# Atlanta looks like the walking dead with powdered sugar



## Leon (Jan 30, 2012)

SHTF last night, full blown 15 dead 180 injured complete shutdown of highways it was and still is a MESS. I was fine with my bug out vehicles, I just rode the four wheeler around. These people? Not so much. Bad times. Being a prepper is where you want to be at these days. All this from 3 little inches of snow, mighty Atlanta is brought to its sheeple knees.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

How many had their B.O.B. in the car. Would have come in handy.


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## Leon (Jan 30, 2012)

I guess we got a good test run for the theory all SHTF roads will be closed and jammed up. They were TO SOME EXTENT. My FJ bug out vehicle was unaffected and still able to get around. So was my 4 wheeler, that much more so. But the FJ wasn't stranded at all, just because other people can't drive doesn't mean I can't! I was using the turn lanes, shoulders and gaps in the cars to get around even in this crap. Sheeple in their little sedans though, the theories are correct about them. You can see the shoulders I was using, they were completely clear I guess truckers didn't want to risk tickets or something. I personally would have liked to see ANY cop get around in this with those shitty sedans they give them to use. Funny story, one of the trucks I helped out of a ditch was a 09 chevy 4x4 all jacked up and that guy had it *stuck like a duck* until a little four wheeler pulled it out.


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## bigdogbuc (Mar 23, 2012)

I was in that crap yesterday. My flight out of Augusta was cancelled so I had to drive from Aiken to Atlanta. I hit the outskirts of Atlanta at about 3:30 and was about 11 miles from the airport. I got to the airport at 10:00. Hit the gate as my plane was boarding, which thankfully had been delayed twice.

I was driving a brand new Volkswagen Jetta and had no issues whatsoever; aside from the dumbass truckers who were too lazy to get out and chain their trucks. Or simply pull off the road or into a rest stop. I blame yesterday's entire cluster solely on them. I spent roughly 7 hours in that crap because of those bastards.


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## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

Leon said:


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I wish someone could explain the Ideal behind Jacked up trucks, What good does it do off road to raise the body up when it is the axles that usually determine your ground clearance. Larger wheels will raise your ground clearance and you need proper wheel well clearance. But anything after that is raising your center of gravity making it dangerous on the road and off.

Now the ideal way to make an off road vehicle would be to get rid of the straight axle and make it like a military Hummer. Although this would not be an easy conversion and I haven't seen it done.
http://images.autobytel.com/2007/Hummer/H3/400/07_Hummer_H3_11.jpg


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Seems people didn't have the individual ability to check the weather and act for themselves. Maybe getting "*sick* earlier in the day and going to the house.


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## specknowsbest (Jan 5, 2014)

rickkyw1720pf said:


> I wish someone could explain the Ideal behind Jacked up trucks, What good does it do off road to raise the body up when it is the axles that usually determine your ground clearance. Larger wheels will raise your ground clearance and you need proper wheel well clearance. But anything after that is raising your center of gravity making it dangerous on the road and off.
> 
> Now the ideal way to make an off road vehicle would be to get rid of the straight axle and make it like a military Hummer. Although this would be an easy conversion and haven't seen it done.
> http://images.autobytel.com/2007/Hummer/H3/400/07_Hummer_H3_11.jpg


Largely because lifts will allow you to mount larger tires on your vehicle, which will keep your axles further up from the ground, though not many actually do it for that reason. Biggest lift I'd want on any truck I owned would be maybe 4", that'd give me all the room I'd need to mount significantly larger tires to keep my axles from catching mud or resistance from water if I'm trying to ford through a shallow river.


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## Silverback (Jan 20, 2014)

I... I heard FJ. Pedro my 1st truck I worked my ass off for was an FJ40. BEST DAM 4x4 EVER....well I had a Bronco too, which I loved but that was later in life when I had kids and needed the extra room.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Jacked up trucks make me sea sick.


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## Titan6 (May 19, 2013)

Excellent learning lesson for all of us...Now we see the real deal and see who wasn't ready and what did happen...


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

I was hearing a story of a pregnant lady with a three year old in the car who was stranded for many hours. Her survival gear amounted to a box of tic-tacs. Sad, considering the commute needed in such a city.


