<p>bassett!! I’m sure the UA shuttle people will work it out, they’ve been very helpful these past few days figuring things out. Concerned about why they cancelled his flight but have the later one open - hmmm?
Let us know when he gets in safely -
You too RobD! and all the rest… safe travels!</p>
<p>This is going to be a long day! D left Fort Worth early this morning for the drive back. She has a friend with her and another following behind. They are prepared to stop if needed. Safe travels, everyone!</p>
<p>Hello to everyone this morning, I am wishing safe travels to those getting on the road today and hoping for the best for everyone.</p>
<p>I thought I would post an update and hope all of you do the same, so, we can know that everyone arrived back to campus safely and on time.</p>
<p>My son had changed his flight and flew into orlando yesterday afternoon, the outbound flight to birmingham was delayed about 30 minutes (don’t know why). He arrived in birmingham and was luckily picked up by a friend. They drove to campus and then went food shopping (Sam’s Club). He had no problem getting into his dorm. </p>
<p>Good Luck to all of you traveling today and in the next few days.</p>
<p>BY the way the temperature in T-town is 29 degrees. Yikes!!!</p>
<p>flights still getting in to BHM, son and johnr’s daughter just landed :)</p>
<p>just spoke to son, they just pulled in now… he said freezing rain coming down and the roads and sidewalks are totally iced over. Shuttle driver did not have an easy time of it. Much more dangerous than he had anticipated. Hope to hear that RobD and family (as well as any other travelers today) got in safely.</p>
<p>if anyone gets to bham airport and cant get to t’town, let me know, son is at uab he could possibly put up someone…depending on roads he may be able to get at airport (right now bham clear)</p>
<p>My son called from BHM around 10:25 a.m. central time. He was waiting to get his luggage, and his roommate was driving him to T-Town. I told him to get lunch and anything else they might need at their suite before they got to the campus. I know that his roommate does not plan to move his car from its parking space until the weather is better.</p>
<p>bassettmomma - S is coming in Mon. 8:20 pm (crossing fingers) and is meeting up with another student, on the Memphis/Delta flight arriving at 8:50pm. We have an E-shuttle for BHM to UA, if everything works out we can see about putting your son on same shuttle. If there’s a driving hazard cancellation they will at least have company.</p>
<p>assuming everyone saw this -</p>
<p>A message from UNIVERSITY RELATIONS </p>
<p>Based on current weather conditions and overnight predictions by the National Weather Service for the Tuscaloosa area, The University of Alabama has suspended normal business operations, events and activities. Residence halls remain open as scheduled. The Emergency Preparedness Group will re-evaluate weather conditions at 10 a.m. Monday, to determine whether weather and travel conditions have improved enough to resume normal business activities, events and activities at that time. University employees should follow their department’s business continuity plans until normal operations are resumed, and should monitor the UA home page and local media outlets for updates on when they should return to work.</p>
<p>~ Thanks to RobD my son is set for PB&J, milk and cereal! Can’t imagine Lakeside Dining will open as planned.</p>
<p>Hey y’all! I can finally relax as I’m home! </p>
<p>D & I left the Nashville area at 8:45am (of all the days to hit off instead of snooze on my alarm!) and had a very smooth ride to Tuscaloosa without seeing nary a flake, sleet pellet or rain drop. Got to Chipotle at noon and to the dorms by 12:10pm. Lots of students unloading in front of the Ridgecrest community. Got a cart & unloaded her. I felt AWFUL that I wasn’t staying to help her get things set up, but really felt that I had to be heading north of Birmingham by 2 to beat the weather. I was able to be on McFarland by 1pm. </p>
<p>Talked to D about 2:30 and she said almost as soon as I left it started snowing; about 1/2 hour after that it started sleeting so she was happy that I left when I did. Talked to my friend in Birmingham about 3:15 and she said they were reporting on the news that they were closing bridges in the T-Town area because of icing and that it was sleeting/freezing rain in B’ham. </p>
<p>I can’t believe it but I made the entire trip without seeing 1 little drop of precip. I was about an hour ahead of it the whole time. It is just about ready to start in Nashville according to the radar. Phew.</p>
