(CN) — "You know they issued a winter storm warning for tomorrow, right?" Courthouse News' new northern Nevada reporter asked me when we met in Churchill County, Nevada, for our final day of training.
"I had no idea. Maybe I should leave tonight after all." I answered, dreading the thought of training all day and then driving over three hours through the Sierra back to the Bay Area.
"You should be fine. It's not supposed to start until the afternoon anyway," the reporter said. "But you should probably check the weather."
When I checked later that evening, the forecast said rain should start around 10 a.m. but that the temperature would hover around 40 degrees. Thinking I didn't have to worry about snow, I headed off to watch playoff basketball and get some food and drink at The Depot — a cool new local watering hole and restaurant built on the site of the former train depot about a quarter mile from the arch in downtown Reno.
The next morning, I woke up early (for me) to try to beat the rain. The wind howled and there were a couple foreboding dark clouds in the distance, but the only warning sign on Interstate 80 told of strong winds through the Sierra. Nary a mention of snow.
As I started the ascent into the Sierra, the foreboding clouds became hidden behind the mountains and the scene was similar to that of the other dozen or so trips I'd made through the years.
A light drizzle started when I reached Truckee, California. At an elevation of 5,817 feet, Truckee is the closest town of any size to Donner Pass (named after the poor-luck Donner clan of pioneer lore) at 7,057 feet.
A few miles after Truckee I caught a glance at a sign indicating that in four miles there would be a chain check. But the sign said something about "trucks" and "minimum," which led this optimistic and relatively inexperienced-in-the-Sierra driver to conclude that the California Highway Patrol would be checking that big rigs had their chains. After all, it was still only raining, and the thermometer on my dash said it was 37 degrees outside — a comfortable 5 degrees above the freezing point of water.
By the time I approached the checkpoint, however, the rain had turned to a heavy sleet and the temperature had dropped to 34 degrees, but still no snow. I saw trucks pulled over. But then I saw cars too, with people standing outside putting on chains.
I held out hope that putting on chains was optional for cars. My rental car didn't come with them, and I wasn't about to get them unless I had to. Plus, there was no exit between the sign and the checkpoint had I wanted to pull off the freeway.
I pulled up to the checkpoint and the nice but stern CHP officer said, "Do you have chains on you?" I said no, and chuckled while adding that it was a rental car.
"Well, you have to chain up. They can sell you some back in Truckee. Take that ramp there."
He also assured me that someone could help put on the chains and then take them off once I was through the snow.
The rattle and roar of chained tires is quite intense. I put on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," which I remember listening to during an intense ice storm in Maine when I was in high school, driving home from the late shift at the grocery store that was running on generators, the flourishes of the songs highlighted by exploding transformers, falling power lines and lightning strikes. Listening to it now seemed only appropriate.
The road was still very snowy for another 10 miles or so, causing me to question the location of the chain removal sign. But what do I know? Growing up in Maine we had either four-wheel drive or snow tires, or both. I'd never driven a car with chains on it before.
