Fun in RWD
Jan. 12th, 2025 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickFriend Trys (she of the rollerskating incident in recent posting) is driving again, headaches mostly gone-ish, though she's more tired than usual. Her wintertime hustle is driving around Amish and Mennonite folks to places that are too far for horse and buggy travel. (Amish and Mennonites are religious groups in the United States and, I guess, other places, who disfavor modern living and things like driving around in cars. When they need to be driven around in a car or large van, they hire someone to do that and they pay good money. I don't understand how if God is agin them driving around in cars how he can be OK with them hiring someone to drive them around in cars but also I am not Amish or Mennonite, so w/e. Not my circus, not my monkeys.) Generally you can spot the Amish or Mennonites when you see 'em out and about because they (like Hutterites, which are a similar-but-different group) dress in a particular style that stands out from regular people clothing. But anyway.
I am not sure why Amish and Mennonites aren't a cult but, like, Branch Dravidians are a cult and FLDS people are a cult but also I'm not here to discuss cults or what makes shit a cult or not a cult. Perhaps another time.
We got about 4" of snow on Monday (I plowed) and then another 2" on Saturday morning (I did not plow) and this was of interest because Trys had asked me about driving rear wheel drive vehicles in snow. She'd never done, see, because she's like thirteen years younger than I am and grew up with front wheel drive cars. But the big van for hauling the religious fanatics around, that's a rear wheel drive vehicle. And it's winter in a part of the country where snow can happen on the regular.
She asked me about it because I grew up on a two mile uphill-to-the-pavement dirt road that is north-facing and somewhat indifferently plowed, these days by me. It is not salted or stoned/cindered under normal circumstances. If it's a complete shitshow of ice, sometimes we cinder it, with a shovel and a pickup truck. But it has to be a complete shitshow before I bust out the shovel.
Anyway. On this road, back in the late 1980's, I drove to high school in a 72 Chevy Impala convertible (a rear wheel drive boat of a vehicle) that had studded rear tires put on every November as its sole concession to the winter weather. And if I did not get to school out the road that my father deemed driveable, then I was a failure and a bad driver. So, I got the 72 Chevy Impala convertible, a vehicle with the size, maneuverability, and fuel economy of an aircraft carrier, out the road to school. Failure was not an option.
It was something of a baptism by fire, but I know, in my bones, how to drive a rear wheel drive vehicle in ice and snow. And, happily, I have a vehicle (now) that can be used to PRACTICE driving a rear wheel drive vehicle in the (recent) snow and is not a large van needed for Trys's wintertime hustle. The learner vehicle is completely fucking useless in 2 wheel drive, so lots of sliding and failure-to-progress will be had. AND we can just shift it into 4wd when that happens, so nobody is having to back a rear wheel drive vehicle down the hill to take another running start at it. Yay.
Conditions were perfect for Learning to drive a rear wheel drive vehicle in the snow, Hard Mode, featuring my Ford Ranger pickup. It's a manual. :) She wants to learn? She will learn. (She can already drive a manual. I'm not a monster.)
So on Saturday, Trys came over and we played with the Ranger. When I called her to come over, she was all, "It's only two inches of snow. Are you sure the truck will slide?"
"Yes."
"You're sure? I thought you had good tires on it."
"I do have good tires on it. It's fucking helpless in 2WD."
"Okaaaay." (Doubtful. She is doubtful.)
She should not have been doubtful. It was fine. Learning was had. Nobody ran off the road. After some practice and coaching, she managed to get up the hill to DL's house and also up the little hill on the way in, which is sufficient for cult van driving. (Cult van is heavier in the rear end and won't be nearly as helpless as the Ranger. A 2WD Ford Ranger with an empty bed is almost as helpless in the snow as a Chevy Nova or a Corvette.)
And also now I have someone who can appreciate it when I call them and go, "I got the Ranger out the road in 2wd this morning, go me!" That's actually something of an accomplishment and I was justifiably proud to have managed it this morning. :) Escape velocity at the bottom of the last hill is about 30mph, and if you don't hit that, you don't get out. So it's kind of managing how much you slide (uphill, around a turn) and how much momentum you lose and how much steering you have. Very fun.
I am not sure why Amish and Mennonites aren't a cult but, like, Branch Dravidians are a cult and FLDS people are a cult but also I'm not here to discuss cults or what makes shit a cult or not a cult. Perhaps another time.
We got about 4" of snow on Monday (I plowed) and then another 2" on Saturday morning (I did not plow) and this was of interest because Trys had asked me about driving rear wheel drive vehicles in snow. She'd never done, see, because she's like thirteen years younger than I am and grew up with front wheel drive cars. But the big van for hauling the religious fanatics around, that's a rear wheel drive vehicle. And it's winter in a part of the country where snow can happen on the regular.
She asked me about it because I grew up on a two mile uphill-to-the-pavement dirt road that is north-facing and somewhat indifferently plowed, these days by me. It is not salted or stoned/cindered under normal circumstances. If it's a complete shitshow of ice, sometimes we cinder it, with a shovel and a pickup truck. But it has to be a complete shitshow before I bust out the shovel.
Anyway. On this road, back in the late 1980's, I drove to high school in a 72 Chevy Impala convertible (a rear wheel drive boat of a vehicle) that had studded rear tires put on every November as its sole concession to the winter weather. And if I did not get to school out the road that my father deemed driveable, then I was a failure and a bad driver. So, I got the 72 Chevy Impala convertible, a vehicle with the size, maneuverability, and fuel economy of an aircraft carrier, out the road to school. Failure was not an option.
It was something of a baptism by fire, but I know, in my bones, how to drive a rear wheel drive vehicle in ice and snow. And, happily, I have a vehicle (now) that can be used to PRACTICE driving a rear wheel drive vehicle in the (recent) snow and is not a large van needed for Trys's wintertime hustle. The learner vehicle is completely fucking useless in 2 wheel drive, so lots of sliding and failure-to-progress will be had. AND we can just shift it into 4wd when that happens, so nobody is having to back a rear wheel drive vehicle down the hill to take another running start at it. Yay.
Conditions were perfect for Learning to drive a rear wheel drive vehicle in the snow, Hard Mode, featuring my Ford Ranger pickup. It's a manual. :) She wants to learn? She will learn. (She can already drive a manual. I'm not a monster.)
So on Saturday, Trys came over and we played with the Ranger. When I called her to come over, she was all, "It's only two inches of snow. Are you sure the truck will slide?"
"Yes."
"You're sure? I thought you had good tires on it."
"I do have good tires on it. It's fucking helpless in 2WD."
"Okaaaay." (Doubtful. She is doubtful.)
She should not have been doubtful. It was fine. Learning was had. Nobody ran off the road. After some practice and coaching, she managed to get up the hill to DL's house and also up the little hill on the way in, which is sufficient for cult van driving. (Cult van is heavier in the rear end and won't be nearly as helpless as the Ranger. A 2WD Ford Ranger with an empty bed is almost as helpless in the snow as a Chevy Nova or a Corvette.)
And also now I have someone who can appreciate it when I call them and go, "I got the Ranger out the road in 2wd this morning, go me!" That's actually something of an accomplishment and I was justifiably proud to have managed it this morning. :) Escape velocity at the bottom of the last hill is about 30mph, and if you don't hit that, you don't get out. So it's kind of managing how much you slide (uphill, around a turn) and how much momentum you lose and how much steering you have. Very fun.
