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I woke up to a 6 a.m. computer
driven phone call on the 8th.The university campus was closed giving me a
way to get out of
Cobb County and come home to
Tallapoosa and check on things. The ice and dusting of snow from the
night before made the roads a challenge. I left the house at 9 a.m. and came
the route from I-20 getting off at the Temple exit avoiding the traffic
backup on the interstate. I observed that there was a lot more ice than
snow. I saw people creeping along the exit making the way toward Highway 78.
Like my fellow drivers, I drove slow as we turned onto
Bankhead Highway. Going down the hills was like a high wire circus
act with a vehicle. Spotting the
semi trucks that were
stuck ahead as they tried to brave the
steep hills between
Temple and
Bremen. Many of us wove our way past the stranded trucks and then a
hill came up that looked like Mount Everest. A fellow with a tag from a
South Georgia county began to spin his tires seeking traction trying to get
up that humongous hill. I began to spin my truck wheels as I tried to get up
what seemed like a hill that had the same steepness as the huge drop of the
Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags. We were stuck. I wished I had
opted for 4 wheel drive at the last truck purchase. Wreckers
began arriving to help the semi drivers. I began to pray that I would not
have to wait on the spring time thaw to get to Tallapoosa. All of a sudden
a nice fellow in a Jeep
Cherokee pulled up and harnessed the bumper and got me up the hill.
Mr. Perry from Temple had done that all morning long rescuing travelers
trying to get to work or home. He had an Auburn logo on the back of
his Cherokee and I dared not say "roll
tide" during the rescue, even though the
Crimson Tide had won
the national championship the night before. Mr. Perry was truly was an angel
of mercy. It just goes to show that there are still some great people out
there who care. I got to Tallapoosa around noon and fortunately Tallapoosa
seemed to be moving right along having better roads and streets than the
ones I saw in Carroll County.
Billy Wayne from the city came out and made sure that I didn't have burst
pipes due to the Alberta
clipper that rolled through plunging the temperature into the single
digits with the wind chill.
I haven't seen that much cold since I was married to that girl from
Montgomery. Montgomery wasn't cold, but she was. She could ice down a six
pack just looking at it. Applause to the Haralson County Sheriff's
Department, and the Tallapoosa Police Department for the excellence in
keeping our streets and roads safe. The EMT's also need a pat on the back
for being there for us during our Artic adventure last weekend.
Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa
native and a member of the administrative faculty at
Kennesaw State University.
Email comments to
rhubarbjones@aol.com or
rhubarb.jones@yahoo.com.
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