A NEW YEAR... waiting for Spring (Part 41h)

When I started out there was probably 5 inches of new snow on the ground. The problem on the road was that there was no place for the newly plowed snow to go. In some places there was only one lane because of that. I was, rightfully so, worried about the area of the big drift. There was wind but nowhere near as much as the week before. But what wind there was was blowing snow into the road where they had made the “open tunnel”. There was enough snow falling that the light from the headlights was diffused so that I really couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of me. When I hit that spot I thought I was in trouble. Again, I bulled my way through and thought I had it made. Not so. I was almost back to the campus when I came upon an accident. Luckily I saw it and was able to turn the steering wheel to the left to miss it. But, I ended up buried into the plowed snow on the side of the road.

The snow was so packed into the grill of the car and up into the motor that I couldn’t get it started after it had stalled. I had to climb out a window because the snow was so tightly packed that I couldn’t open the door. No one was hurt in the accident but it was so cold none of us could stay with the cars. The others weren’t college students and had no idea of where they really were. We were only a few hundred yards from the school infirmary so, through the blowing snow I led them there.

I was in the best shape. Two of the other three had the beginnings of frostbite. The staff took us in and, even though I identified myself as a student and said it wasn’t all that far to my living quarters, they insisted that we all spend the rest of the night. In the morning the final tally was 12 inches of new snow on top of the 17 from the previous week. After getting a bite to eat we all headed back to our cars. The State Police had been there as all our cars had been tagged. The problem turned out that there was only one place in town with a tow truck. Because the other two cars were actually out in the road they got moved. Because I was off the road it stayed there... until Tuesday.

It turned out to be almost a repeat of the previous week as far as classes were concerned. No classes on Monday and liberal leave for Tuesday. Other than for getting my car out of the snow bank (and running again) I actually put my time into my studies. Mid semester exams followed by Spring break was rapidly approaching. I knew I had to get my grades up and with no money to party, studying seemed like the smart thing to do.

The Spring break turned out to be a bit of a problem though. I’d committed to going to North Carolina to work with the horses and this year was going to drive to get there. My exam schedule had me finishing up on Thursday. Elle was to finish up the first half of her teaching assignment on that Friday and she’d wanted me to move her and her things to Miss Bea’s. To get some extra money I’d put a notice up on the bulletin board asking for riders headed South. I got two from within the fraternity and the guys were also finished on Thursday. Originally I’d told Elle I’d get her moved on Friday after her last class. The problem was that one of my riders needed to be home on Friday. Telling Elle that I wouldn’t be able to do it wasn’t easy. But her new landlady jumped in and offered to do it so I was somewhat off the hook.

Even though Elle’s college had their Spring break at the same time as my school, Elle, working as a (practice) teacher had to go by the schedule of the school that she was assigned to. That meant she’d only get time off at Easter which was the week I’d be back. I felt bad about not moving her but I was looking forward to making it up to her when she had her break.

The time with the horses was great. But, when I was done with work each day it was pretty boring. Again, there was no one my age, male or female, at the hotel where I stayed with my grandparents. I did get a lot of sleep though. When I left to return to school my grandfather gave me some extra money when I left on top of what I got paid for the week. Then, when I stopped to pick up the my first rider for the trip back he had a friend who attended a college that was on our way so that was even more money in my pocket. Now that Spring was here it seemed like things were really looking up.

To be continued...