I make my own fun!

 

Remember when you were a kid and your parents took you to the carnival?

Remember how you used to LOVE going on the rides that scared you spitless?

Remember your thoughts when you got off the biggest, baddest, scariest ride? How just as soon as you quit shaking you looked at your folks and said those four little words – let’s do it again – remember?

Well that is NOT what I have been saying this week – although the closest I came to it was today. (NOT!)

Sunday we drove to Anchorage for the big Super Bowl fun with some friends and business associates. For about umpteen miles (seemed like forever! was about 50+) we drove in extreme white out conditions. My little Saturn was plowing the snow – there was about 18 inches of fresh powder in Turnagain Pass. I could not see the tire tracks of the vehicles that had passed before me.

Frightening stuff that was! When we stopped at Girdwood for a breather, I took this photo. I took it, that is, after my hands had quit shaking – after I had walked around for awhile – after I had taken care of necessary business. Then we headed back out into that for the last 35 or so miles to Anchorage. It was a blessing to come out of it about 20 miles or so up the road.

Had fun visiting with everyone, then drove to Eagle River northwest of Anchorage to spend the night with friends in their silo with windows:

Monday morning we awoke to find that school had been cancelled in the entire Anchorage school district, which included Eagle River. University of Alaska, Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University had also closed for the day. Kulis and Elmendorf Air Bases were CLOSED and Ft. Richardson was on minimum duty status. The temps had come up and it was raining and the roads were n-a-s-t-y?- water on top of ice.

THEN!!!! An alert came across the tv screen – a tsunami was headed for Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley! I ran down the steps to tell hubby and our friend and we began scouring the internet to see what in the world could have caused a tsunami. We had not felt an earthquake – turns out there had been one (in Kenai!!!) that morning, but it was only a 2 so would not have generated a tsunami. We checked on Augustine, but she was behaving, nary a belch. Not that, either.

Nope – none of the above. It was simply O.E. – Operator Error. They are still not really sure how it happened. There have been lots of ideas – best guess is that the computer somehow glitched and sent out the warning in error.

So, we visited a bit longer – trying to let the weather calm down enough to head back to Anchorage. Wanted to give the road crews plenty of time to sand the roads or scrape the roads or something. We decided to head into town about 9:15 or so – planned to take it slow and easy on the roads.

Saw LOTS of vehicles in the ditches – even a People Mover bus! (so THAT’s why they cancelled the P.M. buses between Anc. and E.R!)

And then . . . close to Ft. Rich a pick up truck came careening across three lanes of traffic in front of us – there was a car in our lane and a car in the next lane, both in front of us. Not sure where this guy came from, but he slid right in front of them and began fish-tailing all across the lanes – back and forth, just whipping about. He did at least one full 360. I gently tapped the brake to slow down the car in case I had to come to a full stop. The cars in front of me did the same.

Surprisingly – miraculously – this guy hit NONE of us. He came to a stop beneath an overpass almost right up against the guardrail. As we passed him we noted he seemed okay – he jumped out of that truck and I know that he was checking his trousers for leaks!

We made it the rest of the way into Anchorage with no problems. Dropped off my photos for the Fur Rondevous photo contest and then picked up our friend to drive him back home with us. Stopped at W-Mart to get windshield cleaner before hitting the road home because it went empty and there was a lot of grunge hitting the window – needed it to see.

Headed towards home and got stopped at Bird because they were doing avalanche work – making with the big booms to bring down little ‘lanches before they form into big ones. A few miles further I stopped to take a shot of the Alaska Railroad crews clearing one off their tracks. There’s a d-9 Cat in that snow, maybe you can find it.

It had begun to snow again in earnest so we continued to Girdwood to fuel up the car and fuel up the bodies – just in case. You never know, right? Well, we shoulda known . . .

I had hubby take this shot while I was pushing the car to its limits going up to Turnagain Pass again. Extreme whiteout conditions yet again! There were a good 2 feet of snow on the roads here, but you gotta keep going. You can’t stop or you would get stuck. So, onward.

Thank God for His autopilot!!! Only He kept me on the road. It was a truly scary ride.

The next day? They closed the entire highway from the Sterling Hwy. juncture with the Seward Hwy. to Girdwood. That is 88 miles of road closed down. There was a huge avalanche at the “Y” at mile 33 of the highway that took two days to clear properly. And, more whiteout conditions at Turnagain. The road did not open again until Thursday evening. I have told hubby that I am NOT driving that road again until grandson and I and daughter go up March 4 to catch the flight to Washington D.C.

Then there was this morning! We drove “into town” (less than 2 miles) to have breakfast as we usually do. Then we picked up donuts for a training we have each Saturday. On the way to that training the roads were sorta clear – water on top of icy roads. And everything was just fine . . . .

until I was coming around one little curve and felt the tires begin to slide. Suddenly I was whipping back and forth across the road, fishtailing like crazy. Hubby yelled at me to take it out of gear, but I couldn’t take my hands off the steering wheel. (steer INTO the skid, moosie, steer INTO the skid! I could amost HEAR the words) So I would correct first this way and then that way – at one point I was positive we were headed into the ditch when the car – which was at this point facing back the way we had come – whipped back the opposite way and I was doing a perfect 360 in the middle of the road. Now this is not the multi-lane highway like we were on Monday. No – two lanes only – and with oncoming traffic no less!

But every time I found myself whipping across the lane into the oncoming lane it was just at the time when there were NO vehicles there. The same for when I was unexpectedly facing back the wrong way in our lane – no vehicles there. They seemed to pass by me with little trouble and in just the right spots.

The car finally came to a stop – hubby had taken it out of gear for me when he realized what a dumb (his word) thing he had told me to do – and I had taken my foot off the accelerator immediately – and had never hit the brakes once – until we came gently into the shoulder lane directly in front of the funeral home. Only then did I put my foot on the brake and reached for the gear shift to find hubby’s hand clutching it.

You did good, baby, you did good. He kept saying – soothing me as I pried my fingers off the steering wheel and began to shake well and truly. You did good, baby, you did good.

We sat a moment or two and then I pulled back onto the road and went the next few feet to our driveway and pulled in. Parked. Shut off the engine. Sat there. And shook! And shook! And shook some more.

and all I could think

was of the little girl in me

looking at her daddy at the carnival

saying

let’s do it again, daddy!