(due to the length of this trip, and weather.. no photos were taken on this journey)
I left Ohio on Saturday morning instead of Friday because of weather. And on Saturday, the weather was fine for travel snowing on and off here and there with slick conditions now and then... until I got to S. Bend Indiana.
I could see the cloud in the distance. It was big. It was dark, and not at all attractive. Sleet started to fall, then snow.. then lots of snow.
It snowed so hard and fast, that within 10 miles I went from 70mph to 10mph. It was bad enough where I considered getting off the highway, because, if I had to drive thru more of this... it would wear me out fast. Grabbing the phone, I called my Austin brother Ted, who is online all the time. He'd be the one to give me a fast forcast of what was to be expected ahead.
His report was, "If you can get about 20 miles further west, you'll be out of it, and nothing but blue skies until Lincoln." Sounded good to me. I pressed on at a turtles pace for about the distance Ted reported, and the sky cleared, and the snow faded. Back to 75mph.
I made it to my hotel in Lincoln an hour later than planned. 16 hours on the road non-stop save for gas fillups. I hadn't pulled a trip like that in years.
The hotel was fine, as they ever are.
Sunday Morning:
Off we go! Back on 80 west. This day was to be 8 hours of driving. Roads are good, until I got about 60 miles west. Then things got icey. The passing lane was snow covered, but fine, and the "slow lane" had ice in the usual tire path. If you drove slightly off the normal path to the left or right just a bit.. it was good, but hit that path and WHOOOOAAAHHH! Slicky slick stuff to be sure.
But then the snow started 2 hours into the ride. And it kept snowing. And it had been snowing in that region for some time. Probably for 3 or 4 hours.. and it was powdery stuff. The stuff that gets clouded up behind semi trucks when they pass each other. I learned quite quickly that I needed to drop back, or hang back when trucks got into that snowy passing line, as they were causing white outs.
I avoided this for about an hour, and then got caught between two semis in the passing lane, and a Semi then tried to pass the 3 of us. Oh god. This is bad.
We are all doing about 55mph. I'm "In the Rocking Chair" as they say. Sandwiched.
As the Semi passes us, I can see the cloud of snow billow up and envelope the truck behind me.. his trailer disappearing, his cab, and finally his grill and lights vanished.
Then I could see the cloud of snow engulf me, coming over the windshield and obscuring my vision totally. I could not see the truck in front of me.
I could not see beyond the windows of my Element. I don't know how long this went on, but I want to guess I was driving The Force alone for at least 30 seconds maintaining my speed.
Will the guy behind me rear end me if I slow down?
Will the guy in front of me slow down?
Am I driving straight? (bzzz bzzz bzzzzbzzzzzzzz) The sound of the grooved right shoulder told me I was vearing right, but I need that buzz. I could feel I adjusted to the left too much, and readjusted.. (bzzzbzzzz).. ok, I'm still on the road...
FINALLY the cloud faded, and I could see. I went about a mile more to the next exit and left the highway with a line of trucks doing the same.
You know roads are bad when the truckers leave it.
First hotel I saw, I took. While checking in, a trucker got behind me and announced there was an accident on 80W between this exit and the next mile. 20 vehicle. 10 Trucks.
I don't know if I would have been in that mess if I stayed on the road, but I would have been stuck on the road for 6 hours had I not exited. They closed the highway in both directions, East bound for 4 hours, and west bound for 6.
So glad I got off the road.
The next day, the road was "better" but icy the whole way to Colorado until just outside of Wyoming. I made it back alive.
Someone said to me something like, "I guess driving cross country in the winter isn't such a good idea".
After 25 years of pulling off cross country road trips, this is the first time I've actually had to leave the road because of weather.
I don't have a problem with that. :)
South Bend Indiana had 36 inches of snow THAT DAY,
And the area I got off the highway ended up with 12 inches.
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