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## Leon (Jan 30, 2012)

bigdogbuc said:


> I was in that crap yesterday. My flight out of Augusta was cancelled so I had to drive from Aiken to Atlanta. I hit the outskirts of Atlanta at about 3:30 and was about 11 miles from the airport. I got to the airport at 10:00. Hit the gate as my plane was boarding, which thankfully had been delayed twice.
> 
> I was driving a brand new Volkswagen Jetta and had no issues whatsoever; aside from the dumbass truckers who were too lazy to get out and chain their trucks. Or simply pull off the road or into a rest stop. I blame yesterday's entire cluster solely on them. I spent roughly 7 hours in that crap because of those bastards.


That's what the news said. Companies were like "screw it" and sent trucks in AFTER knowing the storm was on. It was on the truckers, I could hear them on the radios.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

In defense of the drivers, not every truck has chains. I only drove for one company that had them in my truck, and all I did with that company was run north/south. 

Otherwise, if the roads were iffy, yours truly found a rest area or a truck stop. A good driver makes sure his load gets to the destination and not a ditch.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

How can anyone in an area subject to a commute, then add cold, icy roads, snow, not have some survival gear in the vehicle?
Do people not think that just maybe, they could be delayed?


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## Ricky59 (Dec 12, 2013)

no sympathy from me we get four or five of those events every winter in Minnesota..


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I started a thread yesterday about my Jeep Rubicon. All stock with great off road tires and I was making the jacked up trucks look foolish! 

One more reason I got the hell out of Atlanta. Great pics Leon. 

Be safe all!


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Now contrast this with Wisconsin. Another 5 inches of snow 21 below wind chill 30 below. Life went on as normal.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

The contrast is folks in Wisconsin are used to those conditions, folks down south are not.
They think they can drive in a little snow, but---


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## bigdogbuc (Mar 23, 2012)

Denton said:


> In defense of the drivers, not every truck has chains. I only drove for one company that had them in my truck, and all I did with that company was run north/south.
> 
> Otherwise, if the roads were iffy, yours truly found a rest area or a truck stop. A good driver makes sure his load gets to the destination and not a ditch.


Not so Denton. I was a commercial driver and every truck out there is required to have chains (Federal Law) on board their trucks. I forget the exact dates, but I believe it is from Oct. 1 thru April 1. Which is why I was so damn pissed.

And truck drivers have every right, under law, to refuse to transport a load or be dispatched in conditions that they believe are dangerous. None of them should have been out there. I was in the middle of that crap, and I just watched it on the news and I knew it was bad when I was in it, but my God, I had no idea how lucky I really am to have made it.


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## KYPrepper (Jan 17, 2014)

I was just thinking in my head, Kentucky gets snow like that damn near every winter. We got about four or five inches, then we got some freezing rain, which froze over that, then it snowed some more. Then some more ice. Temps were staying around 3 and 0 degrees, felt like -15 with the wind chill. I have a 95 Monte Carlo. Not a bug out vehicle(4x4,wenches,ect.) by any stretch, and I had absolutely no problems what-so-ever. Was it cold? Shit yeah it was. Were the roads bad? Shit yeah they were. Like a member said before it's really on the drivers. If you know what you're doing, you can navigate terrain like that. If you don't know what you're doing, then don't get out in it. Watch the news, and hunker down. Hopefully you got what you need in your house if it's not in your car. I have a GHB in my car and a BOB at home, and my home is outfitted with everything else I need(food,water,guns,ammo, ect ect.) Great pictures by the way, really eerie looking.


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

Smitty901 said:


> Now contrast this with Wisconsin. Another 5 inches of snow 21 below wind chill 30 below. Life went on as normal.


We had the wind chill,but the temp and sun made it feel like spring when the thermo meter hit +16


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## Gunner's Mate (Aug 13, 2013)

I think the media has had a wet dream over this, I mean hell it snows every winter, it gets cold every winter, the roads get icy every winter, the news reports for at least 24 hrs before it happens, and still the mass exodus of dumbasses that get in a vehicle that is not capable of handling the weather and get on the road. OHH GOD I ALMOST FROZE TO DEATH WHEN MY CAR "(JUST)" SLID OF THE ROAD AND I WAS TRAPPED FOR 9 HOURS, with nothing but tic tacs. Really are people that phquing stupid. NEWS FLASH LIVE FROM CHOPPER 9 the interstate is littered with dumbass popsicles. stay home and watch reality TV, I'd recommend cops. These are the people that get stranded in the snow and say "Shit, it's snowin'!"