<p>D talked one of her friends out of leaving this afternoon because he was ready to start the 3 hour drive when it had already started snowing in Tuscaloosa. So relieved to hear that. </p>
<p>MikeW, momofonly1 & other travelers: will you let us know when you/your kids get to campus or stop? I worry…;)</p>
<p>Rob d so glad you made it back safely!</p>
<p>DD was on the road by 7:30 AM this morning, and arrived in T-Town a little before 1:00. She picked up friends at the train station, went to lunch, then called around 4:00 to say that ice was forming on everything. Was she at her dorm? Nope!! Still delivering friends and driving around. Called me to get updated forecast off the web.</p>
<p>I guess after surviving the great Ky ice storm of 2009, nothing can be as bad.</p>
<p>I’m happy to report D is back in T-Town! From our house it’s a striaght shot east on I-20and usually takes about 9.5 hours. It took a little longer today, but it sounds like they really didn’t hit any bad roads until they were in Alabama.</p>
<p>I’m glad that everyone so far has had safe travels and like RobD I’ll be anxiously awaiting the other reports.</p>
<p>Catfan and Momofonly1: so glad to hear that your D’s made it back to campus safely! Now to hear from MikeW…</p>
<p>anyone hear from MikeW yet? if driving through from texas, they may have had snow alot of the way over.</p>
<p>whew! relieved that everyone seems to be arriving safely… MikeW? we’re waiting :)</p>
<p>we are finally checked in to a hotel in … laurel mississippi!!!</p>
<p>we left at 920 this morning.</p>
<p>it rained the entire way!</p>
<p>then about 2 hours (not sure yet) from ttown, our car broke down!!! the serpentine belt! so a call to AAA and a few hours later, we are warm again.</p>
<p>car needs to go to the shop, so we are staying in lovely laurel for the time being!</p>
<p>bleh!</p>
<p>there is ice on the trees. saw a little bit of ice tonight, but not much. not sure what it will look like in the morning.</p>
<p>bleh again!</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about your troubles, Mike. I Googled “bleh” and learned that it’s an acronym for “belt left engine helpless.”</p>
<p>I think what you really meant to say was *&!#@!!</p>
<p>Hang in there, my friend.</p>
<hr>
<p>Son leaves Monday night at 11:59 and follows a not-so-direct route from Honolulu-San Francisco-Charlotte-Birmingham, arriving at BHM, weather permitting, somewhere around 6 pm Tuesday (such are the “perks” of a mileage award ticket). We’ll see how it goes.</p>
<p>Well, even though I made it to Ttown safely initially, things didn’t go so well picking a friend up from the airport. On the way back, the storm decided to hit way early. Not more than 15 minutes later, the roads were slick as the Gulf of Mexico during a BP oil spill. While braking and switching lanes to avoid some idiot merging into her, my friend who was driving slid. Miraculously avoiding anyone while swerving, we managed to survive with only a few bumps to the side of the car from the guardrail. We breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
<p>…until 2 seconds later when a car slammed into the back of the car and smashed us into the guardrail on the right side. You might have heard of the 9 car pile up that shut down I-20 for a bit – we were smack dab in the middle of that. While we didn’t actually hit anyone (that was truly a miracle), we most certainly took a great deal of damage from other parties hitting us. And so we stood on the side of the road waiting for wreckers to arrive and for the trooper to take our statements. I thought that even though the car didn’t kill us, frostbite might. </p>
<p>However, after a long, long, LOOOOOOONG time (around 3.5 hrs) spent hiding behind a guardrail, removing luggage from the smashed-in trunk, making and receiving worried phone calls and texts, and sitting in the back of the very nice state trooper’s car, we finally made it safely back to Bama. Ttown is essentially shut down at the moment. No one is going anywhere for a long while. Bridges are closed, areas are blocked off, etc.</p>
<p>And so, I’d like to conclude by warning anyone that might be trying to drive in tomorrow - THIS TOWN IS COVERED IN A LAYER OF ICE. Seriously, everything is coated in frozen precip. I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous driving is at this moment. When our ride picked us up, even though we were going less than 10 mph, I still had a few moments where I thought we would slide into a ditch. So please please please please please PLEASE be careful if you do choose to drive. Use common sense!! And be safe in all of your travels!!</p>
<p>What a nightmare, Mesquite_girl24. So glad you’re safe.</p>
<p>Thank you for the cautions and informative reporting.</p>