Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.<br>
<br>
That's what the ground sounds like under your feet after its been covered with sleet and frozen stiff.<br>
<br>
Saturday, Jan. 29, the driveway was a solid ice sheet.<br>
<br>
Just before midnight the weather people said the ice was coming and they were not kidding.<br>
<br>
I took one look at the metal and rubber popsicle that was once my four-wheel drive SUV early Saturday morning and decided, "No Way!"<br>
<br>
I got out on foot and that's when the crunching started as my feet penetrated the icy layer that covered the winter dormant grass along side the street.<br>
<br>
The pavement did not crunch under my weight. It was just plain slick and I knew I would hear by <I>bones</I> crunch if I slipped and fell.<br>
<br>
I moved slowly, carefully, across it. Baby baby steps, baby steps. At times.<br>
<br>
I walked across the parking lot which provided all the traction of a well-greased cookie sheet, navigating gradually toward a bright familiar yellow sign in the gray gloom.<br>
<br>
Waffle House was inhabited by refugees from the ice and I joined them. My first word as I entered the place was "COFFEE!"<br>
<br>
It was the nectar of the gods as the warm and cheery interior of the 24/7 restaurant surrounded me and I began to get warm.<br>
<br>
The cars parked out front were all decked out for winter - icicles hung from the grills, bumpers and fenders - and I wondered how they got here when I could not even get out of the driveway.<br>
<br>
Well, that was Saturday, Jan. 29. Fast-forward a week later, to Feb. 5.<br>
<br>
Young picnickers on the shores of Lake Lanier just could not believe that a week earlier Gainesville was all but shut down by an ice storm.<br>
<br>
Tiffany Smith recalled she was sledding a week earlier instead of picnicking with friends under a sunny sky and an unseasonable 60 degrees.<br>
<br>
"It's crazy!," Smith said. "It'll be warm one day and cold the next."<br>
<br>
Amen to that, but what a pleasant, wonderful difference a week made.<br>
<br>
<br>
<I> Jerry Gunn is a reporter for WDUN NEWS TALK 550, AM 1240 SPORTS RADIO THE TICKET, MAJIC 1029 and accessnorthga.com.</I><br>
http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/2/141884
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