This week we were surprised by snow and unfortunately it wasn’t a pleasant surprise since I was driving in it at the time. I thought it was merely going to be flurries, but oh no…it started sticking. Driving with snow on the road? No. that’s not something I do. Like ever anymore.
But there I was driving to my parents to return their car to them, thinking the entire seven minute drive that it really wasn’t as slippery as it probably was. You ever ask yourself, “Why are people out in this?” when the weather is bad?
I am normally one of those people who ask that, not one who is driving in it but I just kept thinking the snow would stop and the road would clear up.
I made it to my parents with white knuckles. The plan was for my husband to pick me up on his way home from work but Dad decided he’d better drive me home so my husband didn’t get our car, which doesn’t have great tires, stuck on my parents’ dirt road.
Honestly, I think Dad was excited to be needed and get out in that snow. He loves driving in the snow. That’s crazy to me. On the way back to my house he said, “If there isn’t six inches on the road it doesn’t bother me.”
We made it back to my house fine and Dad made it back to his house as well. Another inch or so fell that night and The Boy didn’t have to go to school the next morning.
While I don’t usually drive in snow at all, there was two other times I had to do it — both while working for newspapers.
The first time I was working at the local daily newspaper and when I left work the roads were covered. I was nervous but started inching my way the 15 miles to home. There was one hill I was very worried about and I did well going up it but was nervous going down. There was a line of cars behind me but only one of them seemed annoyed by me going slow. Everyone else was also going slow since there was maybe three inches of white slush covering the roads. Well, almost everyone. One driver of a pickup truck decided he needed to get by us so he passed a couple of cars.
I might have muttered something like, “You idiot,” as he went by.
Several feet in front of me he fishtailed but was able to gain control again.
“See!” I shouted at my windshield. “There’s a reason we’re all going slow!”
He ended up having to drive slowly all the way to the area called The Valley where we lived.
The other time I was stuck in snow was, again, coming home from a newspaper job. This time I was working in New York State, about 50-minutes from our apartment at the time.
I kept asking to go home but the editor wanted me to finish a couple of things. He finally allowed me and by then the main highway was covered in snow and ice. There are two lanes going east and two going west on this highway and I was going east to get home. I was not going very fast and no one was passing me because it was that snow with a layer of ice on top.
At one point I hit some of that ice and my car started to spin until I was all the way around facing the oncoming cars. Thank God I didn’t go into panic mode, causing my brain to freeze up. Instead, I ripped the car into reverse and backed it into the median and waited for the other cars to pass me before trying again.
A 50-minute drive took probably 90-minutes that day, but I was so glad to be home.
All this being said, I am really looking forward to some temps in the 40s this upcoming week where we live. Even a couple days of sun would be so nice.
Other than my driving adventure, we didn’t do too much else this week. I did take Little Miss to Kid’s Club at a local church on Wednesday and it was nice to get out of the house a little bit.
I’m not sure if I shared this photograph of a bald eagle eating a rabbit that The Husband took a couple of weeks ago on here or not. I’m going with not.
He took this shot with his iPhone. The eagle was close to the edge of the road, and I am so excited that Little Miss was able to get a look at it because she often misses the wildlife we see.
How was your week last week?
Do anything fun or interesting? What teas are you drinking this day if you are a tea drinker? Let me know in the comments.
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Not a fan of driving in snow, and especially not with ice on top. I got a giggle about your dad though.
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Yeah he loves the stuff — just don’t get it! 😂
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Weird… I read and commented on this earlier; we had a white knuckled drive President’s day when we went to tour a college in Massachusetts. Their roads were awful and I could not believe they didn’t cancel!
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I missed replying to comments here for some reason – probably when WordPress comments were all messed up. Massachusetts is probably just used to driving that way! But yikes! I would have been terrified.
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My husband and I lived on the East Coast for a few years, and a couple of those years were really snowy. Coming from California, I was terrified every time I had to drive in the snow. I was definitely one of the slow pokes on the Interstate. Reading your stories makes me so grateful snow isn’t even a remote possibility where I live now, and I shudder at so many memories of having to do it. I don’t know how people do it year after year! My nerves are still completely shot from those two winters.
