My experiements with winter road trips ....

I thought I knew what snow was, living in Columbus. Yea right! A friend and I drove up to Cleveland a few days ago. As is customary, we checked the weather before we left and the forecast was cloudy with temperatures around the 25 F mark and 30% chance of snow. We had planned on leaving at 9 AM but we ended up leaving close to two hours later than planned. Not only that we had to stop off on the way to buy an AUX cable!

We got on the freeway and all seemed well. And then it started. We were going to pass an 18 wheel trailer and suddenly, a squiggle of the car! I was so sure we were going to end up under the trailer. But the car seemed to get back on track. Then it happened again. I've heard of bridges icing over in the cold, we little did we know that under the bridge also ices up! Yup! Under every bridge, was a pool of black ice. It was a lesson well learned.

The snow was crazy. All white and swirling around. Seems like every snow flake is heading straight for you, but it misses your car entirely. The roads are covered in snow and you don't know what is under it all. But you have no choice but to keep at the speed limit or risk being the cause of an accident.

When the highway appears to reflect light, beware! Ice alert .. I71 was the source of numerous accidents. Cars lined up at the divider as a result of sliding across the road. Flares light the road and cop cars as well. A 10 lane highway become s a 6 lane. Speed limits are down to 25 from 65. And even that makes your car slip and slide.

Thank god for GPS's. It was late at night and we felt the need for coffee. We got off the highway for coffee. Little did we know that we could not get back on :D Our trusty GPS took us far into the depths of the country, farms on either side, white with the snow that had been falling, christmas lights the only source of light on the narrow roads, and then there was a traffic light! Back to civilization and endless roads.

And that, concludes my experiments with winter road trips ....