20. our first big test

Last week we had the first big snow fall of the season. By Sunday night, the forecast was for 12" of snow in Great Falls starting Monday afternoon and ending mid-day Tuesday!! (Apparently it was a fluke to have so much snow in early October, but also not completely unheard of.)  Husband and I brought my little Impreza down to the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain on Sunday, and he gave me a crash course in a how to drive a pick up truck.  Eekk!! (Being from Minnesota, we certainly aren't afraid of snow. But doing it at 4000 feet on a unplowed dirt road would definitely be adding an additional challenge to our winter routine!)

Monday morning I added about 15 min to my commute (one hour instead of 45 min), to leave time for driving a pick-up, making the switch at the bottom of the mountain, and taking the slightly longer way to work (by necessity, since the parking lot is one exit down from the exit I would normally take). The morning went off without a hitch, and I anxious watched the weather through the day.  Unfortunately I had a recruiting dinner I had to go to that evening, so I wasn't able to leave town until about 7:30pm. At that point it had been snowing for a couple hours, but hardly anything had stuck yet since the ground was still so warm. I called Husband to confirm, and he agreed that it wasn't too bad so it would make sense for me to come home instead of getting a hotel room for the night.

As I left town, the sun had set and it really got dark. That's when I realized that the interstate has absolutely ZERO street lights on it. And that's when the snow really started to come down.

Oy vey.

I think I hit a max of 50 mph on my drive home, a drive that I usually do at 80 mph (which is exactly the speed limit on interstates in Montana). It was SO dark and SO icy in spots that I was totally hunched over the steering wheel and white-knuckling it. I terrified that I might slide off an icy bridge and end up in the river of careening off a cliff.  I was incredibly relieved to FINALLY make it to the parking lot, just so I could stretch my shoulders a bit as I transferred to the truck.

The drive up the mountain in the truck was even a little easier than I expected. The snow was really coming down, but there were only a couple inches on the road. In fact, it was almost harder to drive with the mud underneath than it would have been if the dirt road had been frozen in the snow! And when I rounded the corner to our house, there was Husband, standing at the foot of the driveway with the lights of his truck lighting the way for me. It was even a bit romantic to see him standing there in the blustering snow, making sure that I made it home safe and sound!

Since it took me about two hours to get home on Monday night, I left that long to get back to work on Tuesday. So that meant that I got home, went to bed, and got right back up to leave again. The drive was dark on Tuesday and still snowy in spots, for it was definitely easier since the snow had lightened up and the plows had had some time to clear the interstate. It ended up "only" taking 90 min to get to work on Tuesday, but I was still pretty exhausted that day.  By the time I got home for dinner on Tuesday, I was ready for bed!

It was certainly tiring, but it also wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. It definitely would have been easier if I hadn't had that dinner to go to, and it's nice knowing that I could do a hotel if I ever need it. But even with the extra time, I was still thankful to sleep in my own bed. And I'm proud that I made it through the first snowstorm of the year!

Here's Kid enjoying the snow on Tuesday at sunset