by Dennis Tessier

Created on: October 18, 2008

"The Storm before Christmas"

The weather reports not good do you think you should go. If I don't how will they get home for Christmas. I just wish they would fly. Everybody fly's these day nobody drives anymore. Now you know D that her work waited until the last minute to give her two week off for Christmas. Well then I need to go now I have to get out in front of that storm its tracking east. Once I get into the plains it won't be so cold and it will turn to rain instead of ice and snow. I'll get you some blankets and your pillow in case you get struck. Well if I leave now I won't have that problem. I'll grab a suitcase and pack my things.

Within the hour I was on Hwy 24 heading towards Limon Colorado, so I could get on the interstate 70 and head east. It took me about an hour to reach Limon. The snow was blowing across the interstate but it was light, although up ahead I could see the approaching darkness. The weather report for western Kansas was not pretty. They were predicting an inch of ice of the Interstate, and that tree branches and power lines would most likely be coming down. I still had dry roads and at least an hour before I hit the Colorado Kansas state line. Without wasting time I put the pedal to the medal so to speak. Well actually I used the accelerate feature of the curse control to accelerate to 90 mph. I didn't care I just knew I needed to get in front of this storm.

Passing the Colorado Kansas state line brought a welcome relief; still no drizzle to contend with. Most people know that drizzle in the winter is bad news. It turns to ice very quickly. I wanted to get as far into Kansas as possible before I ran into drizzle, but that was not to be. I just passed Goodland Kansas when the window started getting wet from the drizzle. This part of Kansas is a barren and inhospitable area to drive through the darkness and drizzle made it even harsher. As I passed Colby the drizzle had started to freeze on my car. I had only made it through a quarter of Kansas and feared I would not make it all the way across without spending the night along the side of the road, or worst I could be spending the night in the ditch.

The roads were still in good shape considering that the drizzle was freezing on my car. I stopped quickly at Hays Kansas for gas and back on to the interstate without grabbing a bite to eat. Although I was hungry I couldn't afford to get caught up in the storm. The roads were no longer dry and now I began to worry even more. Stuck on

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