On February 14, 2003, I drove up with a few of my friends to Katsucon 09 in Arlington, Virginia. The Convention itself was very fun; however, the drive back was a different matter. In the early hours of Sunday, snow began to fall in the Washington Metro Area. By dawn, their was already a 8" of snow on the ground in the area, and more as you went west. It was the Shanandoah Valley that I drove through on Friday, and now was currently the hardest hit by the snow (1-2 feet). So, with some reservation, I decided to drive back home via Richmond/Greensboro route... a longer but hopefully a safer route. So at almost 9:00am on a Sunday Morning, we left the Hyatt Hotel in Arlington, Virginia and headed out to the unknown.

Leaving the Hyatt ~ Arlington, VA


On Jefferson Davis Hwy. ~ Arlington, VA


Just further on the same road ~ Arlington, VA


On the Freeway ~ Arlington, VA

Even though it seemed I had no problem driving the road, I did have to take another detour thanks in part of bad Metro Planning. For some reason, the road I was on offered no South I-395 exit; causing me to drive the length of I-66 to I-495, a twenty minute detour. Luckely, the road was practically to myself, so I had no problems on either road till I made it on I-95.

I-66 snowy yet empty ~ Arlington, VA


All lanes open on I-495 ~ Near Annandale, VA

We finally ran into a bit of traffic leaving the Metro area. No major problems considering how many cars were on the road there. Luckely, Northern Virginia doesn't mess around with snow, the local counties had more than 300 snow trucks to clear the roads. Including the seven trucks that was clearing a path for the traffic that was just up ahead of me. I thought it was neat seeing the snow fly-up 10 feet and fall over an overpass.

Random traffic shot ~ Near Dale City, VA


All lanes cleared by the fleet of snow trucks ~ Near Dale City, VA

We didn't bother taking anymore pictures after that, the scene was pretty much white the whole trip. As for that fleet of snow trucks that was up front, they turned off at the Spotsylvania county line. It wasn't snowing anymore, but a lot of it was on the ground, even in Richmond.

We stopped in Richmond for gas and food. Ate at a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut and then drove on till we got to I-85 in Petersburg. The weather at this point was mearly rain with little of the white stuff on the ground. But as we inch closer to North Carolina, that soon quickly changed to freezing rain and sleet.

From the state line till almost Burlington, I must have seen over 50 car wrecks on the road. Not to mention the countless broken guardrails on the sides. The road was still very passable, going at speeds one shouldn't go in that type of weather. A comment from one in the car said that it takes a Blizzard just to get me to drive the actual speed limit. Oh well, at least we were getting somewhere.

Nothing much to say between Burlington and Wilkesboro. Got gas at Yadkinville and passed a salt truck. As we pass Boone, it was already dark and the road was getting difficult. We had to stop for a minute on the side too just so we can scrap off the ice on the windshield wipers. When I arrived at Deep Gap, I was treated with some extremely heavy fog on top of the sleet covered road; at this point I was just crawling on the road, trying to figure out where it was half the time. Eventually we made it to Boone and the roads quickly improved. After a stop to disembark my passangers and kick the ice off the viehacle, I headed home with little trouble.

It was 8:30pm when I finally arrived back at the house, taking me nearly 12 hours on a drive that normally takes 6-7 hours. To say the least, I was exusated from the drive. But I am glad to say that the passangers and I made it all in one piece. Too bad the other people at Katsucon who decided to stay on Sunday were snowed in; it would have been nice to stay on sunday, but that risk was too much.