One More Thing to be Thankful for

...making it to herrin alive. i hate driving. everyone knows this. but even worse than driving over the eisenhower pass on the way over the rockies into denver, is driving in unplowed snow. for hours. and miles.

i left chicago at one with designs of being home by dinner at around 6:30. first, the on ramp at 55th street was closed. then there was a trafic jam on 94. by the time i was smoothly onto i-57 it was snowing...hard. by the time i got close to kankakee all of the signs on the road were covered with snow so i couldnt tell where i was or what the exits were. and, the state hadnt yet started plowing the roads, so people were plodding along through inches of snow, sticking close to the tail of semi-trucks because of the wide paths of relatively clear road ahead. i passed by overturned cars, people off in the median, and a couple semis who had lost control of their load. i kept telling myself that i was going to get off at the next exit -- i needed gas anyway. i passed about 5 exits because i couldnt see the signs or the exit ramps. when i finally got to mile 283 i was able to stop and fill my tank with gas.

fortunately, by the time i got back on the road, they had finally begun to plow. so i was able to plug along toward champaign. there was even a small amount of time where i could more or less see the grass and drive about 50 miles/hour. then the snow came, and once again i was driving in unplowed snow. except at this point it was getting dark. i kept telling myself i should just pull off, but i passed some relatively large town and the road was once again plowed. so i could maintain almost 60 and keep on my way.

it's weird driving in the dark through pounding snow. it's like one of those virtual rides at a theme part...the snow flies past you and your headlights give you a bit of tunnel vision.

my leg was cramping, my knuckles were white, i had a head ache...and then i hit effingham. and, as i passed the big cross that shines like a beacon on this north-south venture the snow magicially went away. there was still a bit of rain, but no snow at all. and suddenly, i coudl drive at almost 70.

i made it home by just after 8, but it was definitely the worst driving experience of my life...well, except all the crashes.