Ice Cold

Well, winter has officially arrived here in Michigan. The first winter storm of the season blasted the area with 4-6 inches of snow Sunday. It was wet, heavy snow that turned into ice when the temperatures plummeted to 14 degrees that evening. These low tempurature have been hanging around all week, causing roadways to be solid sheets of ice, as salt does not work when it's this frigid.

These past 2 morning drives have been slippery ones, which reminded me of the first time I ever drove on ice...

I was just about 10 or 12 years old and I was up north at my uncle's cottage one winter weekend. The lake was completely frozen and my dad was ice fishing and I was using my new ice skates. My dad frequently let me drive the car up there on the dirt roads, and this time he asked me if I would like to drive on the lake. I didn't know you could do such a thing, but agreed.

I took our minivan out for a ride on the frozen lake to check on our fishing holes, and my dad even taught me how to do wheelies in the car. When we drove by the cottage on the lake, my mom noticed though the kitchen window and was apparently yelling many bad words, and my dad got an earful when we arrived home about how insurance doesn't cover the vehicle when it's not on LAND! We had a great time, so it was worth the trouble.

Needless to say, I'm quite accustomed to driving on ice. I've been doing it for about 10 years or so now.

Tornado!

Last Thursday at about 7:30pm in Macomb County, Michigan 2 tornados touched down. I just happened to be right in them middle of one.

I was at a local restaurant finishing dinner with my best friend. Outside the sun was shining, but we heard a couple rumbles of thunder and decided to leave and get home before the rain. Little did we know, we drove right into a Tornado!

By the time I got in my car and drove to the restaurant driveway, it was pouring rain and my car was shaking back and forth. I slowly turned out onto the roadway, barley able to see the vehicle in front of me. Within a few seconds I was at a complete stop as hail battered my car, and all I could see was pure white. I was terrified, waiting for some news on the radio as to what was going on, but no warnings were forth coming. As the hail lessened and I could move forward, cars were moving out of the way due to a tree in the middle of the now flooded street. And just as soon as it hit, it stopped. I drove slowly the 2 miles home with shaking hands, dodging stray shopping carts, signs and other debris. As I walked in my front door, the sirens went off. A little late for that.

Upon arriving home, the local weather man informed me that in fact it was a Tornado that I drove though. Crazy!