Our annual Pilgrimage to Minnesooota is at an end. It ended with the usual beating in the form of a 1000-mile drive in bad weather. We left the land of 10,000 lakes at 4:20 am on Saturday, 12/27. The fog of the previous day had lifted and the roads were clear so I had high hopes of making a beeline for the safety and comfort of the Great State of Texas. Alas, my hopes were dashed in Iowa when I stopped at McDonalds for some of their 100 mph coffee. The roads were clear and the outside air temperature was hovering around 24 degrees as I pulled into the restaurant parking lot. Then it started raining. The only problem with rain is that it freezes into ice.
After 10 minutes of rest and refreshment I continued down I-35 only to find deteriorating weather conditions. I traveled about another hour and covered only 30 miles. The entire right side of the van had so much ice on it the van was listing to the right and swaying under the weight. The windshield wipers could not cope with the ice build-up even with the defroster on high. We stopped in Ankeny, Iowa and watched the weather channel at the AmericInn hotel. The wonderful staff offered us free coffee and told us to stay in their lobby as long as we liked. After watching TV for about 10 minutes we decided to get a room and wait out the storm. Everybody crashed for about 4 hours before we decided to get some lunch and check out the local shopping scene. At lunch the weather was sunny and the road crews had made a lot of progress, which encouraged Shane and Caitlin to hatch a plan that we load up the van and drive in shifts until we got back to our beloved adopted home of Texas. We did some shopping and got some ice cream, then headed back to the hotel. Once there I checked out the weather and road conditions. I knew it would be dicey getting through Iowa, but I agreed to the plan and we hit the road about 4:00 PM.
In less than an hour I was driving 25 mph in a blizzard trying to keep the car on the road and my blood pressure under control. I drove like that for about three hours and we finally caught a break south of Des Moines when the snow stopped. The road crews had cleared enough of the slop so that we could average 50 mph. Traffic conditions were not to bad; I guess most people that live up there know enough to stay home in a blizzard. About 10:00 pm we stopped for a light snack and let Shane drive. Being 23 years old and having just finished college, he was well prepared to pull an all nighter behind the wheel. I managed to sleep a bit and took over driving about 2:00 am. Once we got to Oklahoma it was clear sailing. We made it home about 6:15 am on Sunday, 12/28, and everybody hit the rack for a few hours.
We celebrated our Texas family Christmas before noon and had spaghetti and meatballs for lunch. Then Shane and Shelley headed back to Austin, Texas so Shane could help a buddy celebrate his birthday.
Every year I say I’m not going back to Minnesooota in the winter, and every year I end up with another road warrior story about driving in bad weather. I’ve got to figure out how Carleen does that. I pray that I survive these family vacations so I can enjoy my family in the years to come.
