To Hell We Ride!

Greg - Glad to be out of Nebraska.

Okay, I'll preface this by admitting the obvious - tackling an 18 hour cross-country drive isn't easy. It isn't something to be taken lightly. It is inherently dangerous to travel via car, and that danger increases exponentially when you include a significant winter storm in the course of your travels.




We departed from Madison a little bit behind schedule yesterday afternoon. I was well aware of the impending winter storm warning for most of Iowa and southern Wisconsin - but was under the impression that we would have left early enough to have made De Moines before any serious weather hit. That way we would have had a good spot to hold up while he storm passed.


I was wrong.




What followed were some of the wildest hours of winter driving I've experienced in the past couple of seasons.


I blame Andrew - He totally jinxed the weather when he exclaimed, "Wow, we haven't seen ANY snow yet!"

Within 30 seconds the first flakes were falling.
Within 2 minutes, visibility decreased to 1/4 mile.
Within 5 minutes, it was difficult to discern the road from the ditch.


This first wave passed fairly quickly - much to our relief. Unfortunately we continued to hit band after band of snow for most of the next 10 hours. Oddly, the roads never accumulated any of the stuff, leaving for pretty decent traction. The real problem was just the drifting snow, which at
times reduced visibility (and our speed) to nearly nothing.

On top of this all, our problems were made worse by incredibly cold temperatures and an incredibly weak heating system in our vehicle. My toes were cold once we were mid-way through Iowa, and by the time my driving shift was over (just past the Iowa-Nebraska border), I could hardly feel them. And it made me angry... Like Godzilla, apparently:

Andrew took over, bravely guiding us through the worst of the snow-blown I-80 corridor. Greg was his faithful copilot... And Megan and I served as free-lance photographers for a bit. We all just tried to stay warm for the rest of the night.


Finally, the morning came.


With the sun came the sunglasses - Lookin' good, Andrew:

Around 11:00 that morning, we finally made it to Boulder CO, and picked up our friend, Taylor from her home in town. Her family was incredibly welcoming, and prepared us all breakfast - A welcome warm meal for such a group of weary travelers. Major thanks to the Ellisons for their hospitality!




We high-tailed it out to I-70, and made our way up into the mountains. After the Eisenhower tunnel, I spotted one of my favorite road signs - "Runaway Truck Ramp." These things always make me chuckle:

We made it Frisco later that night, and all turned in early after a delicious dinner at the Backcountry Brewpub and Pizzaria in town.