Sunday, December 21, 2008

I Made It

It was the longest, hardest trip of my life, but I made it home alive. From Portland to Carmel total, it was 19 hours. 19! Thursday it took me 8 hours just to get to Ashland. I sat in 3 hours of stopped traffic while a bunch of truckers took up the road putting their chains on. It was snowing hard almost the whole time. By the time I was nearing Ashland, it was almost dark, and there were 3 more spots where chains were required on the road ahead. The snowy, icy, mountainous roads are scary enough, and putting chains on is enough of a challenge without the dark. So I stayed at a hotel in Ashland (where my mom and I stayed on the way up). Friday morning I had someone put chains on for me, because I was having too much trouble with it. There was only one zone to get through where I had to have my chains up, and then the weather started to warm up and the roads cleared. I was sort of having an out of body experience when I was lying on the side of the freeway underneath my car taking the chains off, with a steep drop on one side, and semi trucks barreling past me on my other side. It was special. It took about 9 hours on Friday. But once I got through Redding it was such a relief to be done with the insane weather. I am definitely going to consider taking the coast home. Remember how I was concerned about the 3 extra hours it would take me? Ha ha. That was funny.

2 comments:

Linda Z said...

Wow, girl!! Glad you are alive!! Have a great time in Carmel!! :)

Jenna said...

Haha, sorry; didn't realize your last post said Thursday. Anyhoo, I am glad you made it home okay. Hopefully it will be better on your way home. We are heading back on Sunday; the weather should be better by then. Enjoy being home!