Amaryllis sillyramA

We had a lovely weekend at the cabin. Highlights: we got in a couple of good walks to the river, and had some great food courtesy of big M: taco soup! homemade chicken pot pie! beautiful little steaks on the grill! We are lucky indeed.

Sunday was gorgeous, cold and sunny. Monday, our last day there, it rained a bit. Sleeted a bit. Sometime after dark, it started to snow. Just a little while before we left. By the time we were underway, it was coming down pretty hard. Big wet flakes putting lace all over the trees. Beautiful.

Homeward bound! We head the truck down our little gravel road. A few minutes later we’re stopped at the highway, waiting until the coast is clear to pull out and head west. The snow is whirling all around. The traffic is sparse, slower than usual, but the surface of the road isn’t too snowy yet. Good. We pull out. Accelerate. The snow flies at us. It’s like going to warp! Or engaging the hyperdrive! It looks so cool… until we realize we can’t see the road. Can’t see the yellow center line. Can’t see the white line on the side. All we can see are big glowing snowflakes, all lit up by the headlights. And the tail lights of the car in front are disappearing fast.

I’m terrified. It’s a curvy mountain road, complete with steep dropoffs and narrow bridges. Big M is driving (my hero!) and concentrating on trying to see… anything. There are occasional moments of relief. When we pass under a big tree, the snow thins and we can see. And once in a while, when there is an oncoming vehicle, we can see. It’s funny — usually I curse the oncoming traffic on that road at night, because of the glare of the headlights. But this time I am wishing there was a constant stream of it, because the oncoming headlights light up the road for us, and the snowflakes become invisible for a few moments. Street lamps have the same effect, but those are few and far between.

This goes on for about 12 or 13 miles, until we finally reach small town civilization. The roads are better illuminated here, and the snow is mixed with rain. And we can stop holding our breath. Or at least I can. Big M has been remarkably calm throughout. I did notice he kept both hands on the wheel the whole time — even asked me to adjust the back seat temperature for little M so that he wouldn’t have to let go the wheel. I hadn’t even heard her asking us to turn it down. Too freaked / mesmerized by the snowflakes flying into my brain.

The next day, around midday, the cabin cam had this to report:

So perhaps it was a good thing that we came home when we did. Driving through this large amount of snow would have presented a whole different set of problems. Still! Lesson learned: Snow in the forecast? Come home during the day!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 at 9:44 pm and is filed under blague. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.