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## Gunner's Mate (Aug 13, 2013)

You cant fix stupid


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Those pictures of cars stopped on the road remind me of Seattle (though it is not as hilly). I-5 and I-405 from Tacoma to Everett are the two longest parking lots in the state. It usually only takes a couple of inches of snow to do it because the roads always seem to be wet when the snow starts and you end up with wet snow on top of ice. Add a few (7) hills that Seattle is built on and you have instant mess! They tried to mandate "roller" chains and outlaw the link style to "save" the roads.... They found out that the rollers on those cable chains keep you from climbing hills..  imagine that.

I have had three cars totaled in Seattle snow - all of them were legally parked before the snow hit.

I had so many close calls where people would have run into me while driving in snowy conditions that I moved to the top of a hill where the "snow closure" signs were chained to telephone poles all year. When even the lightest snow fell the crews would put out the signs and you just stayed home. My boss didn't believe me so I took pictures with me to work. It was great. I had lots of snow days with pay because the roads were closed.


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## Leon (Jan 30, 2012)

UPDATE**

Roads are still bad and I have to go to work tomorrow, I'm starting a new location and store for Linhai motors. I noticed patches of thick and very slick ice still lurking all over despite the sun. The powder is being stubborn but they say people can get their abandoned vehicles Thursday afternoon. The roads today were ghostly vacant and all the restaurants were closed but Pepperoni's- a local favorite owned by a former Yankee who scoffed at 3 inches and traffic jams. His whole crew was there working (with a full house mind you) and most of them are teenage girls from the high school down the street. (you got to love he only hires the pretty ones) That says a LOT. If ten teenagers can show up for work and beat the ice and snow with shitty front wheel drive cars there was no damn excuse for what went down last night. PEOPLE DIED. People got hurt, some grievously according to the daily post, they said there were a couple cracked skulls and someone got paralyzed. People are pissed at each other, at trucking companies and truckers, but overall the bleating of these sheeple has been pretty silent. They got a taste of what we prepare for and while they sat and watched their breath slowly fog over the windows they knew it. Mass awakening for about a million people. 
That's not a bad thing in my eyes.

With all of the dozens of people I pulled out or saw, I asked each one "So, you think it pays to have a snowsuit and a 4 wheeler yet?" and got some really embarrassed and ashamed responses. The lady in the black Tahoe totally got it, she had three young kids in the truck and they would have been a real problem after nightfall in a V8 truck that had only a quarter tank of gas left. She said to me she might not have even made it to my nearby neighborhood with them on foot, and I agree the roads were so bad you would slip just trying to walk, it's on a fairly good incline. But everyone I dealt with including a cop agreed that they need to have way, way more equipment and supplies on hand in the cars period. I gave each one the doorknob spiel. "That's the difference" I said. "If you think ahead and have a plan in place, you're me doing the rescuing. If not, well..." I would say with a wince of irony. Even the cop was like "well shit." looking at a walking talking example of a real prepper. The lot of them did little else than shower me with praise and tip me and agree that they needed some preps. I kept coming back with the statement that I didn't own a bunker or a seven year supply of food and guns, I just got some really good useful items and had a plan. All of them learned a very valuable lesson last night and saw firsthand the folly of being a sheltered comfortable sheep. It wasn't said, just glaringly obvious. A lot of the men were just ashamed of themselves (we all know that pride thing guys) and were quite somber while accepting my aid. You just know they're heading out to bass pro soon.

In retrospect I was having fun while they were friggin miserable, anxious and wishing they were me right then. This whole little foray was a lesson for all, us included. For me the lesson was yes, the need to prep and prepping in general is paramount. I equate it merely to how people lived back in the day with all their ducks in a row and a plan for hard times. That's not prepping that's just common sense, which is a superpower these days. Looking past the Jonses is the way to go, I just proved it in a BAD situation likening the ones we all discuss. I got some great insight into these theories we all mull over and it was quite eye opening. Not quite what I expected but very enlightening just the same. People DID go well out of their way to work together despite some near-boiling point tensions. They stayed calm and even got real generous with what tic-tac boxes they had to offer. Managers of businesses stayed put and formed shelters all over the city. It really changed my idea of desperate and dangerous masses around here at least, because these people were fighting 15 degree weather with young kids, pets, old people, all of them hungry from not having lunch and dinner with nothing to go around but peanuts and cold bottled water off a semi truck- hell, some groups were in DIRE damn straits like that posse at spaghetti junction, Jesus.

