A Whirlwind Trip

Whew! I took a quick trip this weekend to help a college friend celebrate his birthday. It was great fun, and totally worth the 13 hours of driving.

I hit some bad weather on the way and could actually say I went through hail and high water to be there.

But on the way back, the weather was just plain scary.

On one side of the highway blue skies and puffy white clouds. On the other, ugliness.

I was listening to the radio, trying to figure out what county I was driving through and generally hightailing it to the nearest town along with everyone else on the road. Then suddenly we ran smack into a dirt storm.

I grew up with blizzards and whiteout conditions. This was pretty much the same thing, only black. I couldn't see the car in front of me, and I was praying the guy behind me wouldn't hit me.

I caught a break when I came up to an overpass and it provided enough break in the blackout conditions for me to safely pull off the road. Then the dirt and wind roared over the car. The dirt was running across the windshield and I couldn't even see the hood of my car.

The the car started to rock back and forth.

I started to shake.

I can honestly say I've never been so scared in my life, and that includes when I was told I was pregnant with triplets, the time I was mugged, and the wind storm we rode out in a pontoon on the Missouri river in Montana.

The dirt cleared and I could see the SUV in front of me was rocking hard enough that its tires were lifting off the road. I was VERY glad to be in our car alone instead of in a minivan full of screaming kids. Sam would have been traumatized for life, since the least rumble of thunder sends him running for the basement.

As soon as the wind stopped, we all took off again, heading for the nearest town as fast as we could go. By the time I got there, the skies were clearing and the wind had died down so I kept going.

But I didn't slow down much. After that, all I wanted to do was get home!

© Trippin' Mama 2012