When I woke up this morning I noticed that it had rained. I thought “How nice! The desert meets the rain.”
When I went to work today, I made a telephonic appearance for a pretrial conference. The judge informed me that my personal presence was required. Since I had mistakenly scheduled the appearance telephonically, my personal presence would be needed the next morning at 9 o’clock.
Oh. I forgot to mention that the court where I have the trial is located in Mono County. For those of you who don’t have as intimate knowledge of California’s geography as I do, Mono County is where the Mammoth Mountain ski resort is located. It is on the eastern face of the High Sierras.
Which is how I came to purchase snow chains, and drive through 250 miles of a thunderstorm in the Sierra Nevada mountains instead of doing productive work today. The rain is not so nice when it turns into ice on the highway and requires you to drive very, very slowly. I thought people drove badly in inclement weather down in Los Angeles. Boy, was I wrong! I cannot believe that there are people who seem to think that they have the ability to drive at 70 miles an hour on ice-covered mountain turns, right next to the Cliffs Of Certain Doom. At night. With high beam headlights at full blast.
What in the summertime would have been a four hour drive took me 7 1/2 hours. Still, I’m very glad that I took it easy and took care to buy the appropriate equipment before driving in all of this muck. Nor is this the first time I have been required to drive through icy, blizzardy conditions. Nevertheless, it is an exhausting prospect. Tomorrow, after I am done dealing with the case in court, I get to do it all over again!
This post is intended to be a postscript to my five-part series on why it is that no one should ever ever want to become a lawyer again. I am quite certain to be the only person in Mammoth Lakes, California who will not be skiing tomorrow. Even the judge will be at liberty to hit the slopes after court is done. I, on the other hand, will be undertaking another 7 1/2 hour drive across black ice above the Cliffs Of Certain Doom, sharing the road with yahoos who believe that all of life is a game of Grand Theft Auto. Get a juris doctorate, and all this can be yours, too.
Had it been me, I would have turned back, called and explained that I was sorry, but unwilling to drive in such life-threatening conditions. Would that have put you in contempt?Report
Reasonable possibility. I was at risk of sanctioning already because I was supposed to have been there in person yesterday.Report
Gah! My empathies, Burt. Be safe.Report
Dude, unless court ends early, just stay the night at a hotel and get drunk at the hotel bar. Drive back the next morning.
Working a full day and THEN driving another workday duration in darkness/inclement conditions is a bad idea, you’ll be tired and your reflexes will be shot.Report
Gotta see how long the judge wants me here. His desire is clearly to get the parties to settle, and that takes some time. All day? Probably not. But I’ll tell you one thing — the chains stay on my car until I’m below the snow line. And they’re expensive, but better than being dead.Report
The one problem with that idea, major ski resort on first big storm. Might not be any hotel rooms.Report
You should try being a professional musician; and getting to make these long drives in hazardous conditions after the gigs over and many of the folk sharing the road with you were just popping back last-call as you packed your gear.
I won’t let my sweetie gig on New Years Eve any longer, though it’s typically the best-paying gig of the year. Not worth it. We stay home and watch the 3 Stooges marathon.Report
I’ve managed to avoid buying snow chains thus far. We’ve only gotten totally stuck twice. The first time we were totally irrevocably stuck and had to be towed out by a good samaritan with a tow strap. The second time, I managed to dig ourselves out of the ice with an axe that I kept in the car for such an occasion.
Of course, getting stuck isn’t the same as dying, but I seem to spend more time thinking about the former than the latter since I haven’t died yet.Report
Clearly you have not yet been near the Cliffs Of Certain Doom!Report
Not in the winter anyway. I’ve been on them in good weather though, and they were scary enough then.Report