December 7, 2012

Outside Temp: cold, and getting colder... ~30

What I cooked today:
I think I've forgotten how to cook.  Allen made macaroni and cheese, from scratch, while I slept off the drive.

Update:
So, yesterday (Thursday), we had clinic in Seattle.  We decided after clinic, around 5:30-6:00pm, we would drive as far as Spokane (about 4-5 hours) and stay the night there.  That way, we would only have another 6-7 hours left on Friday morning.  Things don't always work out the way you plan.

I drove us out of Seattle (because Patrick hates driving in traffic, and I soooo love it... not) and made it up the hill a few miles.  We were using the cool 'map' feature on Grandpa's andriod phone, to check for road conditions.  Once we started seeing white things falling from the sky and staying on the ground, we decided that it was time to switch drivers.  I can drive in the snow, I just don't like it.  My husband, on the other hand, thinks it's fun.  Have I mentioned that he is nuts?

So, I took an exit off the freeway, hoping to just switch driver and get back on.  But no, I had to pick the exit to the Casino, which doesn't have a ramp to get back on going east.  So, we just kept going on the back roads and after about 10 minutes, we found our way back onto the freeway.  We did drive through a cute little town, all lit up with Christmas lights, so that was kind of cool.

The rest of the pass through Snoqualamie (the Cascade range in Washington) wasn't too bad.  There was snow and some ice, but I just held my breath while Patrick cruised right past the trucks.  Our totally amazing magical snow tires work great and he said the car never even slipped.

As we came down the mountain and onto the plains near Ellensburg, we stopped for dinner.  There is a steak place, which sounded really good.  Ryan managed to eat his entire kids steak (4oz) which is amazing.  As we were leaving, the waitress warned us that the storm over Idaho was pretty bad. 

We were driving through the plains of Eastern Washington (which is my least favorite part of the trip... it's about 200 miles of nothing... so boring!) and we kept an eye on the storm.  The reports claimed that there was about a 8-10 hour window between the storm we just drove through in the Cascades and the storm that just passed over Idaho.  And it was suggested that the storm over the Cascades was much worse, and they might have to close the freeway through Idaho. 

Oh crap.  We didn't plan very well, and only had one night's worth of TPN for Ryan.  We needed to be home by Friday night.  So, we had a choice.  We could stay the night in Spokane, as planned, and hope that the freeway was open in the daytime and get home late Friday.  Or, we could be crazy and try to stay in that window of time between the storms.  Fortunately, my husband has a habit of staying up late.

I drove until we hit Spokane and Couer d'Alane around midnight, and the gas station guy said the storm stopped about an hour before.  Patrick took over, and I had to just sit there, and pray.

The roads weren't too bad, for the first half of Idaho (the road is only 80 miles across), but by mile marker 50, it was starting to snow.  We actually thought that the roads were dry, since the car was driving so well.  But, it was actually still wet from the rain.  Once the snow started, it got a little more scary.  But, being almost 1am, there were very few drivers on the road.  Most of the trucks had stopped for the night, and no one in their right mind would be out in this weather. 

There were a few moments where I had to keep reminding my husband to slow down, or watch out, or something, but overall, he did fine.  The car had no problem going through the snow.  About 5 miles from the summit, and the Montana border, the commercial trucks were starting to have problems.  There were a few points where trucks would just be stopped, in the middle of their lane, trying to get up the hill.  The last 'chain up' area was so filled with trucks that there was no room for additional trucks to get in, so they were just lined up in the normal lanes of traffic. 

The Montana side of the mountain was a little better, in that the snow got dryer and didn't cause as much ice.  But it was a little worse, because it was downhill, which means that you go too fast.  At some point, I had to just close my eyes, and pray that it would all work out (which it obviously did).  It's the hardest part about being a passenger in a car.

The snow tapered off about a hour outside of Missoula, and I managed to fall asleep (it was past 2am at this point).  Patrick said that there were no problems, when we stopped for gas.  I asked if he wanted to try to get a room for the night, and pick up the drive tomorrow.  He said no, let's just finish it.  Oh, okay.

So, we kept going, leaving Missoula around 3:30am, and heading into the mountains.  Its about 180 miles from Missoula to Great Falls on MT-200, which is a 2 lane highway through the mountains.  It's usually one of the most beautiful drives, but since it was pitch black outside, we didn't get to see anything.

I fell asleep again, and woke up about 1/2 way through the drive.  There was a little snow but not much.  Patrick had gotten his second wind, and said he was doing fine.  The snow started back up again, and the roads were pretty snowy.  But the little car did just fine.  As we pulled out of the mountains, there was a moment where the weather just stopped and it was suddenly clear.  We could see the stars and there was no snow on the ground.  I'm assuming that we just drove through the storm and came out on the other side. 

We pulled into our driveway about a minute before Grandma brought the kids down to catch the bus (7:25am).  Exhausted, but safe, we woke Ryan up and put him into his bed.  Then, we fell into bed ourselves.  Of course, Ryan slept the entire drive, so about 8:15, he walked back into our room and asked if he could watch a movie.  Ugh, sure kid, anything you want. Zzzzzzzzz....

I have told my husband to remind me next time, do not, under any circumstances, plan on driving back home the same day as clinic.  It's not possible, and we just can't do it.  In this case, it all worked out, and there is snow planned for most of the weekend.  Boy, am I glad I'm home and not driving right now!