ROSE'S WILD WINTER ESCAPADE (AND NOT A FUN ONE!)

On my way to work Tuesday morning (Dec. 29th) I was so enthralled by the frost glistening on every plant.  It was lovely!  When I arrived on campus I just had to stop and take a few photographs.  The frost looked like bright white spikes.

It was so amazing.  there was a berry bush with red berries that burst out from the stark white surrounding it.

Firs had white bursts like fireworks adorning them.  It was so picturesque!

I arrived at work feeling filled with child-like wonder and awe at the beauty of it all.

Late in the afternoon it started snowing and showed no signs of stopping, so I decided to leave work early and go home before the roads got bad.  You see, I do not have snow tires or studded tires.

This is what the campus looked like as I was heading out the door.

I was doing fine until the 213 came to a standstill, and when it would move it was only at 10 miles per hour.  The snow began to come down harder.  I began to get nervous.  It took me 45 minutes to go from the Beavercreek/213 intersection to the Redland/213 intersection. This is usually about a 10 minute trip at the most!

I felt relieved to get off at the Redland exit, but then discovered that the road up Holcomb to where I live was blocked by 2 cars that had slid down it and another was sliding down to collide with them!  A couple of gentlemen waved me to go up Redland.  It was okay until that traffic came to a standstill and, after an hour or so, I knew I was stuck, along with dozens of others.  I saw cars sliding into guard rails, sliding into ditches, sliding into other cars.  A couple of them came close to my van but I was very fortunate to not be hit.

The road was blocked by several cars that had slipped and slid all around.  One gentleman a couple cars behind me tried to go around on my left in the lane for traffic from the other direction, and he ended up sliding across the other lane and into the guard rail.  He emerged from the passenger side of his vehicle and did an impression of the Incredible Hulk, screaming at the top of his lungs, yelling profanities, and beating his fists against his hips, and occasionally waving them in the air.  I immediately locked my door!  He was acting very out of control.

A couple of men told him to get out of the road before he was hit by another car sliding and get back into his vehicle.  Even in his car, I could see him beating the dashboard and steering wheel and could  hear him  yelling--that's how loud he was!!  Talk about road rage!!  A couple of gentlemen came to see if I was okay, promised to get my vehicle to a safe spot and get me somewhere safe. I cuddled up in my quilt that I carry in the car, had on 2 pairs of gloves and my hat, and leaned back in the carseat.  I was fine.

I had my flashers on, and would only start my car when it got too cold because I was down to 1/4 tank after all this.  My cell phone was down to 2 bars and I was in a dead zone unless I rolled down my window and half stood out the car!

 Eventually a young man came, climbed into the driver's seat (no, he did not sit on my lap--I scooted into the passenger seat) while 4 others gave my van a nudge, and then he was able to get it moving.  It would not go far up the hill, so he decided to take it down a driveway.  He asked the owner of the home if it would be okay to park my vehicle there as it was not going to go far and it would be safer off the road.  It turned out the man who owns the house is a retired policeman named Rob.  He'd been a policeman for 30 years.

He was nice to allow my vehicle to stay there and even invited me into his home.  He said he would drive me to my home once his wife got back with the car...she had snow tires.  Hi son had his truck-also with snow tires-and was picking up relatives from the airport. He told me that he was preparing for his fathers funeral the next day.  I felt bad and wished there was something I could do for him. 

I thought of that old saying--I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.

Today I had. I finally arrived home a little after 8 p.m. 

If the snow is melted off enough to be safe for driving tomorrow, I will have my husband drive me to the house where my van is parked and then go to work.

I enjoyed the frost, NOT the snow. Maybe if I had been home before it began to fall......