Snow Day = Long Commute in Seattle

Today's commute was a long one. The day started with a three hour bus ride to downtown Seattle. It snowed about 4 inches and put a layer of ice on the freeway. Cars were abandoned on the interstate and people were walking. We even passed an empty bus on the freeway. It was one of those extra long buses that bends as it rounds corners. This one had jack-knifed on the freeway and was just sitting there. We moved our way around it and I thought, "Man that would be a bummer to have that happen!"
Our bus driver was great! Once we hit the first stop in downtown Seattle, the whole bus let out a cheer for her skill and ability. She felt like a hero!
So, I finally got to the office and got some stuff done. The whole while the snow kept coming down. I was starting to get worried that the bus service would be cut off, so I decided to leave at about 12:30. I jumped on the bus and started to head home. As we were moving along, there was wreckage going both directions. Cars off the road, bumps and dents everywhere. We made one stop and almost did not start moving again. The chained tires just spun for a while. Finally, we started inching along. Not long after that, one of the passengers said, "ooo that truck is across the road." Sure enough, a delivery truck was blocking the opposite lanes of traffic. Several cars and our bus were trying to stop. At this point, we were headed down hill on about an inch of ice. Needless to say, the loaded bus did not make the stop. This bus was also one of those long buses that has the back end that bends on corners. It also bends when the front of the bus stops but the back does not. There were a couple of screams and profanities and then our bus was jack-knifed. Just so you know, it is a bummer when your bus is jack-knifed.
So myself, with my 120 closest new bus friends, walked the rest of the way down the hill in a blizzard to the closest transit center. Luckily, it was only about 1.5 miles away.
Here are some pics of the spot where the bus and other cars had troubles.

It is hard to tell from this shot, but the back of the bus is at about a 90 degree angle from the front of the bus. Clearly, people were a bit surprised!



This is looking up the hill at the bus and the delivery truck across the road.




This is a look down the hill at the other cars stuck on the ice.



All in all, I spent about 6 hours traveling today. Long Commute!