I Survived the Great I-70 Blizzard, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt

Well, last I wrote I was on my way to the last show of Arty's season, in Indianapolis. Funny things happen when you are busy making other plans. (LOL) The second morning of the show, we peeked out of the hotel room window at 8 am and saw massive amounts of snow falling. Ever the troupers, we prepared for another work day, but watched the Weather Channel to see just how bad this storm was to be. Of course, the wide band of snow seemed to be targeting the I-70 corridor, so we were going to take a direct hit in Indianapolis and probably the entire 3 1/2 hour trip home. At the convention center we set up, and of course everyone was talking about the weather, and since most vendors were from out of town everyone was concerned. Patty looked at me, I looked at her, and we agreed that since our trip was going to be treacherous back we should pack it in and start back on Saturday during daylight, which meant packing up and leaving our show 2 days early. No amount of money is worth real danger later.

I have lived in Alaska, and the snow that was falling when we left the show was a close to white out conditions as I have been in since leaving Anchorage. Visibility was very poor, and even the truckers were pulled off to the side of the road everywhere. Snowflakes as big around as quarters hit the windshield with regularity, and my normally lead-foot sister was driving 40 miles an hour. Patty joked that we wouldn't have to be the Donner Party if we got stuck since we had so much food in the van. I told her about a trip Judy and I had taken across Anchorage in one of these storms, and threatened to sing 999 bottles of beer on the wall all the way. (LOL) We talked and laughed through clenched teeth all the way home. A trip that usually takes 3 1/2 hours took about 5, and conditions did improve as we crossed back into Illinois. But we were clear that we were between storms, and had left at the perfect time.

It snowed heavily here last night after we returned, and today the sun is shining like nothing even happened. So Crystal and I scraped up a little melting snow this morning and made a snow family on the back deck and took a picture, just to remind us of the Great 2007 I-70 Blizzard.