Wednesday, November 25, 2015

#1556 over the river and through the woods...

Remember that old song?

Over the river and through the woods
To Grandmother's house we go
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
Through the white and drifting snow oh!

Today we did our pilgrimage to Linda's house (Grandmother) for Thanksgiving. See what I did there? Thanksgiving, pilgrim(age)?

The horse was my car and yes, there was white and drifting snow. Well, not really drifting so much as coming down in a torrent of gigantic flakes, then rain, then snow. All the while the temperature was falling, causing the roads to ice up and get slushy and utterly frightening.

I drove from Salt Lake to Plymouth, a wide spot on the freeway about halfway between SLC and Poky. I need a massage now. My shoulders were up around my ears. My hands are sore from gripping the steering wheel so tight. I think the top speed I reached was about 40 miles/hour. Good (and bad) thing there wasn't too much traffic when we took the exit at Tremonton to Pocatello. I was driving down the middle of the freeway. You couldn't see the lanes at all. I don't think any plows had been out. There was a car ahead of me for awhile and I tried to stay in their tracks, but then they exited the freeway and I was on my own for awhile. I remember sliding a bit here and there. I totally hated every minute of my driving time. I wanted to pull over, but there was no way I was going to pull over to the side of the road in that storm. I was relieved to get to the gas station in Plymouth and let MT take over. I rode in the back seat of the car with my dog, put on my neck pillow and closed my eyes and took deep breaths. It was awful.

The roads did seem to improve once we were on the Pocatello side of the Malad summit. Hopefully when we go back home on Friday the road and weather conditions will be much better.

Talk about giving thanks! I'm thankful we made it here safely!

No comments: