A White Christmas
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From: Texas City
A White Christmas
Wow, what a wonderful holiday season we're having! 
I've lived on the Texas Gulf Coast south of Houston for 49 years and I've seen it snow enough around here to blanket the ground maybe 6 times. This year is the first time I've ever seen a white Christmas! I heard from one source that it's the first time that this has happened on the Texas Gulf Coast for as long as they've been keeping records on such things. I don't know if that's absolutely true or not but it wouldn't surprise me.
I hopped in my S2000 to go to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and there was a light spattering of freezing rain. Nothing major and I really didn't think anything of it. By the time Mass started, we had nice large snow flakes coming down in blankets. By the time Mass was over, there was at least 1 to 2 inches on the car. It was really something to see.
Now for the "fun" part. Folks, you know what you've read on S2ki about driving the S2000 in the snow? Believe it!! At this point, I was concerned but confident that, with a little (wait, make that a LOT) of care, I could get home (about 10 miles) safely. The freeway on ramps were very slushy but there wasn't any ice forming yet. I average 25 to 30 mph on the I-45 and fortunately, at 1:30am, there wasn't much traffic to worry about. I had several overpasses to cross on the way home and all of them were iced up but I'd slow to around 10 mph and didn't have any problems. The rear end did a little jig on one of them but the car stayed straight. The only thing that scared me was the Ford Taurus that was coming up nicely from behind and then slowed down and paced me, right side by side!!
You'd think this idiot would know better than to run right next to someone else on such slippery roads! I slowed down and he slowed down with me at first. Finally, they looked down at the speedometer, figured out what was going on and sped back up. When I got back into town, I caught a red light and wound up sitting next to an Expedition. When the light turned green, I "gently" tried to take off and kept having the rear end break loose which would cause the S to skid left. It took some "very" gentle clutch feathering but I finally got her moving. Fortunately, the Ford didn't have that problem and pulled ahead which meant I was free of any worry of loosing control and getting into someone who was right next to me. On the last street coming to my house, there was a lot of buildup and slush on the road since it's not as heavily traveled. I had yet another car come up behind me and since I was only doing 15 to 20, it looked like they might try to pass me. They moved all the way left and I thought, "Oh, no you don't" and moved to the center of the lane myself. This road isn't that wide and has a healthy crown to it. Under these conditions, this guy didn't have room to pass anyone and I wasn't taking any chances of either he or I loosing control with no extra room to play with. They backed off "just" a little and all of the sudden my rear end let go (I'm not entirely sure why, meaning I'm not sure if I did something to cause this or just caught a patch of ice) and I found myself starting to swap ends. My S2000 turned close to 45 degrees but at least kept traveling in the desired direction while I steered into the skid like we're all taught to do. As luck would have it, she started to respond to my steering actions and the car actually straightened itself out. The guy behind me took the hint and backed off even further. Five blocks later, I turned on my street and into the driveway, shut her down, gave the steering wheel a little kiss, and there's she's been parked ever since! I'm considering that a free car!
The skid scared the he** out of me at the time but beyond that I had a blast. And I never want to do it again! 98% of the snow is gone now so when things dry out a bit, I'll be back in the S2000, but with a new appreciation for it's cold weather handling qualities.
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
I've lived on the Texas Gulf Coast south of Houston for 49 years and I've seen it snow enough around here to blanket the ground maybe 6 times. This year is the first time I've ever seen a white Christmas! I heard from one source that it's the first time that this has happened on the Texas Gulf Coast for as long as they've been keeping records on such things. I don't know if that's absolutely true or not but it wouldn't surprise me.
I hopped in my S2000 to go to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and there was a light spattering of freezing rain. Nothing major and I really didn't think anything of it. By the time Mass started, we had nice large snow flakes coming down in blankets. By the time Mass was over, there was at least 1 to 2 inches on the car. It was really something to see.
Now for the "fun" part. Folks, you know what you've read on S2ki about driving the S2000 in the snow? Believe it!! At this point, I was concerned but confident that, with a little (wait, make that a LOT) of care, I could get home (about 10 miles) safely. The freeway on ramps were very slushy but there wasn't any ice forming yet. I average 25 to 30 mph on the I-45 and fortunately, at 1:30am, there wasn't much traffic to worry about. I had several overpasses to cross on the way home and all of them were iced up but I'd slow to around 10 mph and didn't have any problems. The rear end did a little jig on one of them but the car stayed straight. The only thing that scared me was the Ford Taurus that was coming up nicely from behind and then slowed down and paced me, right side by side!!
You'd think this idiot would know better than to run right next to someone else on such slippery roads! I slowed down and he slowed down with me at first. Finally, they looked down at the speedometer, figured out what was going on and sped back up. When I got back into town, I caught a red light and wound up sitting next to an Expedition. When the light turned green, I "gently" tried to take off and kept having the rear end break loose which would cause the S to skid left. It took some "very" gentle clutch feathering but I finally got her moving. Fortunately, the Ford didn't have that problem and pulled ahead which meant I was free of any worry of loosing control and getting into someone who was right next to me. On the last street coming to my house, there was a lot of buildup and slush on the road since it's not as heavily traveled. I had yet another car come up behind me and since I was only doing 15 to 20, it looked like they might try to pass me. They moved all the way left and I thought, "Oh, no you don't" and moved to the center of the lane myself. This road isn't that wide and has a healthy crown to it. Under these conditions, this guy didn't have room to pass anyone and I wasn't taking any chances of either he or I loosing control with no extra room to play with. They backed off "just" a little and all of the sudden my rear end let go (I'm not entirely sure why, meaning I'm not sure if I did something to cause this or just caught a patch of ice) and I found myself starting to swap ends. My S2000 turned close to 45 degrees but at least kept traveling in the desired direction while I steered into the skid like we're all taught to do. As luck would have it, she started to respond to my steering actions and the car actually straightened itself out. The guy behind me took the hint and backed off even further. Five blocks later, I turned on my street and into the driveway, shut her down, gave the steering wheel a little kiss, and there's she's been parked ever since! I'm considering that a free car!
The skid scared the he** out of me at the time but beyond that I had a blast. And I never want to do it again! 98% of the snow is gone now so when things dry out a bit, I'll be back in the S2000, but with a new appreciation for it's cold weather handling qualities.
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
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Dec 25, 2002 07:14 PM