What I Know For Sure #1

Hi everyone! Back home in rainy Phoenix, AZ. We drove in yesterday at around 7:15am and I can honestly say I have NEVER been on a trip as scary as this was. We had to drive through some of the scariest, dangerous weather that I could never imagine I'd ever experience! Those dreamy visions of snow falling benevolently over the earth and covering everything in a pristine, clean whiteness has been replaced with the reality that snow can fall in turrets substantially strong enough to reduce visibility to less than three feet, and can confuse even the strongest traveler and cause people to be lost and not found for days, weeks and even months.

The blame of what happened is twofold: us for not leaving until after noon which would cause us to travel through Ely and Twin Falls-areas that see very active weather at all times; and Weather.com for not telling us to expect snow. We had checked the weather report Thursday night and it told us to expect rain in Twin and showers through Jackpot and Ely, no big right?

When we arrived in Twin we did indeed find rain. Jackpot was clear but cloudy and the few flurries we encountered after leaving Jackpot were no cause for worry because we expected no additional inclement weather. I guess you can liken it to the Falcons assuming the Cardinals' defense would be something they could easily conquer (shout out to all my Cardinals fans).

Further down US93 the snow finally hit and gradually became harder and the roads icier. By the time we got to Ely we were in a full-fledged snowstorm and had to make the decision to either drive and go forward or stay put until the weather cleared.

Now normally, when we get to Ely we take a shortcut through US318, a back woods path that shaves about two hours off of travel. There are small towns along the way but nothing that can be found on 93 if we needed the services. Besides, when we pulled out of Ely, 318 was so dark and scary looking we decided to take 93 hoping and praying we would quickly come through the storm. That didn't happen.

As we continued on the way the snow just kept coming. Large wind gusts kept visibility at short distances, the snow so thick and hard driving that using our bright lights diminished the already severely reduced visibility. Aside from one other solitary car traveling southbound, we never encountered a snow plow, large truck or highway patrol. Common sense should have told four responsible adults to turn around and go back to the nearest town and stay put, but, I wasn't the one running the show and my vote, just like my vote for President, didn't pull any weight so onward bound we went.

The snowfall cleared, only to be replaced by small cone-shaped ice pellets. This, my niece Shauna declared sadly, was an ice storm. Our little foray which had started out with cloudy skies and changed to light rain to snow flurries to snow storms had now turned to ice. This time we did pull over because my brother feared the windshield was going to be split open by the force of the ice hitting us. Of course. As long as it were our lives my brother wasn't concerned but when it came to hurting his precious little truck he was more than ready to seek safety. Ain't that a bit**?

Finally the lower elevation brought just rain and clear highway and we rolled on into Vegas a lot wiser, very tired and glad to be closer to home!

So, what do I know for sure? That Grace still abounds for fools and children, and that I will Never! Ever! drive to Boise during the winter months.

Here are some pix I took on the way up to Boise.

This is a storm that we successfully outran.


Here I was channeling Ansel Adams. Oh to have his talent!