Ice Storm

The things we do for Holy Cross Athletics.

We drove down to Scranton, PA on Friday evening, through patches of dense fog. Little did I know that those foggy conditions would pale in comparison to the conditions I'd face on my return home Saturday night.

In hindsight, the smart play would've been to stay in PA another night. But I wanted to be home on Sunday. We figured I could "get ahead" of the slick road conditions. So after picking up my car in Scranton, I headed east on I-84 through blustery, snowy conditions. The conditions were dreadful, just terrible. The cold front generated a blast of heavy wintry precipitation, and lots of wind. I-84 through PA and into New York was snow-covered with white-out visibility.

Across the Hudson, pulling ahead of the cold front, the snow became sleet, and roads were no better. East of Waterbury, CT, the heavy sleet was still pounding down, but the roads had yet to deteriorate too badly. Finally, in Southington, the sleet changed to rain, and the roads were safer. Ahead of the ice and out of the woods, right? Wrong. Climbing the hills east of Hartford, the pouring rain once again turned to sleet, and the interstate slickened up. Reaching the Mass Pike in Sturbridge, it was back to rain, and the roads were fine for the remaining 20 miles or so.

Accidents? Oh, I passed plenty of them. One-car accidents. Multi-car accidents. Accidents in every state in which we drove. Around Danbury, on the westbound side, I saw a multi-car wreck that caused another multi-car wreck. Those poor drivers were speeding from rainy conditions into ice, and I wish I could've told 'em about the pileups they were heading into a half-mile ahead.

So I'm thankful to have arrived home in Worcester, safe and sound. I sincerely hope that our players, fans, and families all got home safely.