Don't Tell My Mom

My sun-touched hiatus is over, it's back to reality.

Now that I'm here in MT, there's much to share. New house, new routine, new life.

There's been something haunting me for about 6 days now. Something of a close-call, one might say...

It's a two-day drive from NV to MT. While our furniture was being driven to MT, we took a two-night "lay-over" in UT to spend time with my aunt and her family. Fully aware that a storm was brewing, my husband and uncle studied maps for an hour or more to pick the safest route. We couldn't wait out the storm, we had to be on time to MT. They determined that going through WY was the best choice. Even though it would take longer, there were less high-elevation passes than if we were to go through ID.

As predicted, there was snow. Lots of it. Ice too. By the end of our morning-till-night trek, most of our day was spent using every ounce of caution, but not chains.

Mid-day, when weather was horrendous and roads were treacherous, we came to a pass. Our car maneuvered well and my husband was doing a great job of protecting the precious cargo: our family. The kids, complete with their head-phones, were tuned in to a movie (thank goodness for portable DVDs) and unaware of our tension. As we climbed the steep hill, a semi came around the corner, headed down-hill at a speed way out of his league in good conditions, let alone snow and ice. His front end somehow managed to stay on track in-spite of his speed. But as the back end rounded the corner, it was sliding. The next few seconds seemed to go in slow-motion. I braced myself and even held my breath, but miraculously the trailer righted itself. My little family had been right in its path, and for the remainder of the day the image replayed in my mind, especially when it was my turn to drive late in the day with yet even more snow and ice and then dark, and eventually no yellow or white lines on the snow-covered road.

I cautiously mentioned the out-of-control-semi to my husband once we were safe at our hotel. He too had been shaken by our close-call.

Though I am not all the way thrilled to be in this new town, I was so, so thankful to be here at the end of our nail-biting day.