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I would love to live somewhere where we don’t have to drive in the snow but I would also miss seeing it and cuddling inside under a blanket while it falls outside. I somehow missed a whole bunch of comments on my blog so I am catching up.
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I love to drive in the snow as long as there aren’t lots of people out in their own cars. I love plowing through the high snow! We have always had at least one car that was like a bulldozer that could get through just about anything. One of them was my youngest son’s car, Forrest. Yes, we sometimes named our cars. Forrest was an old four door Chevy Cavalier. It would go through anything. We would take it over to the school across the street and have the kids do donuts when they were learning how to drive. I had a Saab which was made in Sweden. That was the worst car I ever had to drive in snow. I figured, since it was made in Sweden, it would go really well through snow. Before we were married, Mike had a 1974 Pinto. I was driving it in snow one time and got it stuck on top of a snow bank! It was perched up there until we were able to get shovels and lower it to the ground! Now, ice is a completely different story! I hate driving if there’s even a chance of ice.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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I don’t know how I missed some of these comments but I did. I used to have a Chevy cavalier so I can totally see that going through thick snow. I never tried it.
There were so many people (at least for our area) on the road when I was driving in it so it was not fun at all.
If I had a huge pick up I might be less freaked out.
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Oh my gosh! About that car stuck on the snow bank! So funny.
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Pingback: Sunday Bookends: The Get Rid of Hiccups Trick, what I thought of the Miss Marple Short Stories, and a Paris movie marathon being planned – Boondock Ramblings
Pingback: Sunday Bookends: The Get Rid of Hiccups Trick, what I thought of the Miss Marple Short Stories, and a Paris movie marathon being planned – Boondock Ramblings
I don’t enjoy driving in the snow either, I’d much rather be cozy at home than on the roads with all those wild drivers!
Gorgeous eagle captures, they make it easy to take a great photo, don’t they?
I am a big fan of black tea. I blend half and half loose Irish and English teas, brew it strong in my french press, then serve it with honey and a bit of (warmed) milk. Divine.
Hope you’re enjoying a lovely weekend and have a great week ahead!
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Fantastic photos, Lisa! I don’t envy you having to drive in snow – I should hate it! Take care.
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Yes! It’s awful! Thank you. You too.
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I was even nervous driving with the ex when there was snow although he’s a really good driver with great reflexes. I refused to drive in snow myself, but didn’t drive that much, anyway.
I just remember a terrible drive of not even a mile in bad fog. I don’t think I was breathing until I was home.
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People make fun when writers write that a character lets out the breath they didn’t even know they were holding but that was me the other day!
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i am so ready for warmer temps also! This extreme cold has not been fun, especially with the heater in our room being on again & off again! Those eagle photos are amazing! Thanks for sharing. It was an encouragement to my day! ❤️
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I’m sure you deal with more aches on cold days like Mom and I do as well. No fun. Soon it will be spring!
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Your post reminded me that in my last semester of college I drove close to 30 miles every day in snowy winter weather to student teach. But I was definitely braver in my younger days. Still it doesn’t bother me a lot to drive in snow but ice is an entirely different story! I have a lot of crazy drivers in snow stories I could tell you about when we lived in Portland, Oregon where it doesn’t snow much. Drivers would panic when it barely snowed and would abandon their vehicles on the side of the road. Tea wise, I’ve been drinking a lot to stay warm in this frigid weather. I’ve been enjoying some different breakfast teas from Australia.
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You should write a blog post about driving in the snow.! 😂 I actually forgot the stories about when I drove to my collage classes during my senior year when I was commuting and working for the newspaper. My one professor couldn’t believe I’d driven an hour in the snow to get to class since even kids on campus hadn’t shown up!
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Snow is something that I don’t miss since we moved to NZ. It might look pretty, but is horrid to live with in the city, with piles of grey slush everywhere and slippy pavements.
It hasn’t been that good a week as I had a fall and have badly hurt my ankle, but on the plus side I have read, rested and watched whole series!
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