Monday, January 30, 2012

Snowing Hard and Continuously

The wind blew last night enough at the beach condo to turn shingles into missiles. Fortunately, the place is new and the shingles are nailed down well.

Part of our Monday morning tradition, besides getting up at 4:30 a.m., is to take a quick peek at the Oregon Department of Transportation Trip Check. One thing I expected, despite its being 45 degrees down in the banana belt and raining lightly, that it would be snowing hard and continuously at the Interstate 84 Meacham crossing of the Blue Mountains. The mountain range is a storm catcher that snags storm coming off the Pacific Ocean and squeezes as much moisture out of them as it possibly can.

Up top, the visibility on drives like this morning's declines. A driver has to watch out especially for other traffic, what we like to call "flakes." The windshield wipers work overtime, as does the defroster. There are no atheists on the road.

I was thankful this morning that the snowplows were out in force trying to clear the worst of the rapidly falling snow from the road. I was also thankful when I finally descended below the snow line in the Grande Ronde River valley west of La Grande.

It was nice to have another successful trip over the Blues in the Prius snow leopard with the best snow tires ever in my rear view mirror. Life is a daring adventure or nothing, Helen Keller said. This is all part of our daily adventure, and for the opportunity to spend weekends with my Sweetie, no matter how challenging the driving conditions, I am extremely thankful.

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