I hope to never see as many brake lights in unison as I saw last night.

One inch of snow fell in the greater Portland area yesterday, and apparently that was enough to send everyone into chaos. In fact, KGW traffic reporter Michael Convery described yesterday’s commute the worst he had seen in 25 years in the metro Portland area.

I can definitely vouch for that as I was stuck in Wilsonville for the greater part of yesterday afternoon and evening. One simple trip to Fry’s Electronics to replace my desktop computer’s motherboard turned into an experience of frustration and also the discovery that there is something seriously wrong with my car’s heater.

I headed out from Vancouver around 1:30 p.m. to make the 30-mile trip south, and light flakes started falling around Oregon City. By the time I made it to the I-5/I-205 interchange on the south end of Tualatin, I knew I’d have to hurry to make it back to beat rush hour.

That didn’t happen.

I left Fry’s in Wilsonville around 3:30 and instantly was greeted by gridlock on side streets. Everyone and their mom, from everywhere imaginable, were trying to get onto I-5 to get through to metro Portland.

At 4, I turned on KXL radio and their afternoon news said that the freeways were gridlocked all across metro Portland. I checked Google Maps on my phone and it confirmed that every freeway was jammed — I-5, I-205, US-26, OR-217, you name it. I wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

I even tried side streets and that’s when I discovered something horribly wrong with my car. I had the heater turned up to 78 on defrost, but it was spitting out cold air the entire time…unless I reached 20 MPH. The problem was, traffic wasn’t moving any faster than 5. My temperature gauge started going haywire so I had to pull off into a Target.

Surveying the side streets, it was amazing to see how many people DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IN THE SNOW. I saw a car go up a hill and stop…next thing I knew he slid down into a ditch. I also saw a red Corvette with California plates have trouble navigating anything. Enough said.

At 5 p.m. I realized I’d probably be stuck in Wilsonville through the evening.

On my day off.

I went back to Fry’s to browse, then over to a Target, then to Panda Express to grab some grub, then back to Target again where I got on the phone with Dad and he advised me to buy a sleeping bag in case I had to kick it in the car for a bit.

I checked Google Maps once again — this time it was around 9 p.m. — and I found a route that was clear of traffic. I took I-5 south to the Canby exit, drove into Canby, then took OR-99E north until it merged with I-205 in Oregon City.

It worked out well and I was home free. I got home around 10:00. Nine hours after I left, for crying out loud.

I’m sure there are others out there who had it worse than I did, but I’m surprised that more people don’t know how to drive in the stuff — the fact that snow wasn’t in the forecast is no excuse. If people used common sense while driving in the snow, everything would have been fine.

I won’t even mention the people who abandoned their cars.

All in all, I’m thankful I made it home even if it did waste my entire day off.