Snow Days

The good news is that we are safe and snug in a warm cabin by the river in my home town. We have a fire in the stove and plenty of firewood. We have groceries in the refrigerator and pantry. We have a reliable all wheel drive vehicle parked outside. We are safe and have all of the things we need.

The rest of the story can be summed up in the weather alert from the national weather service:

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MDT SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Heavy snow. Total snow accumulations of 8 to 12 inches.

* WHERE...Portions of Central and South Central Montana.

* WHEN...Until noon MDT Sunday.

* IMPACTS...Blowing snow and poor visibility could make travel
very difficult. Expect wind chills to fall below zero by
Saturday night.

Our plans have gone remarkably well throughout the time since we retired in June. We made a trip right away out to Washington with our camping trailer. 1,200 miles with no troubles at all. We parked our camper in our son’s yard and enjoyed a visit with his family before heading back to work on our house. We made a second trip a month later. This time we pulled another trailer, loaded with canoes and kayaks. Four boat inspection stations later we were back in Washington where we arranged storage for the boats and tools we had taken out. We had a safe and successful return trip to South Dakota. We got our home on the market and received and accepted an offer. Then we rented a U-Haul truck and trailer and friends helped us load them. Once again we made a trip with no problems, signed a lease on a rental home and moved in. We even arranged to keep the truck for an extra day and used it to move our son and his family from a home they have sold. They close on a new home next week. My sister came out and picked us up to give us a ride back to South Dakota. Two days’ travel later we are at her home in our old home town, 400 miles from our Rapid City house, which needs a bit more work before we turn it over to its new owner. That’s 6,800 miles of travel with no flat tires, no slippery roads, no mechanical break downs. We are extremely fortunate.

Of all of the trips we have made so far, this is the one with the least pressure in terms of time. It wasn’t a difficult decision to decide not to press on to get home ahead of the storm. We had enough work here at my sister’s place, getting ready for winter to fill yesterday and make us plenty tired by bedtime. Today and tomorrow we will catch up on some things we can do on the Internet. The roads should be good for a trip to Rapid City on Monday.

We’ve been working hard since we retired. We have had a lot of things to accomplish around our home and we’ve found a little time for a few volunteer activities as well. But we have had a few days of recreation as well. I’ve taken my grandchildren for rides in the row boat this summer. I’ve gotten my grandson out in a kayak. I’ve read a few books. We haven’t take a block of time, such as a vacation like we did during our working years, because we have had a lot of things that needed to be accomplished. So taking the weekend off is a bit of a treat - a kind of gift from Mother Nature.

We would not be being fully honest, however, if we didn’t admit that we are a bit concerned about the weather. After a beautiful autumn, it appears that winter is settling in early across the northwest and that is territory that we need to cover again before we are settled in our new home. We’ve still got 1,600 miles left to travel this fall over major mountain passes. Though the roads were clear there was snow in the high country when we traveled by this trip. There will be a lot more when we go back. The tamaracks are bright yellow and will have dropped their needles when we return. The animals know that winter is upon us. Wind chills below zero mean that we need to have winter clothing and emergency supplies when we travel.

We aren’t afraid to travel in the winter. We have the supplies to assure that we can keep safe. A few years ago we spent the night in our pickup when the starter broke as we were out hunting for a Christmas Tree about eight miles from the nearest telephone. No harm was done and we walked out in the morning. Since then we have made sure that we always have plenty of food and water when we head out in the winter. We will have all the gear we need for the rest of our travels. Even though I was traveling light this trip and didn’t have boots with me, this is Montana, so when we stopped at my sister’s place, she has a pair of warm muck boots that fit me and I was able to work outside in the snow yesterday.

There have been times in my life when such a travel delay would have caused considerable problems. I have spent travel delay days on the telephone making arrangements for the work I would have done had my travel gone as planned. Today we’ll probably tell a few stories about other times in our lives when we got hung up in our travel because of cancelled airline flights and closed roads and other issues. We’ll also tell stories about driving on slippery roads. After all, the roads are not closed. There have been plenty of times when I would have pressed on, given the road reports. We could probably make it to Rapid City by adding an extra hour or so to the travel today. But we are retired and have no need to drive on snow packed and slippery roads.

So I’ll put another chunk of wood on the fire and sit back and relax. Perhaps I’ll read a bit more in my book. I’ve been reading the journals of Richard Proenneke, who spend 30 years in a tiny cabin on twin lakes in remote Alaska. He endured -40 winters with deep snow and no indoor plumbing. We don’t need to shovel a path to the lake or cut a hole in the ice to obtain drinking water. Compared to him, we’ve got it really easy.

Copyright (c) 2020 by Ted E. Huffman. I wrote this. If you would like to share it, please direct your friends to my web site. If you'd like permission to copy, please send me an email. Thanks!

Made in RapidWeaver