Ice Ice Baby

Let me tell you a little bit about my day.  It was not what I expected, but what ever is really?  On Friday I drove to my parent's house. They live about 2 hours west of where I live, and it is generally a fairly uneventful drive.  We live in Minnesota.  It's the prairie.  This means lots of flat lands, lots of fields, and lots of open space.  It really is a beautiful state, especially when you are near the Mississippi River.  There it's not as flat- there are giant bluffs and bald eagles and trees as far as the eye can see.  Today though, my drive was through the flatter area.  The wind blows through there with nothing to stop it, and it gets cold.  Not like 30 degrees cold, more like negative 15 degrees cold.  I had heard that the weather today was going to go from bad to worse, so I decided to get up this morning and hit the road, so I wouldn't get stuck in the freezing rain.  Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans?  I left my parents house, and then I had one of the scariest experiences ever.

So picture this.  You are driving a small car.  A really small car.  Let's say a Scion TC for lack of a better example (in sizzling crimson with tinted windows- gotta picture it just right ya know?).  As soon as you get on the expressway you realize that the roads are basically sheer ice.  What do you know though, there happens to be an salt truck right in front of you!  Perfect!  Until it exits about a mile later.  Psh- thanks a lot salt truck.

As you continue to drive, you can't go much above 20 miles per hour or you will probably spin out and head straight for the ditch.  Just go slow- it's all good, until you glance in your rear view mirror and see cars racing off to the sides of the road as fast as they can, and suddenly you see something that makes your heart literally skip a beat. There is a semi racing towards you, way faster than it should be, but that's not even the worst part.  The truck is completely jack knifed.  By that I mean the front of the truck is facing you, but the entire back of the truck is sideways, and basically sweeping the road of anything in the way.  Natural instinct says to swerve out of the way and hit the breaks so you can get out of the way of destruction, but not drive straight into the ditch.  I was literally screaming in my car- no, please no, please no!!!  My breaks locked up, and I started sliding, but thankfully I managed to get out of the way of the semi.  The SUV in front of me was not so lucky.  The back of the semi trailer smashed into the back of it and it flew off the road.  I sat in my car for probably 5 minutes, called 911, and then waited til I stopped shaking to keep going.  Remember me mentioning the small car?  If that semi had hit me, I probably wouldn't be writing this post.  Thankfully I saw the person in the car that was hit get out of the car and they looked like they were in good shape.  I bet they're feeling it tonight though.

The rest of the drive was slow, slippery, and scary, but I made it.  I probably passed about 6 or 7 bad accidents, but thankfully I made it home, with Bailey on my lap, and my car in one piece.  Here are some lovely pictures for you to share my experience.  

Below is one of the semis that was all over the road.
 

And yet another semi accident.

That down there is my Bailey- she's my navigator.

Yet another semi accident.

 My poor antenna.  I could see the ice start to add up, but dang!

This last picture is just a sign that always makes me laugh.  :)

 

 

So, that was my journey today.  What's the weather like in your neck of the woods??