I set off headed west on Friday.... picked up Kelly in Harrisburg who had kindly arranged to do most of this drive with me. We hit the road, headed for a planned stay over outside of Cleveland. Problem was, there was a HUGE storm front making its way up through most of Ohio...one of those "Storm of the Century" jobbers that make the weather channel guys salivate. We didn't quite realize that at the time. We were just driving. Then the rain started. Then it became sleet. Then snow. And by the time we pulled into the area where we were staying, it was getting pretty thick. We stopped for dinner and then hunkered down at the hotel while the snow thickened into blizzard. It did that all night long, and by morning they were closing roads and highways and shutting down the airport. We could see on the weather maps that the edge of the storm was just a little west of Toledo... and also that it was going to continue snowing all day. There was no room at the Comfort Inn that night (due to canceled flights), so we figured we'd try to run for the border and hope to make it out of the storm.
Well, our run turned out to be more like a crawl. I was EXTREMELY grateful for being in a car with 4 wheel drive (thanks mom!), because without that, I doubt we'd have gotten through. The blizzard contined, and the roads, even the highway, were really thick. We probably averaged about 35 mph on the highway, due to terrible conditions and occasional (momentary) white-outs from blowing snow. We took it very slowly and carefully and eventually (a few hours later) made it out past Toledo and the edge of the storm.
We had been planning a stop in Ann Arbor, but skipped it and headed for our destination in Lansing. The hotel there was one of the noisiest I've been in. But the room had a jacuzzi, which after the really gnarly drive, really helped.
Many thanks to Kelly. I don't think I could have managed this drive by myself.
Well, our run turned out to be more like a crawl. I was EXTREMELY grateful for being in a car with 4 wheel drive (thanks mom!), because without that, I doubt we'd have gotten through. The blizzard contined, and the roads, even the highway, were really thick. We probably averaged about 35 mph on the highway, due to terrible conditions and occasional (momentary) white-outs from blowing snow. We took it very slowly and carefully and eventually (a few hours later) made it out past Toledo and the edge of the storm.
We had been planning a stop in Ann Arbor, but skipped it and headed for our destination in Lansing. The hotel there was one of the noisiest I've been in. But the room had a jacuzzi, which after the really gnarly drive, really helped.
Many thanks to Kelly. I don't think I could have managed this drive by myself.
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