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I’ve wanted it to snow ALL Winter, all 20 days of it or so! We finally got our snow… and let me tell you, it snowed a helluva lot near my parts, and even more further North. Near work, it didn’t snow all that much… maybe 5 inches, tops. Near me, closer to 9 or 10 inches.
So, I started my trek home at 2PM yesterday. I was heading towards the Somerset Collection to get my 15GB iPod. Surprisingly, in the beginning of the real snowstorm, I made it there in about 1h10m. Not bad, considering I almost crashed into one wall on the I-94 East entrance ramp from Michigan Ave. and that I don’t have AWD or 4WD. Anyway, I snagged the iPod (which is scratched) and headed back out. I knew it would be a bear. I left at about 3:45 from the Mall and got home at about 5:30. CRAZY. It took me 50% longer to get from the Mall home than it took to get from Dearborn to the Mall. I knew this, though, since I was going to be traversing on surface streets instead of Interstate Highways.
Traction Control
Something AWESOME I was able to experience yesterday was Saab’s traction control system on my 93 Vector. Simply amazing. Not only does it affect the front axle in terms of shifting power from wheel to wheel, but it also affects the throttle. I was unaware of this and was wondering when I had it floored why the RPMs were only at about 1800 to 3000, depending on the conditions… the car electronically adjusts the power to each wheel and the throttle to get the traction it needs. FAST FORWARD –==> As I shoveled half of the driveway, which took about :45 (the one time I wish I had a snowblower), I realized I needed to get the Saab into the garage and OUT of the middle of the street. So, I backed in… amazingly, the car took about :20 to get up the driveway using it’s traction control system. I would have it floored, and it would go to about 2000 RPM…it would slowl apply power to a wheel up front, and it’d crawl back (I was in reverse, remember)… it would then release power, keeping RPMs at about 1800, and then again, slowly give power… it was vere reminiscint of rock-crawling with the Jeep. I was amazed.
Shoveling
What I thought would be about :30 was more like 1:30 to shovel the driveway, walkway, porch, and both sides of the sidewalk… I LOVE the light, fluffy snow, but when it’s 10″, it doesn’t matter how light and fluffy it is! It took forever. I laid down a coating of salt, and the driveway was GORGEOUS this morning. See above!