Driving to Houston Christmas eve was an adventure to say the least. We got up to snow and ice, not thinking that it was much of anything. When we had loaded the van and kids and grabbed winter clothes "just in case" I looked at the thermometer which said 0 degrees. I remembered dad once saying that right at freezing was the worst temp. to drive in a winter storm. I should have taken that as a huge hint to not hit the road. But we set off. In town it was not bad. Out on the highway a mile out or so we said "hey if we can't survive this we have no business moving to Canada". Well I lived a long time in Canada and survived lots of ice storms, but I soon remembered they are not fun when on the road with precious cargo like children skating in a vehicle instead of on skates. We drove about 20 miles/hour or 35 km/hour for over 2 hours in ice and slush, in what was surreal conditions. No visibility at times, freezing windshield wipers, cars, SUVs and semis hitting the ditch along the way. We jackknifed across the road at one place, skidding on one side then the other and repeated again until finally coming to a stop. Thankfully there were no approaching cars or any following since we had taken up the entire roadway. The kids were oblivious to it all watching their videos, but we were severely shooken up. An hour or so later, once in a town untouched by the ice, we stopped for a potty break and looked in wonder at the van that was very much covered in intricate ice formations, heaped up on the running board, on the roof, sides, bumper, door handles, mirrors. It was crazy, to the point that a passing motorist was making motions at our van in awe of all the ice. Abilene got about 7 inches of snow that day and although it has been thawing temps in the day there is still quite a bit of snow and ice in town on lawns. Tomorrow they are forecasting more snow and ice. I'm glad we don't have to drive through it again that's for sure.
We did our family Christmas together before leaving. The kids also got each other and us gifts. The whole family got Emora a computer, Ivan got me chocolate milk mix, Dominique got her brother Cars themed games, I made the kids rice bags from material they had picked out. Brian got socks and clone wars dvd. It was a lot of fun. Excuse Dominique's messy face. She had indulged in some Christmas cookies before opening gifts.
2 comments:
Your almost new winter-grip tires with rims are in my cover-all. Maybe you'll have them on next winter. I'm glad that all of you got back home safely.
Messy faces are cute on "cookie eating kids". We were very glad y'all made it OK.
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