As a professional writer, I find it refreshing to be pleasantly surprised by real life. Real stuff you couldn't possibly make up, that's for sure. As a writer and storyteller I would have predicted fights, riots, burning cars in the snow (which there were a few, but namely a woman's brand new BMW went up in flames all by itself- buyer beware it was just sitting idling for 15 minutes) how is that for real life VS fiction? It wasn't an angry desperate mob with no fear of police (there were NONE I saw that I didn't pull over the ice), it was a god dang design flaw that torched the machine. But I dare say a little faith in the sheeple came out of me. People banded together right off the bat. They were totally lost and laughably lacking in any form of skills but when the chips were down they listened and they cooperated with me as if I were the local authorities. Hell, the LOCAL AUTHORITIES cooperated with me like I was the local authorities. Say that wasn't a curve ball, right? Last thing I expected was things to pan out so smoothly. Maybe there is hope for them, maybe we're a little cynical. That is my observation.


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## PrepperLite (May 8, 2013)

Leon said:


> SHTF last night, full blown 15 dead 180 injured complete shutdown of highways it was and still is a MESS. I was fine with my bug out vehicles, I just rode the four wheeler around. These people? Not so much. Bad times. Being a prepper is where you want to be at these days. All this from 3 little inches of snow, mighty Atlanta is brought to its sheeple knees.
> 
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> ...


If we were only so lucky, a real zombie apocalypse wouldn't hurt.



rickkyw1720pf said:


> I wish someone could explain the Ideal behind Jacked up trucks, What good does it do off road to raise the body up when it is the axles that usually determine your ground clearance. Larger wheels will raise your ground clearance and you need proper wheel well clearance. But anything after that is raising your center of gravity making it dangerous on the road and off.
> 
> Now the ideal way to make an off road vehicle would be to get rid of the straight axle and make it like a military Hummer. Although this would not be an easy conversion and I haven't seen it done.
> http://images.autobytel.com/2007/Hummer/H3/400/07_Hummer_H3_11.jpg


Mud bogging, the higher clearance keeps your truck/car from being under the 2-3 feet of mud.


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## XMTG (Jan 28, 2014)

It is hard to understand why 3 inches of snow caused all of the issues it did. We do not get much snow here in the Dallas area but when we do everything is not shut down. We got 12 inches a few years back and you could still get around.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

XMTG said:


> It is hard to understand why 3 inches of snow caused all of the issues it did. We do not get much snow here in the Dallas area but when we do everything is not shut down. We got 12 inches a few years back and you could still get around.


More "democrats" in Atlanta maybe?


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## Notsoyoung (Dec 2, 2013)

One lesson to learn from this is that for many of us we don't have to worry about snow for our vehicles, it's all of the other people out there who haven't a clue, have the wrong vehicles, and they block the roads to the point that you can't get around them or you have to worry about them hitting you.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

There may be a difference in terrain, snow quality and what is under the snow. It is a lot easier to drive in Spokane (hills too) than it is in Seattle. The snow is different and there isn't usually ice under it like there is in Seattle. Around here the snow is dry and there is no problem with steep hills so snow doesn't pose problems for traffic. The people are used to it a bit more too and that makes a big difference. Without hills nobody has to speed up to make it to the top so everyone slows down - sometimes to a ridiculous level but they are at least safe about it.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I've been listening to the TV about how everybody is pissed at somebody about the snow and the aftermath. Whatever happened to personal responsibility and common sense??? I saw the NEW weather channel on Directv talking about the snow heading for their area for 2 days before it hit. Now the mayor of Atlanta and governor are saying it's not my fault, it's the weather forecaster's fault. Maybe FEMA should have used that line in New Orleans after Katrina. I find it remarkable that anyone who lives in a state as unprepared as the southern states would not say to themselves, "Gee, it's supposed to snow tomorrow afternoon. When we get an inch of the white crap (which happens about once a year) all hell breaks loose. Maybe I should take the day off, and keep the kids home. Better pick up a little extra food too!" Have "we" become so stupid that we now need some one to tell us to put our jacket on, tie our shoe laces, and pull up our zipper. I guess I understand the nanny state of New York now.


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