Not my current vehicle, but an adequate visual.
Last weekend Schaara and I were in Utah for Life, The Universe and Everything. It's a writer's conference, one of many in that state, though I'd never attended that particular one before. This year they had a panel for MONSTERS & MORMONS, and though I wasn't on it, the panelists called on the contributors in the audience to give a quick plug near the end, so I at least got to talk about my novella, BROTHERS IN ARMS. That was fun.
We stayed with our friends Ryan & Debbie, and had a blast. One of the things I miss about living in Utah is all the friends we have up there. I've been back here for a year and a half and still haven't found anyone to fill the void they left. (So y'all should move down here.)
The highlight of the conference was when we got to have dinner with James A. Owen--a big thanks to Donna for setting that up. A single blog post can't sufficiently express how amazing that man is. I want to be like him in so many ways. Just awesome.
Anyway, the reason for the above picture and the title is this: in 2010, a week before I got married, I had to drive from Salt Lake to Henderson in the worst snowstorm I've ever seen. Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, whatever. You get the idea. It took me about five hours to get from Spanish Fork to Cedar--usually a two hour haul. All in all the drive took ten hours, exceeding my previous personal worst of nine hours, which I only achieved because of severe engine problems in an Oldsmobile.
Basically the snow was coming down thick, heavy and fast. You couldn't see more than ten feet ahead of you, so you had to turn off your high beams and keep it in--we're talking max, here--second gear. Anything more is suicide. You can't see the road, can't see the lines or even when it bends, because oh yeah, I was driving this at night. Your best bet was to creep up on a slow-moving semi and follow in its tracks, so long as the semi itself wasn't headed off the road.
And I saw a few of those, along with plenty of regular passenger vehicles, and a minivan that had flipped over. Just sad.
I can say without hesitation that I've never been so scared in my life. I couldn't stop, because the snow would bury me. I couldn't go any faster, because I'd probably die. So I had to patiently, slowly creep through a claustrophobia-inducing storm, one damn mile at a time.
There were only two things to guide me along the way: the ridges in the shoulder that tell you when you're too close to the edge, and the little waist-high posts with about three square inches of reflective tape on the tops of them. When I could see or feel either of those things, I corrected my course, and continued until my tires vibrated, or I saw the telltale glint of tape through the storm.
When I stopped in Cedar, I got gas, called my then-fiancee, and knocked about two hundred pounds of snow out of my wheel wells and headlamps. (Not joking.) And mine was one of the better-equipped vehicles on the road, having decent ground clearance and all-wheel drive.
Obviously, I made it home, and none too gratefully.
I bring this up for a reason: when Schaara and I were coming back from LTUE, we took turns driving. She insisted on the first shift. This winter was milder than last winter, which in turn was colder than Hell (yes, colder, ask Dante), so we weren't worried about the weather. Ergo, I took a nap.
Schaara woke me up a while later and asked me to stay awake for a few minutes. I looked out the window and it was snowing--hard. Almost like it was during Snowmageddon. Couldn't see much, though it wasn't piled on the ground. Since I didn't have all my faculties about me, I was kind of just going on auto-pilot, my mind just processing the most basic information.
I could see the lane dividers on the road. I saw the reflective road-posts on the shoulder. Headlights in the rearview mirror, taillights not too far ahead of us. Before I knew what I was doing, I navigated Schaara into the right light and told her to ride behind the semi until we were through the worst of it. A minute later the snow eased up, and we were fine. I went back to sleep.
The point is this: sometimes, life sucks. It gets hard, and we can't give up, because that means it'll only get worse. So when it does suck, you get rid of everything you don't need and just focus on the basic things that'll keep you on the road. It'll be hard, but it'll be worth it. You'll make it through, just be smart, be diligent, and don't overthink it. You'll be fine.
And when it's over, be glad for the experience. It'll come in handy.
That's all for today, folks. Hope that lesson helps somewhere along the line.
Get back to work.
