The Wildest Ride of My Life...But, I Made It

Wow!  I am not quite sure how Wednesday is upon us already!  Those Monday holidays always throw me for a loop.   I feel a day off now, and will for the remainder of the week.  The bonus is that the weekend will be upon us sooner.  So, I hope that you were able to enjoy a nice long weekend if you were lucky enough to have President's Day off. I was lucky enough to have a trip back home to visit family and friends and a bit of pampering for myself with my bi-monthly hair appointment.  Yes, I still travel 5 1/2 hours to my wonderful hair stylist, Heather.  Heather...It is worth every mile that I travel too! 

The weekend went great and was very busy.  Sunday morning arrived and I was getting ready to head back home and my brother looked at the radar to find out that I would have to travel through lots of ice on my way back south. Not to mention, Michigan was forcasted to get heavy snow.  Well, since Emma had Monday off from school, we decided to wait until the storm came and went and head home on Monday morning. 

Murphy's Law served me over and over again on this trip.  I thought that waiting was the right choice....I looked out the window when I woke up early Monday morning and it was a complete winter wonderland!  All of the local schools were closed!  I knew that it was going to be a very long day ahead of me but, I had no other choice.  We absolutely had to get back to Ohio.  Emma had missed the entire week of school with Strep throat and she couldn't miss another day. 

I got everything organized and packed up ready to go and my sister called and told me that the roads were awful.  She made me promise her that I would either wait a few hours or stay another night.  So, a few hours I waited.  I had to dig the car ( I had a rental car...not my SUV, another time that I was hit with Murphy's Law!) out of the snow and let in warm up for quite awhile anyhow.  I ran up to the local Starbucks and treated myself to a large dose of caffiene.  I knew I would be needing it. 

At 11:39 a.m., Emma and I set off to brave the elements.  In the first 15 minutes on the highway, we saw 3 cars in the ditch.  Wow, that was reassuring!  I just kept going driving very cautiously.  It is usually the other drivers on the road that worry me the most.  I just figured that the further south that we got, the roads would improve.  Ha!  My reasoning was so totally wrong!  The roads were snowy, the wind was blowing and my hands have never gripped the steering wheel so tight in my entire life!  As we rolled into Indiana, the trees were covered in ice and had fallen from being so heavy.  The roads were slick to say the least.  You could just hear the ice under the tires.  I just kept telling myself that it should get better once we hit Ohio.  Here are some pics of our travels...

So, Murphy slapped me upside the face again...After we passed through the ice, the snow began and it became a full on blizzard!  It looked a bit like this.  These pics are either courtesy of my cell phone, or my fabulous back seat traveling partner who had my camera to capture this unbelievable trip.

In the midst of this terrifying drive, when it got so bad that I could not see anything...not the road, not in front of my car, nothing but white, I then realized that I was traveling in a white car.  Boy, it could not get much better!  I honestly tried not to panic when not only could I not see anything, but also my wipers were coated with ice and would not wipe anymore.  I did pull over to what I thought was the side of the road a few times to attempt to wipe them off and bang them on the windshield.  This did not prove to be all that beneficial.  It was happening to everyone else too because I was not the only one stopping. 

Are you enjoying this adventure yet?

I was only able to travel at the very most...

Yep, you are reading that correctly...34 miles per hour!  The crazy thing is, I don't think that I could have just gotten off somewhere because it was impossible to see a darn thing.  I have never in my life driven in such horrific conditions.  When I had to get off toward 75 south...I was hoping that I was still on the road and not just turning into the ditch! 

I will tell you that this type of driving was absolutely exhausting.  I was so tense and my eyes were burning.  I just wanted to get my daughter home safely. I have never been a fan of driving in the rain at night but, on this particular evening, I was almost in tears with so much thankfulness as we approached the final stretch home and it was this that my eyes were witnessing...

Rain...

Exactly 8 hours later...as I glanced at the clock which displayed, 7:39 p.m., we were driving down the street to that place we call "home".  I knew that after this long, trying day, I had so much to be thankful for. We pulled into the garage, safe and unharmed. I have no doubt in my mind, we were being watched over.  

Just another reminder for me that things do not always go as planned but, they usually seem to work out.

And for that....I am thankful!