Driving In A Winter Wonderland

This afternoon Joseph had a B-Day party to go to for a friend near the old house. Since I was going to be in Hillsboro to drop him off, I set up a play date with Annalina's friend Megan so she could come over and see our new house and they could play without pesky brother around to bother them. Sounds like a great plan, right??

On the way home is started snowing, a light wispy kind of snowfall, by the time we were home, it was heavy and sticking to everything. No problem, it wasn't supposed to last, but would turn to rain in a short while, so the weather guys all stated. So the girls played and I kept an eye on the weather, an hour and a half later we had three inches on the ground and it was still coming down heavily. We set out earlier than planned and it was a good thing we did. The roads were slick ice where the tire tracks were. I tried to keep one side of the van in the snowy side of the road and we did ok. Baseline was crawling along and the car in front of me kept sliding all over the road and this was freaking me out a bit, so we turned off the main road and took the long way by the library and out Evergreen. It went pretty smoothly.

I am a pretty confident ice and snow driver, in my early twenties I drove from Seattle to Portland alone in a huge snow storm, the three hour drive took me about 9 hours, so I am fairly comfortable driving in the snow, but I am not so comfortable driving alongside those who haven't a clue what they are doing. It only took 45 minutes to get to Hillsboro and pick up Joseph. Then the fun begins....

I decided to take Evergreen home since Baseline was so bad earlier. We made it pretty well until we got to Cornelius Pass Road, it resembled a slug, inching along ever so slowly! After waiting for light after light, and seeing people driving horribly, cutting each other off, ignoring traffic signals, etc, I decided to cut across to 205th, which would lead us directly home. The road connecting to 205th was crammed with cars as well, and as we approached the turn I needed to take the incline was just enough and the ice was just thick enough that I could not get going again. The stop and go traffic turned to just stop for me!

OK, at this point, Joseph was warmly dressed, but Annalina had no coat and was wearing her crocks. I did not have a coat either. I have no cell phone. I admit, as the mother of a scout, I should have been better prepared! But who would have expected this?? It was supposed to be raining! Anyway, there was nowhere in walking distance for us to get to in order to call for help. So I tried and tried to get the van moving, but we got nowhere. Cars just went on around us. I backed up and tried again and again, but no luck. Another car was pulled over and this one man got out and tried to push my minivan to get it going. Not gonna happen, but I was grateful at least someone was trying to help! About that time I backed up to the curb to throw in the towel and maybe cry my eyes out, when a truck pulled along beside us and got stuck as well. Several times I thought he was going to slide right into us. Then yippee, a police car pulled up with his lights flashing. What a relief!!! I was outside the car to see if I could help the truck get moving and the police officer hopped out long enough to say, "try not to plug this road up, there's a huge line of cars trying to get through!!" As if we could not see that!!! And they were off. I was on the verge of tears again, Richard was working very late and it would have taken him hours to get to us, even if I could call him, which I could not. Oh, did I mention I really needed to pee? Oh yes, just to add to the drama.

I was about to go ask the car stuck in front of us if he had a cell phone when three young men passing by on foot asked me if I needed help. YES! They advised me to back up and take a right, through a neighborhood that exits onto the road I needed to be on. I wasn't sure I could get traction to make the turn, but they assured me they were there to help if I needed it. I made it but even then I remembered the downward hill we were facing to get home. I tapped the brake like crazy and was thinking how grateful I was we just had the brakes done on the van, even if it had just depleted our savings! When we got to the intersection before our house, we saw the steeple of the church and both kids were excited we were almost home. To my surprise, Richard was home when we got there. He had almost as fun an adventure as we had driving the 3 miles home from work. I could not get the car into the garage and wasn't even about to try again. He hopped in and pulled it into the garage for me.

The whole way home Annalina prayed for our safely, she prayed for me to drive well, and then she prayed for someone to help us when we were stuck. Hearing her prayers helped to calm me. I was so proud of her. I told her this when we got home and she said, "well Mom, I'm about to be baptized, I have to practice!" The kids were very brave and patient, considering they were both hungry and tired. They did not complain and the prayers were very helpful! I am grateful to be home. I did call Adrienne and tell her not to try to get home tonite, so they will spend an extra night at their dad's house. I would feel better having everyone home safe and sound, but at least I know everyone is safe. It sure is beautiful out there, but I don't think I will be going out again until its melted away!!