I was dreading the trip to St. Louis because of the dreadful weather forecast. We were prepared to stay overnight if need be. The problem with that was that we would probably have had to stay another night as well given the path of the storm. Fortunately Barnes was trying to get folks in early, ahead of the storm as much as possible.
We were supposed to be there by 10 am (our original appointment was 1 pm). With shades of my mother however, we left at 6 am. We got there by 9 but I didn’t mind waiting.
Kudos to the team at Barnes. I can’t imagine what a project it was to try to shift everybody’s appointments. I could hear almost everyone that came in saying, “they told me to come early.” I am so grateful to them as we would never have made it home if we’d kept to the orginal time.
The sky was just starting to spit when we got into town.
They got Ernie in a little before 10 so we were back on the road by 11:30ish. It was snow and windy and you could feel the temperature dropping.
I absolutely love that you can get honeydew melon at many truck stops and rest stops.
The only problem? Getting into the thing. I got it open first time but couldn’t when I tried again. I gave up and hacked at it with Ernie’s knife.
The drive was, while not fun, not too bad until we got 20 some miles out of town. THEN we started getting the whiteouts. If we’d had much further to go I think we have thrown in the towel and stopped but we were so close. We finally got off the interstate a little early and that was much better. I have rarely been as relieved to be home as I was when we turned into our little alley yesterday afternoon.
This was before it got bad. When it was really bad I was too busy making inarticulate noises to document it.
We got in and eventually curled up in the media room, watching the snow and wind, and trying to relax. We pretty much just kept repeating to each other, “We would NEVER have made it if they hadn’t gotten us in early.” “We would NEVER have made it if they hadn’t gotten us in early.”
The house is freezing! Our drafty old house got down into the 50’s last night. This will be a somewhat rough day for Ernie but we are so happy not to be in a hotel, but home in our sweet little ramshackle house.
For years, the first thing I did upon arriving at a destination or at home after a trip was call my Mom. It was expected that I report in so she knew we were fine. Well, with all our folks long gone, there’s no one to check in with now. Of course the boys worry about us and love us but it’s different. So many people checked in on us or said to text us when we got home yesterday. I can’t tell you how touched I was. It somehow felt like calling my mother and saying, “We’re home and we’re fine.”
Thank you all for that. Merry Christmas.
I am relieved to read this. Having driven in similar conditions (more snow but less cold) from Chicago a few times, I know how nerve-wracking it can be. A Merry Christmas to you, Ernie, and family!
I love my old house and the charm of the woodwork and the old glass windows, but I long for the energy efficiency of a new house. It seems I can’t have both as I don’t have the buckets of money to weatherproof the old nor build a new. So I sit with my afghan and my dog and look out the window.
Glad you got home. Sorry to have missed your party. Take care.
Our granddaughter drove from Chicago to Belleville yesterday & I was on pins & needles until we heard from her that she made it to her grandpa house last night. Two weeks ago she was run of the interstate by a semi who left the scene of the accident. Physically she is ok but the anxiety is awful. To help Ernie feel warmer, get ThermaCare heat packs for the back & strap it on to make him feel toasty. Thankful you guys got home safe.