Outracing the Ice

There are few things weathermen are not prepared for which happen often enough that there are special flags and reports to throw out on the news. They are ready for the occasional tsunami, tidal wave, or hurricane, either natural or man-made. They have special fonted logos for those times when metas battles cause torrential rain to fall in the name of drama. That last one happened six months ago in an epic battle between street level hero, Ghost Owl, and the more cosmically minded Duke of Dreams. Considering that the water table afterwards was still in near drought conditions, drama might be the only thing that happened that night. Though the Quantum Queen was supposedly spotted at the nightclub, Blue Christmas, so anything is possible.

These things all have protocol, precautions, and safety measures that can be prepared, set in motion, and help the general public without too much delay or other strain on their daily lives. So why is it when 3 inches of snow falls in the pacific northwest, the entire town shuts down and begs for mercy, usually after the first half an inch. This is a town that gets more rain than some nations in Africa, more mudslides than an eccentric pub with stock in Kahlua, and more grey depressing days than…well, anywhere as far as I know. And yet, a simple collision of cold front and wet weather system from the north causes panic in just about every resident. Granted, it could be worse. Snowflake was in town. I’m told her little ‘trysts’ and ‘temper tantrums’ have been known to create liquid hydrogen from thin air. If she had fallen in love with any one of the weather metas out there and the two of them lost control of their talents in the heat of passion on a high enough place, say near Mount Cowl, it could blanket the state in a minor ice age.

Um…. Did I just give a supervillain an idea? OK I take it back. Never happened. Nope.

So that being said, I still consider myself lucky as hell. The initial move went well but everything that could be held up and delayed was. We wondered if our pods would be dropped off in time They were if just barely.

We wondered if the movers would show up. They did and did amazing work. Thanks guys! When you have a chance and you are in need, ask for Killdozer. He was half the reason they were able to make the appointment at the time. Don’t take the occasional steam whistle personally or let the massive, multi-fingered steam shovels he call hands intimidate you. He does his job and does it well. Oh and the spiked rotary treads on his feet, no those are fine. No mud on the carpet or a single scuff mark on the tile. Brian knew his work too.

We doubted they would pick up the pods before we had to vacate the apartment, (And yes, by the skin of their teeth, and when we weren’t looking, they did. I joked that they might be using teleporters on the sly when Kay pointed at the truck passing by. I also pointed at the goblin like figure who was throwing elf shot at an albino caped hero that might be Ivory. I didn’t get a good enough look because I was staring at the clawed feet scratch up our MoveCube. Thankfully we didn’t get charged for the “movement damage.”

All checked out, and spending the night at a hotel to make sure we could survive the journey south after the light blizzard, we headed out in fog covered land and white ground. The radio and TV warned drivers not to go out, that ice could appear at any moment, and that once again, only the first mile of each road closest to the border of the state would be getting anything resembling de-icing. But did we? Of course we did, tire chains in hand, supplies in the car to survive an oasis, and candles for warmth. What did we get?

Nothing!

No ice, no issues other than the fact that our old car doesn’t handle inclines as well as she should. Slow and steady, we made our way towards the Golden Coast and from there towards Space City. And we are off. We did some sightseeing, saw a good movie in a mountain town theater, gambled in Sin City, and had a few encounters, like the one with Enrique the Sheep which almost broke three ribs. I’ll tell more about that in future posts.

That’s all for now. Soon more. I swear. Sorry for being gone for so long.

Keep Dreaming

Daniel