Pulling The Ground From Under Your Feet

That's supposed to be a figure of speech... at least when you're lucky. When ground you have trod, or driven over recently, collapses, it's a whole different thing. Twice now I've had occasion to hear a news report and reflect I've been there. 

I just have good timing.

The first time was the collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis. I've mentioned it here a couple times. No repeat is necessary.

The second event I heard about on the morning national news today. I had to look it up on a map to be sure we're talking about the same piece of mountain road. We are.

It was in May of 2021, during a fairly extravagant trip - for us - that Steve and I had planned to celebrate our being released from over a year of covid lockdown, thanks to vaccinations being finally available, and making up for it with our annual snowbird trip north being longer, hitting more places, and spending more money. Most of the highlights of that trip happened in the Rockies, visiting parks in late spring, a time we hadn't experienced there before when they were still fairly deserted. We can drive from AZ to MN in three days. We took two weeks. New routes, new sights, let's make it an adventure! We're free!

We came down the west side of the Tetons, a view of them we'd never seen. The big park is on the east, a much lower altitude, and quite familiar to both of us. We still went through Jackson Hole, but took a new-to-us pass to get there. It was beautiful, spots of remaining snow scattered at the bases of pines, bends and turns revealing new versions demanding new photos (where possible - not safe to pull over mostly) and a bit of an exercise on the brakes. The road is known as Teton Pass.

Yes, that Teton Pass, the one in the news this morning, where part of the highway, just after repairs, slid down a deep slope it formerly clung to into a ravine, where a later camera shot caught the rest of it following, bringing the last of the pavement with it.

Yes, I'd driven it, never imagining the vulnerability. Mountains are all really really big rocks, right? You have to cut their surfaces smooth, right? What do you mean, talking about fill to smooth the little valleys? 

In our direction of travel, we'd have gone with the first drop, on the outside curve, had our timing been a few years worse. Luckily there were no casualties. The mountain has been shifting for a long time, and just after the repairs had been finished it was noted there was a new crack / gap in the pavement. But our timing was better, any personal disaster left to the imagination, or perhaps those dreams which wake one in the wee hours, trembling and sleepless for a while. I don't know yet, having just watched the video footage from the safety of a warm, non-moving home.

But hey, you know me: if it happens, you'll hear about it. But for now, breakfast, coffee, and a shower. More stuff to do... on level ground.