The roads flash-froze around 5 or 6 o'clock, and traffic on all the major thoroughfares (Route 11/Main Street, Tyler Avenue, Walker, Wadsworth) ground to a halt. I was returning from Christiansburg down Route 11, and came to a stop in traffic where Thompson Chrysler-Plymouth used to be, and from about 6 PM until about 7:30 PM, drove about 1-2 tenths of a mile. (That is not a typo.)

I had my daughter and her friend (no-SHUN rule) with me, and fortunately, we live on the far East end of town. After one particularly long stretch of literally not moving at all for about a half-hour, we managed to pull my truck off the side of the road, park it, and walk home about ... oh, I don't know, a mile to a mile and a half or so.

The whole time we were in traffic, we figured there was an accident up in front of us that they couldn't get cleared. Nope. It's just that the layer of ice on the road brought almost everyone to a complete stop. Every slight incline in the road was a challenge for anyone to make it up, so traffic just came to a dead stop.

What a night. I feel for the people who had a long way to travel in it. Fortunately, we were in a position to get out and walk home. Most weren't.