Storm Chasers

This weekend, Suz and I travelled up to her parents' again for Christmas, as is the usual tradition. Unlike previous years though, we were hot on the tail of a pretty decent snow storm.

We were worried that we'd encounter the remnants of many accidents, travelling through the storm's wake. We figured we'd be a few hours late, especially when, on the opposite side of the highway, an army of snowplows cleared the way for anxious travellers headed south.

We saw cars in ditches, covered by the snowplow's well-done job, and even a transport truck stuck in the right-hand lane, which required the skills of a tow-truck operator to get him moving again.

However, we were surprised to see that both sides of the highway were relatively clear, and there were very few accidents involving cars. The worst pile up was just off to the right of the 401, where 6 dozen beavers slid down an icy hill and crashed into the highway guard-rail. Two passersby stopped to help but the beavers gnawed at them, scaring them away. Clean up was expected to take anywhere from 2 to 417 hours. A local trucker delayed by the pile up was quoted as saying, "Dam them beavers!"

Nobody seemed to get the joke.

So, despite the bad weather and horrible beaver accidents, we had a pretty good drive up, unlike many others we passed along the way. We were glad to arrive safely, and ungnawed.