Ok, this is a little off the subject but it is the only thing I can contribute as a Californian…
Myself, my girlfriend, another couple and a friend were going snowboarding. It was about 5:00am and we were just coming over the crest of some foot hills on an empty freeway. The downhill side of the freeway that we were about to be on is a staight 1 mile 4 lane strech of highway that is at a decent grade, though I don’t know how much. Well it had been raining and that means slick roads. At this point the girl in the front passenger seat of the MiniVan says, “Oh, do a Tornado!” Unknown to us in the back, a “Tornado” is when you jerk the wheel back and forth and make the car ‘wiggle’ and thats about it. Well…
Her boyfriend (the driver) jerks the wheel to the left, then to the right and this is when things got bad. We all felt the back end loose traction and the MiniVan started to spin at 70+ MPH and going downhill. At this point Sara, the girl who started it all, starts to scream in a very high pitched monotone scream that only sheer terror can bring about. My girlfriends hand clenches my inner thigh with supper-human strength, closes her eyes and just seems to concentrate on ripping my leg off. I, am on the right hand side of the MiniVan, and remember it started to spin to the left or counter clockwise. This means that I am on the downhill side of the MiniVan that is now leaning at an unholy angle and trying to flip itself. Now, these weren’t just your quick 360’s these spins were slow and the MiniVan slid more than it slid, this is why I thought it would flip. All I could do was to hold on and look out the window as those little white lane divider bumps go racing by way to close to my face. I honestly thought that the wheels were going to catch and flip the MiniVan onto my face.
Well, the MiniVan spun twice counter clockwise and toward the center dividing wall, then the wheels did catch, but only enough to start us spinning in the other direction. So we started to spin clockwise and were now heading towards the steep hill that is on the other side of the highway. Sara is still screaming that same scream on the same breath, my girlfriend is now uttering words but in no coherient form, and I started to get really nervous.
When the MiniVan finished its last two spins we came to a stop about 3 feet from the hill. We then made sure everyone was ok, and when we figured everything was ok, we all tore into Sara and her boyfriend for doing such a stupid thing. Needless to say, I drove the rest of the way…
This is what I think of when I hear the work tornado. I may not have been a huge mass of air spinnig at high speeds, but damn it, it was scary enough for me. And for those unfortunate souls who fate has forced into buying a MiniVan, we were in a Pontiac Montana. Let me tell ya, those things DO NOT flip! Trust me, I know.
Anyway, that is all. Thank you for letting me borrow your thread for a couple of minutes. 