The Long Drive Home

Whew, what a weekend. It was all kinds of messy as far as the weather was concerned and it all started on Friday afternoon. 

It was predicted that we would get snow and ice on Friday, but the actual times it was supposed to start were varied. I met my dad for lunch at Surin at 11:30 a.m. and it was just starting to snow when I left work to go meet him. By the time we left the restaurant, it was snowing a little harder and there was a ton of traffic on the road. It was already bumper to bumper heading back to work and I assumed correctly that the arsenal and other business had let out early and folks were trying to get home. 

Within an hour of getting back to work, the roads were starting to ice over and people were abandoning ship so they could get home safely. I might have left as well, but I had to make up the extra time I had taken to meet my dad for lunch and I was waiting on some information from our corporate group so I could roll up a quote for my customer. As a result, it was almost 4:00 p.m. before I was able to leave for the day. I think my car and maybe five others was all that remained in the parking lot by the time I ventured outside. 

I had to wait a few minutes for my car to warm up and defrost and deice before I could get on the roads. I had put a blanket in the car that morning and I grabbed some snacks from my stash at work before leaving in case I ended up getting stuck some where. Thankfully, I had the mindset that morning to fill up with gas so at least I had a full tank and I would be able to keep warm if I had to sleep in the car. 

The overpasses on the Parkway were already closed and had been for hours by the time I left so I decided to take Whitesburg home instead of all the access roads along the Parkway. The traffic headed towards home wasn't too bad at all. In fact, I was surprised at home few people were on my route, but it was bumper to bumper headed the other direction and there is no telling how long it took those people to reach their destinations. 

I saw a few cars slip sliding across the roads but thankfully I didn't. There was one point when my brakes locked up over a big patch of ice, but other than that, all was good. I drove about 15 miles per hour the whole way home and stayed far behind the cars that were in front of me. A few times cars would get too close behind me, but they would eventually realize I wasn't going to speed up and so they would pass and I would be more at ease. 

It took me almost an hour to reach home but I made it safe and sound and was thankful to be in for the night. Lots of folks were stranded and I was glad to not spend the night in my car. This morning (Monday) we had some more icy roads, but I took Whitesburg once again and made it in to work just fine. The winter weather isn't over yet. We are expected to get more snow and ice on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll be as lucky getting home then as I was this past Friday.