Ice, Ice, Baby

Yesterday started out as a typical morning: I got up before dawn, threw my stuff together for the day, ate breakfast, packed up my dirty laundry so I could do it at a friend's apartment in the evening. When I headed out the door, it was raining.

Raining? There's been snow for a month and a half already. Last week the temperatures were below zero. But yes, it was raining. My parka felt a little overkill.

Still, I jumped in the truck and left. The roads in the hills weren't bad at all, just a little wet. I keep forgetting, however, that the hills are warmer than the valley that is Fairbanks, and the farther into town I got, the more slippery the roads became.

I'm not really sure why I continued driving. My rationale was that I had to get there to teach, though, being the teacher, I can cancel class for things such as hazardous driving conditions. I arrived on campus to find half empty parking lots and buildings. While I was on my drive, the e-mail went out saying classes were canceled for the day. The trip was not all wasted though. I took a shower and went to the store for some necessities before making the trek back.

Yes, I drove back on the ice. I was not keen on the idea of being stuck on campus, especially considering the forecast said the rain would continue until at least this afternoon. If I was going to be stuck somewhere, I preferred the cabin. Fourteen miles is a very long drive when you are going ten to thirty miles an hour. But the truck and it's (now working) 4 wheel drive served me well, and I made it back just fine.

The warmth and rain continued all day yesterday, last night, and is still going today. I haven't been out, but Doug went driving around the neighborhood and says the ice is 3 inches thick most places. Doug says in the 30 years he's lived here, he's never seen ice like this. It figures. I wondered why everyone was going so crazy about it. I mean, it was slippery, but we get that in Iowa. The rain is now supposed to last through tomorrow, and classes continue to be canceled until after Thanksgiving.

Not sure when it's going to be safe to drive again, so now I'm hunkered down by myself for awhile, stocked up on food, water, dirty laundry, and hours and hours of writing time. What else could a girl ask for? (Well, other than a shower.)