Over the hills and through the snow....

It seems to be a new holiday tradition.

Ok. We travelled to West Virginia this past Wednesday night for the holiday. Now - it seems like we are starting a new holiday tradition: bad weather travels! Last year was horrendous (it was raining, the windshield wipers stopped working, we had to drive back in the rain with nothing but "Rain-X" protecting us...).

This year we left after our respective work days. As soon as we stepped outside we felt the little flakes and start of snow. It was chilly that night, but we went on - nothing too major for a while. Then we started across the mountains between here and WV. The snow wasn't hard, but it was plentiful. In night time driving the headlights reflected off the flakes and it looks like - in Star Wars - a space ship going into hyperspace. I focused on the white line of the lane to stay in check. Then that line started to disappear. Soon I was following tracks in the snow, but also a 18-wheel truck. We weren't going fast, but we were still on course.

Soon enough the truck was gone. And I was the leader of the pack. It never fails - when driving in this weather the SUVs started to pass at speeds they really shouldn't, and in doing so, they splashed a good amount of gook onto the windshield that turned my limited visibility to nil for a second or two. I cursed them mightily.

You know you are in bad weather when occasionally you talk to the car itself "C'mon stay right there...not bad... get back... c'mon..." After a while Rach said "Well, we've made past where we made it last year." Oddly enough I had neen thinking the same thing.

The tricky things are the up hill drives. You want to keep enough speed to stay on course, but not to fast that you lose control. Also, bridges - the freeze first like the signs say. It's easier to gain enough speed to get over them without stepping on the gas further.

I clutched the steering wheel so hard my hands hurt. Rach actually stayed awake. My mom then called. Reluctantly I answered because I knew she'd be worried. "Hello?" She said "Where are you?" I told her. "How are the roads?" I replied, "It's nasty." Somehow, from this she started to talk more, "Yeah I was watching the Weather Channel and they were talking about all these storms that are out and..." I had to cut her off. "Yeah, that's great, I gotta go." I suppressed my sarcasm of "really, there are storms... what do you know? I had no clue..."

It started to clear once we started into WV. We had made it. 2 hours more than normal, but still...

I tell you the things we go through to see family on a holiday... and as usual - it was worth it.