The roads through Oregon were not forgiving. We had hit Oregon just after a really bad snow storm had hit it the night before. There was a mandatory snow chain rule being enforced on all roads within the city at Portland. Unfortunately we had previously decided against buying snow chains for our little trip. However, fortunately, we were not required to go into any cities in Oregon as the I-5 highway ran right by them.
The snow and ice on the highway was really bad so I can only imagine what it was like within the city where less cars were traveling.
We managed to get through Portland without any incidents. Again we were driving at a max speed of about 20 to 30 mph. If we went any slower we would have more than likely gotten stuck in the snow and if we went any faster we would lose control and spin.
Speaking of spinning. It was just shortly after passing Portland that we had our worst spin off. We were driving on a perfectly straight stretch of highway going up a little incline, when out of nowhere the car just lost control and started to slide and spin. This time no one was at fault and also, this time there were lots of cars on the highway. We more than likely just hit a really bad patch of ice and that coupled with our rather non snow conditioned tyres and lack of snow chains the car lost it.
We luckily were at the outer lane at the time and didn't spin into the middle of the road but instead into the snow bank beside us. This time we managed to bury ourselves quite good. No amount of pushing by little old me alone was going to get the car out. Luckily this time around we spun off the road in the middle of the day and there were lots of cars on the road. Two cars eventually stopped (probably out of pity watching me struggling in vain at trying to push the car out by myself) and between myself and the drivers of the cars we managed to push the car out of the snow bank while the girlfriend/wife of one of the other drivers directed the traffic around us as we backed out of the bank back onto the highway again. Upon finally getting going again I had to run after the car and hop in while it was moving because we couldn't risk stopping because stopping would mean possibly getting stuck in the snow or else slipping back down the little incline on the road.
I can now say I've run down the middle of a busy highway chasing after a car in America.
After about 8 or so hours of extremely tense driving and keeping the car wheels perfectly straight the snow disappeared and the roads were drivable once again. It was at this stage we decided to pull into somewhere to get something to eat and to fill up the tank as we couldn't afford to pull off the highway previously at the risk of getting stuck in a snowed in town and having no way to get back onto the highway again.
Interesting side note. Apparently Oregon is one of two states in America where you are not allowed to fill up your car yourself. You have to let the petrol pump attendants do it. Your breaking the law otherwise.
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