My Adventure....sledding on the ice with my van

Late Thursday night I remember an errand that couldn't wait. I took a ride in our van on the ice covered roads. Our van does not have 4 wheel drive or snow tires; chains do not seem to exist in Tennessee. The road I took ends in a very steep hill that flows out onto a much bigger road. I was driving extremely slow (like less than 10 miles an hour), but when I got to the top of that hill, I felt the need to put my foot on the brake to keep from going down too fast. As soon as I put my foot on the brake the van began to slide. It spun around backward and then slid backward down the hill. I was completely unable to steer. I kept my foot on the brake the entire time.  When I reached the bottom of the hill the brakes were able to grab enough to bring me to a stop. I was very thankful that it was very late at night and there was absolutely nobody else on the big road I now found myself in the middle of. After that adventure, I realized that there was no way I would be able to get my van back UP that big hill.

I got my errand done. Then, took the long way around to get home. Along the way I saw a couple of young men walking which seemed really odd to me (it was after midnight by this time)a few minutes later I saw the tail end of a sports car sticking up from the ditch on the side of the road...I think those young men must have taken the curve too fast. As I got closer to home, I saw at least 6 more vehicles at odd angles along the sides of the icy road and a large pickup truck with it's front wheels in the ditch. At the time, I thought they had probably all skidded off the road and abandoned their cars, but this morning I learned that people who REALLY needed to get out to go to work on Friday were leaving their cars on the edge of the main road and walking back into their subdivisions. Our area has no snow or ice removal, so if you're stuck in your subdivision, you are simply stuck until the ice melts.