Saturday, November 15, 2014

Driving in blizzard conditions . . .

This morning I drove down to Owatonna to have lunch with my brother and sister and to celebrate my brother's birthday (his birthday is tomorrow). There was a prediction of snow, but it was for only 1 to 2 inches for the twin cities and up to 4 inches for southern Minnesota. There was a small amount of snow on my way down, but coming home was AWFUL!


This is not my photo, but I searched online for one that resembled the road conditions I experienced today. This captures it. Roads were slippery and cars were pretty much sticking to the right hand lane and at times we were moving only 35 mph — all this on I-35. I saw many cars in the ditch. One was at least 50 feet out in a corn field.

I came upon a pick-up truck stopped on the left shoulder with an SUV stopped on the right shoulder. Clearly, the SUV had been side swiped, and its front fender was bent out into my lane. I couldn't move over because there was a car passing me on the left, so I slowed down and put on my 4-way flashers. Seconds later, I watched a fast moving SUV come up behind me on the shoulder, passing the car directly in back of me. He maneuvered between us, barely missing the back of my car, sailing into the left hand lane, forcing a pick-up truck in that lane to move to the left shoulder. How these two vehicles escaped a crash is beyond me, but God was with us and protected us and kept me safe all the way home. It was a tense drive and I was so thankful to be in my house again. That may be my last road trip for quite awhile. Winter driving stinks!

2 comments:

JFK said...

Wow. What a frightening trip. Thank God for his protection.

Pat said...

HATE WINTER DRIVING WHEN SNOWING AND ICY!!! So glad we decided that winter in MN is for young people. We are too old (and smart) to do that any more. Do I miss MN winters? Ummmm--sometimes. But 2 weeks at home for Christmas does it for me. Then I am very happy to get back.