Snowy Adventures

It has snowed a bunch in the last 24 hours - but I guess that just gives us a great deal in common with wide swaths of the northern part of the country.

I went to Houghton last night to help, as always, with the Explore service at Trinity. This particular service had a bit of extra preparation added to it, as Jim (our bishop) was making a visit to Trinity and staying for Explore. It was snowing and blowing by the time we were all cleaned up, and so I opted to stay the night. Popcorn and "The Constant Gardener" entertained us. It was a very smart choice; we had to get plowed out this am.

The adventure really began on the drive home. To get to the highway, there's a long way and a shortcut. The shortcut was not yet plowed. I didn't think we'd gotten that much snow, so decided to try the shortcut. I was tooling along on this seriously back road doing just fine. Then, a came to a curve, followed by a steep hill. I slowed for the curve, but then didn't have enough momentum to carry myself up the steep hill. OOPS.

So, I backed down and tried again. The upshot - I got well and truly stuck. I tried rocking, scuffing, and cursing, all to no avail. Amazingly, my cell phone had signal, so I called for roadside assistance. I was trying hard to locate myself to the dude who was clearly somewhere NOT in the UP. Atlantic Mine. Covered Drive. Just went past a road that starts with K - do you see that? "Ma'am all the roads I am looking at have numbers on them. Which number are you on?" Uh. Numbers? Dang. At the moment when I was feeling the most desperate about the whole thing, a plow arrived on the scene.

I popped out of my car and waved them down. The lovely plow dudes from the Houghton County road works, pushed me and prodded me out of the road, then plowed out where I was stuck, "backplowed" where I had gone, and then tooled off. [Backplow - the apparently technical term for driving into a narrow place and then dragging the plow while backing up - it really tamps the snow down.] I started out again, got stuck again, and then, through sheer force of will, got out of the rut, and up the hill. HOORAY.

Life lessons learned: Maggie is an awesome car, but perhaps unplowed back roads are too much for her. Carry kitty litter. I'd just told my friend Chris that Kitty Litter was an essential component to a winterized car. I got a bag on the way home.