Safe

Well, my trip back to Wisconsin was long and tiring. MapQuest -- as they sometimes do -- decided I need to take the scenic route through Oklahoma, so they gave me a wrong direction at a major exchange and there was no way to retrace to correct the error. (I know, you think it was MY error, but we'll ignore your rudeness.) Scenic it was, but the Sunday drive wound up taking about an hour more than I had planned. Still I wound up at the EconoLodge in Cameron, MO about 6:00 p.m. To discover that their water pipes had frozen, but they got them fixed about the time I drove up. Their free internet connection was also not functioning. Then the room itself was coooollldd! So I turned the heat up as high as I could and went to eat. When I came back, the room was still pretty chilly. So I put on sox, a bunch of layers of t-shirts and a sweatshirt and slept in my stocking cap, following Daddy's example. When I woke up about midnight to go to the bathroom, the room was tolerably warm.

Monday's drive was fairly ordinary through some light snow showers-- stopped off and had lunch with a couple of friends -- until I reached southern Wisconsin where the snow picked up. This was also okay until about twelve miles south of my exit, when the traffic came to a complete stop. As far as the eye could see -- admittedly not that far in the snow -- cars were parked on the interstate. No one around me knew what had happened -- I assume a wreck ahead. So I tried to call Tom on my cellphone -- and the battery was very low, of course. After about ten or fifteen minutes, traffic began to move slowly and the last twelve miles of my trip took about 45 minutes. I was so glad to pull into the garage!

I estimate I spent almost 24 hours of actual road time on a trip that normally takes about 16. Of course, most of that was because I had planned a side trip to see friends. I took the scenic side trip in Oklahoma and Wisconsin weather conspired to add an hour at the end. I promised Joyce and Gary Fielding that I would visit them in Oklahoma next trip, so I may wind up just taking three days to do it all.

It was snowing when I got here, but that stopped overnight. The deck is way covered, and the table looks like it has a two-foot thick white cushion on top of it, as you can see. The door is frozen shut, so we can't actually go out and measure it. That white wall surrounding it is the snow piled up on the railing.

It is supposed to warm up into the 30s later in the week, so maybe some will start to melt. Tom says it was 17 below a couple of nights ago. Glad I have my electric blanket!