Lake Effect Snow. Those three words will send chills down my spine. Not because it’s cold. Nope. It makes me shudder with dread because I know that I’ll have to end up driving in it. I’ve grown up in the snow belt so you would think that I would be used to it by now, but I’m not. Depending on how the snow bands set up you could have perfectly clear weather in one part of the County, and ten miles away the visibility will be almost zero because of wind and snow. Our area gets a lot of snow as compared to the rest of the country, but the hill where my parents live typically gets the most snow in the County. Thus, I’ve had lots of practice driving in the snow. Again, that doesn’t make it any easier when you do have to drive through it.

Like Thursday and Friday. The house where Jay and I live is about a 50 minute drive from my work in good weather. Thursday it took me an hour and a half. Friday morning it took me an hour and a half. Friday night it took me an hour and 20 minutes (the weather must be improving!). The scariest thing about driving in the snow isn’t the actual snow itself, it’s the other drivers in that snow.

For instance, Friday morning as I was doing 40 mph behind a semi, this IDIOT in a full size pickup with a plow on the front comes screaming up in the left-hand lane doing about 60 mph. I was upset with him about that because he then threw this cloud of snow in my direction which obscured my view. What REALLY upset me is that he was talking on his cellphone!! When you can find yourself in a white-out at any moment it’s best to have both hands on the steering wheel and full attention being paid to the road ahead of you.

About a mile down the road I was beind that same semi when another semi started passing us. Again, I was not happy because a semi will REALLY throw a ton of snow your way. That wasn’t the worst part, though. As the flying semi was passing I noticed the semi ahead of me put on his brakes and attempt to swerve to the left… except he couldn’t because that other semi was there. What happened next had me freaked out! Suddenly I saw what caused the truck in front of me to throw on his brakes… there was another disabled semi sitting on the shoulder of the road! I think that I clenched every muscle in my body as I watched those trucks run three-wide across the snowy interstate. I fully expected to see somebody’s trailer being torn open like a sardine can and tossed back at me. I honestly don’t know how that didn’t happen, whether it was the skill of the driver ahead of me or the simple fact that God was watching out for us, but luckily those three made it past each other without a scratch. It was definitely too close for comfort!

One thing is for sure… I need to get a job closer to home. I don’t need Jay (and my parents) worrying about me driving in this kind of weather. And I certainly don’t enjoy the drive. I white-knuckle it the entire way. It’s going to snow for the next couple of months so please keep me in your prayers.