I agreed to pick someone up at the airport tonight, at 11PM. Technically "last night," by the dates of the blog post. About an hour or so ago.

I had promised to leave early enough to be waiting at the airport, instead of making them wait for me to arrive. Then it snowed. Then we shoveled. And then it snowed more, so we shoveled more. Wiped out, I kind of forgot. I mean, I remembered at 6PM, thinking that I should go shovel out the car (parked in the driveway, plowed in by the alley plows), but forgot after that.

Then I remembered. At nearly 11PM. I'd already changed into PJs, but jumped back into clothes. I went out and brushed off much of the snow from the Jeep Grand Cherokee parked in the drive way, leaving just that block on the top. I did that because the snow around was deep enough that it was hard to get close enough to reach the roof, even with the extended snow brush we use because we have big, tall vehicles.

As I circled, I took stock of the snow berm left by the plow. It was not terribly tall nor thick on the alley side. I figured the 4x4 system in the Jeep would be enough to muscle through, so once the snow was cleared from the hood and windows, I set in to set off.

I promptly got stuck. The Grand Cherokee is a nice, comfortable Jeep, with many of the comforts of a luxury sedan and some of the abilities of other Jeep vehicles. But it has horrible ground clearance, especially compared to our Wrangler. I got out, saw the snow pressed under the sides of the car. I grabbed a shovel and scooped out as much as I could reach easily, tossing it across the alley.

I gave it another go. It would move a bit, but not enough. I tried rocking it, as we do, but the traction control didn't like switching from drive to reverse as fast as needs to be done. I did have it set to "snow," but it still seemed like individual wheels were spinning. I turned off the traction control, and while it didn't like the rocking any better, it did seem to deliver better drive. I wasn't trying to keep from skidding in the moment, so I made another quick pass to move a little more snow from beneath and in front of the Jeep, and was able to break free!

I got to the airport about 45 minutes later than I had promised. My charge was tired, but understood the difficulty with the weather. She had been hearing stories from others and saw the news. She was delighted to be done flying, and happy to be taken home in a warm and safe manner, even if a little later than planned.

I returned home and spent some more time with the shovel before putting the Jeep away. I had the garage door open to add light to the overhead (which turns off if I don't pass close enough to it from time to time), and could see the Wrangler, clean and dry in the garage, waiting to have at some snow. I cleared enough snow to let the Grand Cherokee in without bottoming out again. I pulled the Wrangler out of the garage and into the alley. I parked the Grand Cherokee in the garage, which is a much tighter fit, as it's about a foot longer and a bit wider, and made sure the garage door would clear. I put the Wrangler on the apron (it really isn't long enough to be a driveway), and then shoveled the alley free of the snow ridges caused by all the vehicle movement. I figured the plows would be by again, since it was still snowing and kind of deep, but wanted to be clear for other cars that might come by first.

Inside again, catching my breath, about to get ready to turn in, again.

Everyone is healthy.