Through my windshield: Somewhere in New Mexico on one of the better stretches of road. — Photo by Pat Bean
“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” – William Feather
Snow and Ice Adventure
I left Dallas the day after Christmas, after three weeks visiting my scattered Texas family. It was a quiet, cold overcast morning with 950 miles of interstate driving ahead of me. I hate freeway driving, but I needed to get home by the 27th because my Tucson daughter was having surgery on the 28th.
To make the drive go faster, I listened to an audible version of Ken Follett’s “Edge of Eternity,” which is the third of the author’s Century Trilogy, and which covers the period of the 1960’s through the ‘80s. Those are years I lived through, so the book was a refresher history course for me of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Civil Rights issues.
Not too far from my daughter’s Rowlett home.
About 5 p.m., I pulled into Van Horn, Texas, and checked into a $47 a night Motel 6 – and immediately regretted my economy decision. About 7 p.m., as I was lying on the bed (on my own blanket) watching TV, the electricity went out. It flickered on and off for another hour then blacked out altogether. I blamed the cheap motel until I got up a bit later and opened the window curtain to see if I could let in some light. My car, parked right outside my door, had about 10 inches of snow on it — and the entire town was blacked out.
The next morning I learned of the Texas tornados, and that one had sat down just two miles from my daughter’s home — where my return to Arizona journey had started. Thankfully all my Texas family was OK, although sadly other families were not so fortunate.
Since I needed to get home, I got on the road early – well, after a half hour of scrapping ice and snow off my car without the proper tools and no gloves. For a while the roads were clear, but somewhere before I hit El Paso, snow began to fall. And somewhere after El Paso, the roads turned to ice. At one point I was following a snowplow, and at another traffic slowed to 10 mph, or even stopped completely a time or two.
Cayenne in El Paso, after I cleaned her up in Van Horn and before the nasty New Mexico snow and ice. — Photo by Pat Bean
On the sides of the road were many stuck and wrecked cars and semis, whose drivers I assumed didn’t know the first rule of getting from one place to another on ice. Drive as if you have no brakes because you’re going to lose control of your vehicle when you apply them.
With 25 years of Northern Utah winter driving behind me, I felt reasonably confident I would make it through, and so I decided to take William Feather’s advice and consider the day an adventure.
It worked. I forgot about making time and my stress level dropped significantly – and I even made it home before dark. You don’t get many adventures like this at my age.
Blog pick of the Day. Check it out.
Bean Pat: Pelicans http://ghostbearphotography.com/pelicans/ One of my favorite bloggers hates birds, but loves pelicans. I love his photos.
Pat Bean's blog 
Icy roads are my nemesis but i drive slow steady do not change pace and put myself in His hands. However the other night on dry roads a deer attempted suicide by car with my daughter’s car. We thought it was repairable and now found out insurance says it is totaled and not getting much toward it. life has some swift changes but we will cope. we always do.
I know about deer committing suicide. One smashed in the front of my 1976 Ford Mustang many years back. I was driving about 30 mph at night between Brigham City and Ogden — and there was no snow.
That’s an unusual adventure for your neck of the woods! You’re smart to just dial back the urgency and get there when you get there – so many people don’t grasp the concept that slowing down for snow and ice might make them late, but not slowing down could make them permanently late… as in ‘the late (their name here). And you’ve got a true gem of driving advice here: “Drive as if you have no brakes”!
Thanks Diane. Age may come with wrinkles and stiff muscles, but it also comes with wisdom that the years bring.
Glad you made it home safely!
Me, too. Thanks Pit.
So glad you enjoy our photos over at Ghost Bear Photography! Thanks so much!!