Yaris vs. Ford Explorer 4x4

[BailOut]

My 6'5", 350lb coworker who also commutes over Mount Rose Highway every day has jokingly but incessantly teased me about my Yaris since the day I got it. He drives a Ford Explorer 4x4.

He says things like, "Don't go too slow over Mount Rose or I'll drive right over you. It'll be like hitting a speed bump.", or "Did you remember the crackers for the hamsters?". Other times he'll walk by my cube and whisper, "Four wheel drive. ugh ugh ugh". hehe

Well, the weather around here over the last 24 hours or so has been absolutely craptastic. Along with hurricane-force winds it snowed for most of the night above 6,500ft. and dropped an inch on the valley floor (4,500ft.). As I expected the plows had moved and mashed most of the snow on the 2-lane highway down to an inch-tall hard pack making for a slightly treacherous but fully doable run.

In a very tight section around 7,500ft. I came across an odd sight. I was in a group of 3 vehicles doing about 35 MPH in the southbound lane and on the northbound side there was a lone vehicle facing southbound and stuck in the 1.5m wide, 1m deep ditch on the shoulder. It was bordered both in front and in back by a pair of Nevada Highway Patrol vehicles that were up on the road.

I thought, "That Explorer looks awful familiar... I wonder if that's him..." and right then my coworker walked around the front of the vehicle, talking with one of the Troopers.

I arrived safely at work 30 minutes later. In my Yaris.