I Smell Your..........Clutch?

After an awesome day of skiing at A-Basin on Saturday, we embarked on a slippery journey home. The plan was to go back the way we came, which entailed going over Loveland Pass. My car kindly objected to that notion from the onset in the form of blocking both east and west bound lanes of traffic on US 6. Rather than fight gravity and become the casualty of an on coming fire truck running code, I decided to work with mother nature, and the laws of physics and go west to Dillion (actually spelled Dillon for you Future Crit organizers). Upon entering the snowy abyss called the I-70 corridor, it was soon determined that the travel time from Dillion/Silverthorn to the Eisenhower Tunnel would be a lengthy 45 min. from the thoughtful CDOT travel time boards, mind you this is 30 minutes longer than the normal travel time. The group (Cyn, me, and the committee in my head) consensus was that 45 minutes was not so bad, and rather than wait out the traffic in said Dillion we opted to get in line to the tunnel. The 8 mile journey up the 5-6% grade to one of the finest civil engineering spectacles know to Colorado was best categorized as arduous (mentally at least). The saving grace was that my co pilot is a bit loopy, and made the adventure quite humorous at times. Once we ran out of daylight the adventure turned extremely icy, and more cars became casualties to the grade and snow pack. It became the survival of those who could keep momentum. To stop would have meant a piggy back on the bed of a tow truck for the jetta. After 7.5 miles, an extremely overheated clutch, a venti Soy Latte, 23 freezouts (due to malodorous emanations), and 1 extremely close call with a white F150 the tunnel was in sight. The last 1/2 mile to the tunnel was the wildest ride I have had in the snow on 4 wheels in a long time. Finally, a 1/2 mile, at 5-10 mph, and a whole lot of "you can dooooooooo it...........all night!", stuck car dodge, slip sliding, and we were over the hump. Just under 2 hours for a drive that would typically take 15 minutes. Good Times!!!!