Dangerous Beauty

Mid February and once again Mother Nature has graciously rewarded this region with a display of her special talents. Maybe to ensure that the city folk make their way north to spend their hard earned dollars on fun and frivolity.

Country roads can be beautiful no matter what the season but there is something surreal about driving those roads at night when they are blanketed with snow.

How can something so beautiful be so treacherous?

My final drives to and from wally world are fast becoming a white knuckle experience. There are two conditions under which I have always loathe driving.

1. At night
2. In a torrential downpour.

I have added a 3rd. Snow storms...at night.

Not the type of storm where the snow glides gracefully to the ground, but where the clusters of flakes packed fist tight plummet so fast that your stomach decides to take a ride of its own in the opposite direction.

For whatever reason and I'm sure there is a logical one, driving into a snow storm feels as though you have pushed an imaginary hyperspace button on the dashboard. Each snow flake reflects the headlights making it seem as though you are careening through space at a nauseating speed. No one in their right mind would be out in such a storm, but given that some must, the need to get somewhere fast is second only to getting there at all.

The heavy snow masked all my landmarks causing me, on multiple occasions, to take an unknown road half a mile or more before realizing my mistake. For great distances there are no guard rails to protect you from the river. Taking a turn too fast will land you where you'd be lucky to be found a few days later. Cell service is non existent so crawling your way back home is the only option for arriving without incident.

The drive last night was an experience in my ability to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest. Each winter the news will report a harrowing story which began with a wrong turn on a similar night. People getting lost and venturing out unprepared looking for help only to be found dead a few steps from rescue. How can that happen?

Panic. When heart gripping panic sets in rational thinking disappears. I was lost in my own backyard and I panicked. By the 3rd wrong turn, I had visions of settling off road for the night without the ability to tell anyone where I was and wondering whether I had a blanket in my car and thanking God that I had the foresight to fill my gas tank.

I could only imagine that an aerial view would show me driving in circles just 6 miles from my home. It took some time to get my breathing under control so that I could figure out which fork it was where I went left instead of right. Or maybe it was right instead of left? Or perhaps I was too focused on following the tracks in the unplowed road made by a truck who occupant knew exactly where he was going.

Following blindly can lead to trouble.

The snow compromised my sense of judgement erasing all I knew to be stable and true causing a number of unwelcome detours in my journey home.

I'm not anxious to drive under those conditions again but know that I will have to many times and somewhere within I know I may never get it right.