blizzard mileage

[Idahotom]

I had a 2 hour drive to a small Wyoming town, and later in the day drove back. Going there took me 2 hours, coming back took 6 due to closed roads, backtracking, and just sitting there at one point for a half hour or so. I finally made it through one mountain pass, and then across the flats ran into whiteout conditions, glare ice, and 50 to 60 mph winds. I was in mostly first and second gear, and had to come to a full stop several times when the viz was absolutely zero. Going so slow helped make the wind not a big factor, it didn't seem to want to push me off the road anyway.

Even on a good day this route is lightly traveled, but I did see a half dozen rigs in about 1 1/2 hrs, just enough to make it real worrisome of getting rearended or do so to someone else. At one point, I realized I was driving a tiny white car The rigs I saw were full sized pickups and one county plow, they would have won in any shoving contest!

Anyway, point being, I got home and the entire drive averaged out to 38.9 MPG! Nothing like my summer mileage of mid 40, but I was surprised it was that good for all that low gear creeping. Scariest winter drive of my life, and I been driving in the winter for a lot of years, but hey I got pretty decent mileage!