Chased across three states... / myLot

United States

December 16, 2009 4:51am CST

My mom used to have a condo in Durango Colorado. A few Christmases after she got it she wanted to go up there - to let family come and ski at Purgatory or whatever... Well, we get there, her, my sister and I, and all is fine. Then my Great Aunt went into the hospital, and she wanted someone who could be with her 12/7 for a few days/weeks when she got out. Well, the rest of the family lived in NJ and might go over, but didn't want to spend all that time with her, so mom offered to go. Only problem WAS, a blizzard hit Denver and was getting ready to arrive in Durango and the only plane out of Durango was grounded because it was to go to Denver. My sister got on the phone, found a flight out of Albuquerque at 1 p.m. Driving from Durango to Albuquerque takes at least 4 hours. We quickly packed and got out of Durango as the snow was starting to fall for the drive to New Mexico at 8 a.m. I saw the most interesting thing on our drive out of Durango - now, remember I live in Austin Texas, we don't get much now - but on the steep hillsides there were these "rolls" of snow where something had fallen and it had made these flat sided "balls" of snow - very strange, sticks in my memory. We got to Albuquerque shortly before noon and dropped mom off at the airport. We listened to the weather and it said that the snow was to arrive in Albuquerque around 3, so we hit the road. We got to Amarillo around 6-7 and stopped to eat. The blizzard was supposed to hit Amarillo at midnight, so, rather than get stuck in Amarillo by the snow, we kept going. Midnight we stopped in Wichita Falls, my sister called her partner (pre-cell phone days) to let her know we were coming and to make sure there was a place for me to sleep when we finally arrived. Her partner pulled out the hide-a-bed and had it made when we finally dragged in after 2 a.m. in Arlington Texas. I called that "the day we were chased across 3 states by a blizzard!" The next day I drove on to Houston to be with friends down there and then bring Maggiepie home with me - she was supposed to stay with family, but after just a few days of family she had enough and spent the rest of the time with the friends too. I had a lovely time with my friends - BUT - all my clothes were for Durango Colorado, and the blizzard only made it to Wichita Falls, I had to borrow clothes to wear because it was too HOT in Houston for my clothes! So, have you ever been chased by weather out of town, across states like I was?

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15 responses

SandrainSpain

@Sandra1952 (6047)

• Spain

18 Dec 09

Hello, Elic. Well, you know my story about driving through Spain in the snow on Monday, as you told me that inspired this discussion. I'd never driven in snow before, and I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience. About 450 of the 530 mile drive was through snow. I have to say, though, seeing that Spain gets very little snow, and ususally only in the north, the authorities were on top of the situation. Before we hit the snow, we saw snow ploughs parked along the roadside waiting for the call. At the height of the bad weather, the police stopped the traffic on the motorway to allow the snow ploughs and gritters through to clear the road. Although we were at a standstill for well over an hour, once we were moving again the road conditions were much safer, so the police made the right call. In England, where we regularly get snow, everything grinds to a halt, even when bad weather is expected. However, thanks to the Spanish organisation, we were able to continue our journey, and only arrived three hours behind schedule. It's much warmer here now, so like you, I've gone from winter clothes to summer clothes in the space of a few days.

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