Today I took my Prius down the mountain instead of my trusty four wheel drive chevy. With all the snow on the ground and having lived in Nevada County since the miners founded this area, I should know better. But driving slowly and carefully I made it to my office.

Having to go to Loomis tonight for an appointment, I was working in the office when I looked out the window and saw that it had started to snow like in one of those movies you see where the hero is suddenly in a blinding snow storm and winds up completely lost.

I decided I better hurry up and get going before I got snowed in with my two wheel drive Prius. Going slow and careful again I made it all the way to Highway 49 where I was forced to a crawl. Managing to continue all the way out to the end of the freeway, or about a half mile, all traffic in the south bound lane came to a complete stop. As I sat there, my thoughts were that some unfortunate souls might have gotten in an accident. I also thought that it was funny that the north bound lane was flowing smoothly and with a lot of traffic.

After about forty five minutes we started moving and I figured they had cleared the accident. As I continued on my way, I was listening to NPR and they said that Highway 49 out of Grass Valley was closed due to ice conditions. Now, if Highway 49 was closed for ice conditions, why was the north lane flowing like the Autobahn? I guess that’s one of those mysteries of life that we encounter once in a while, but never quite know the answer. If you were there, let me know.