Below is an article about "Commutageddon" -- January 28, 2011 -- a day that shall live in infamy among DC-area drivers. The day a no-big-deal snow -- a few inches -- became a nightmare and thousands of commuters who normally get home in an hour took 9-14 hours to get home. Hundreds of cars were abandoned on highways. People ran out of gas and got very, very cold sitting in their cars. The George Washington Parkway was particularly awful as it goes for several miles with no exits and just the Potomac River below a cliff on one side and forest on the other.

It's a cautionary tale and one which inspires me, especially during winter, to have the car equipped so I can comfortably camp out in it, any time and anywhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012707435.html

For D.C. area commuters stuck in snow, 'it just felt hopeless'

Friday, January 28, 2011

On the day after what officials called the Washington region's worst traffic fiasco since Sept. 11, 2001...

...commuters by the hundreds ran out of gas or just walked away from their cars, making it even more difficult for plows and tow trucks to get to major arteries such as the Beltway, Interstate 66 and the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

..."It just felt hopeless," said Shaun Gholston, 33, who said it took him 11 hours and 19 minutes to drive from Rockville to his Capitol Hill home, a commute that typically takes 55 minutes. "Like I was never going to get home."


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