January 31, 2013

Freak Snowstorm

Where I should be right now:

Where I am right now:
Truck stop Denny's: FINE DINING TONIGHT!
When I left my house for my lesson, there were flurries, and the forecast was for a 20% chance of snow showers with no accumulation.  10 miles up the interstate, and I encountered a traffic jam with a 5 car pileup as the cause.  Another 5 miles and it was snowing so hard I couldn't see 20 feet in front of my car, and there was a crosswind strong enough to threaten to blow me off the road.  Then I saw a three car slideoff, and a few miles later the pickup truck behind me gracefully slid off of Interstate 65 into a 20 foot ditch like he'd planned it.  I finally made it to my exit, 25 miles from home, with still another 12 miles of country roads between me and the barn, and as I came close to sliding into a semi after nearly getting blown off the exit ramp by the 40 mph crosswind, I decided to spend my Thursday night at the Denny's at the Pilot truck stop instead of on my horse.  I have never seen weather turn so badly so quickly!

Edit: It ended up taking me over six hours to go 25 miles north to the exit and 25 miles south back home. After I left Denny's, I found that it's so extremely cold here tonight that the moisture was re-freezing as fast as the INDOT trucks were de-icing things, so the roads turned into a solid sheet of ice.  The final leg of my journey was 19 miles and took me over an hour (after spending another couple of hours at a different restaurant after I almost got in a wreck and was shaking too badly to continue)  I am glad to be home and not sorry at all that I missed my little buddy tonight!  Stay safe out there, Midwesterners!

8 comments:

  1. That is so scary! Thank goodness nothing happened to you or your car!

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  2. Stay safe! This morning it too me an hour and a half to get to work, usually takes 25 minutes, then there was a 30 car pile up along a mile stretch of freeway in Detroit. The weather changed so quick!

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  3. Yikes. I'm glad you made it home safe.

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  4. Yikes. Glad you made it home safely!

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  5. Ugh, that sounds really nasty, well done for making it safe home. I bet Connor won't mind not having to work!

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  6. Wow that scary, it sounds awful. Glad thtt you made it home safely though :)

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  7. wow - sounds awful! Glad you made it home ok!!!

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  8. Oh Jen...you all got hit a lot harder than us! So glad you made it home safe and sound - eventually!

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