Saga after Saga

On the day we relinquished the cats, the drive to Logan was snowy-icy (go figure, it's February), but manageable. After the drop off, we traveled west along Route 2 to Orange to do more kitchen renovations. We started getting pretty miffed that there were plows in front of us, with no space to pass, holding up a procession of cars behind us for miles and miles and miles. It seemed to be a pathetically, excessively slow pace, ranging from 15 to 20 mph, and the slush they were scraping away was minimal, not significant in terms of volume. It was a long, slow crawl, but we were 2nd in line behind the plows, so could at least see what the holdup was.

Finally the plows exited, and we were overjoyed, but at the first corner after that, the car in front of us, doing about 40mph, fishtailed slightly, lost control and spun in a 360°, smashing into the guardrail and bouncing out towards our lane, now at 90° to the traffic! We had also noticed the iciness without the plows clearing the slush, and knew we couldn’t brake in these conditions - all we could do was continue going at a slow, measured pace, and HOPE that the car wouldn't careen into us (we have a NEW car, for goodness sake!). It came to a stop with enough space for us to continue past without impact! It was terrifying – the driver was alert and conscious, not having rolled, but we had such a procession of cars on our bumper that we couldn’t stop. I can only imagine what a concertina effect that would have had on the raring-to-go traffic. Not an experience I’d want to repeat, ever. (no pictures)

Phew! It was so very scary - we needed a stiff drink of brandy when we reached Orange, where the roads were minimally plowed in the low traffic areas. There was also a lot of snow clear up to be done in the time we were there. 

We arrived back home around 10pm, 2 days after the snow, and obviously couldn't park in our own driveway, so we took the liberty of parking at our neighbor's cleared area for the night. The next day, our gas snow plow wouldn't start, no matter what Dale tried - it's at least 13 years old, so I suppose that's good? We shoveled a 'route' through the solid, compacted road/driveway interface, and parked in our carport. It was then time to unpack the car and order a new snow blower (in action in pic below).

And then, after all the unpacking, I couldn't find my Invisalign retainer (specially fitted for my bite) that I'd taken on the trip with me - I remembered lying in bed in the Woburn hotel struggling to sleep, and realizing that I wasn't wearing my retainer, but thought, "oh well, it's okay to miss one day." The next night, in Orange, I realized I wasn't wearing it again, so searched through my bags and belongings without finding it anywhere. I thought that maybe I'd left it on my bed back home and forgotten to pack it after all, so waited till I got home to finish the search - but no luck. The hotel searched through their Lost and Found for me to no avail so now we have a new snow blower and new retainers are being ordered. 

But we are safe and intact, and so is our new car! No more sagas, please ...