Snow, I-80, 2am
A lot of people are telling their snow stories on blogs, thought I’d add mine.
Last night was Nancy and my date night. Due to the snow, we decided to stay inside and make homemade pizza (which was amazing), and watch WHAT ABOUT BOB, one of my favorite comedies (and Nancy’s too). Baby steps to the elevator…
At about 10:30p, Dave calls and tells me that he and Mandy are stranded “somewhere about 60 miles east of Des Moines”, and that a state trooper was just pulling up behind him and that he’d call me back. I knew what he was calling for, so I went outside, turned the car on, and told Nancy to get ready for a road trip (her school had called earlier in the evening telling her that classes were cancelled). We packed up a “survival kit”, some warm clothes, water, etc, and waited for Dave to call back. He did, and told me that his car had broken down (no, it didn’t go in a ditch or get hit, it just quit running).
Joe Abdo was already in Des Moines and had worked out with Dave to have their car towed. The state trooper had taken them to Grinnel, IA, where they were waiting for Joe and Nancy and I to show up.
Driving was… exciting. A few times, trucks passed us, and we went into complete white out conditions for about 15 seconds. We coined the phrase “we drive by faith, and not by sight…”
Some stretches of the road just east of Des Moines were like driving through the “Dead Marshes” from the Lord of the Rings. I stopped counting how many cars were in the ditches and trucks were jack-knifed, rolled, or just plain upside-down along the roads. Fourtunately after awhile, the only other yea-hoos that were out driving (besides us) were snow plows and a few brave truckers (who decided to creep along at 40mph, rather than blow past us at 70ish, with a blizzard in their wake.
After much praying and quoting Napolean Dynamite (GOSH!) and praying, we finally made it to Ames and home safe and sound around 4am.
I don’t recommend driving during winter storm warnings.
BTW, snowflakes ALWAYS have 6 points. Did you know that?
i was driving in the storm that went through central and northern minnesota on the 1st, and im convinced minnesota drivers are more used to bad conditions since there were quite a few drivers and in a 2 hour trip through the storm i saw only one car in the ditch, and no it wasnt me :)
I guess Dave and Mandy should have stuck around at our house before heading out. I knew this was going to happen.
yes of course they always have six points. how many would you expect them to have?