I went to bed at 7:45 last night, and staying awake until then was a struggle. I couldn't believe I was so tired from nothing more than a day in the car heading home from vacation. I was just sitting there after all, right? I shouldn't have been tired at all. So, I was intrigued today when Porter County's Highway Superintendent, Al Hoagland, asked if I wanted to see what it was like behind the wheel of a snowplow during today's storm.
Well, not exactly me behind the wheel, he's a little smarter than that, but I did get to ride in the passenger seat. I've always appreciated the guys who plow our roads, but after today I'm pretty much in awe of them. Wow. I'd be in bed before dinner if I was doing that job.
Trouble is, our drivers won't even be home before dinner, and most of them started before the sun came up. And let me tell you, this wasn't smooth, clear and dry interstate driving. It was a mess. It was bumpy, and it was dangerous. Snow was blowing frequently across the windshield completely blinding us at times. In some places it was hard to tell if there even was a road, but somehow the driver, Todd Eaton, knew where the blacktop was. We even had so much snow at one point, the plow blade was pushed up by the snow and we had to back up and go over it a few times.
So you might think you could handle the intense focus you'd need to deal with that rough ride, and maybe you do. But here's the next challenge: if you're the type of person who likes to work hard, get a job done and move on to the next task, driving a snowplow probably isn't for you.
Todd and I completely cleared one of the streets on his route. We moved on to another street and about 10 minutes later I noticed he was getting ready to turn back onto the one we had already finished.
"Didn't we do this one already?" I asked.
Todd just smiled and turned the corner.
"Oh," I said as I stared at the road that looked like it hadn't seen a plow in days. "I guess we better do it again."
"Yep," Todd replied, "It's kind of like building a sand castle with dry sand when there's this much wind."
I don't know about you, but I'm not sure how much of that I could take without completely losing my mind. Porter County's guys, on the other hand, stay at it no matter how many passes it takes.
I also learned today from South County Supervisor, Harold Salyer, that it's really tough to get subdivisions cleared on days like today. I'm sure that can be frustrating when you live in a subdivision, but look at it this way; why would they plow you out and set you loose on main roads that are impassable? It just doesn't make sense and it isn't safe. The main roads have to be done first.
We need safe and passable roads. It's far from an easy job when we have the kind of weather we're having, but I can promise you we have dedicated people and they're on it. I got a front row view of the action today and I am feeling very fortunate and grateful we have such terrific employees in Porter County.
PS. I don't even want to think about how hard this job is after dark!