Wednesday, February 6, 2008

And the "Biggest Idiot of the Year" Award goes to...

ME! Because I am an idiot, I got in my car this morning and drove to work. It started snowing at about 3pm yesterday, and they were forecasting 6-12 inches of snow. Since they are usually full of crap and WAY off, I didn't take them seriously, and when I got up this morning, had already decided that I was driving to work - come Hail or High Water. (Did I mention it hailed yesterday?)

Schools were all cancelled, but Kyle had the day off since all of his appointments were cancelled due to the weather (clue #1), so I was definitely going to make it in to work. The decision was a) risk my life or b) stay at home with 2 crabby kids and an even crabbier husband. I didn't have to think too long.

So I get on the interstate going north - or at least that what WAS the interstate. There were no lanes, no shoulder, no median, just snow. Everything was white. By the time I reached the next exit, I'm halfway to work, so I might as well keep going. And I do.

I make it to work in about 60 minutes. That trip usually takes me 25. I'm pretty proud of myself that I made it in to work in this treacherous weather, and proceed to listen to the voicemail messages of about 80% of my staff that were obviously, smarter than me.

The weather got worse as the morning went on. Now they are forecasting at least 12 inches, and are saying the snow could continue until 6pm and will start blowing and drifting. Okay - 12 inches of snow isn't too bad - but 12 inches of blowing and drifting snow really sucks.

I grab my stuff and decide at 10:30 I'm going to head home. NO WAY am I going to be stuck at work because of the weather, or have to stay in a hotel or at someone's house in Cedar Rapids for the night because they close the interstates, which they could do.

Heading home - the roads were worse. It actually made me dizzy how much white there was all over the place. No lanes, we were all literally plowing the snow as we drove along, trying to stay in each other's tire tracks ON THE INTERSTATE! Seriouisly - 4 lanes of interstate were non-existant - there was one lane of traffic. Again, there is no median, no shoulder, no lanes, just snow. Luckily, every once in a while you would go under a bridge where there was about 2 feet where you could see cemet to re-baseline yourself as to where you were on the road. The rumble strips on the right hand side helped too - although since there was so much ice on the road, it eventually all sounded like a rumble strip.

I ended up making it home in just over an hour, and my hands were sore from holding on to the steering wheel. I was in one piece though (and my car too!)- and that was what was important.

Kyle and I spent a good part of the afternoon shoveling and blowing snow. Okay - HE spent most of the afternoon doing that. I helped with the blade shovel for about a 1/2 hour, trying to get all of the packed down snow on the driveway- then escaped inside when I got too sore. Kyle literally spent 3 hours outside blowing snow. I'm attaching below a beautiful picture of him saying hello while outside. (I think he was cussing - notice the snow is up to his knees. He had to walk through it before he could even get the snowblower through it because it was so thick!)

Next time they say "travel is not advised", maybe I'll believe them!

1 comment:

K'man said...

Let's see, your last post suggests the rest of us are wimps cuz it's gonna snow.
Now this post says it snowed alot and we all should have stayed home... I am confused.
BTW, you mention being dizzy because it was so white out with heavy blowing snow. A couple of Tuesdays ago I drove home in white out conditions that made me so dizzy I was seasick. So I know the feeling!