Racing the storm
My phone alarm wakes me slowly and my morning starts. It’s up and about with a cup of coffee, packing bags and getting ready to head home. We’re in North Bay and the weather has been great. My phone rattles again and a red light blinks to catch my attention. It’s a weather warning, and I’m thinking – tornados? I quickly tap my way through all the ads and get to the bottom of this dire warning. Uh oh, it’s a snow warning.
Dang! I think to myself, I’ll have to leave earlier than planned. The packing mode speeds up and I head out to warm up the little rented car. Oh no, it’s covered in snow! Heck, I guess I’ll leave even earlier. The snow gets cleared off and I head out to take my student daughter to her morning class at the college.
My GPS is talking me back to my daughter’s apartment and we prepare for the trip home. My phone rattles again, warning me of the impending storm. We’re off – me, my better half and my granddaughter. We’re all safely buckled in and the new vehicle tracking, lane veering and radar is on with the cruise set at a safe 80 klicks an hour.
I’m glad that we stopped off for some coffee as the road passes slowly by. Thank God for the occasional heavy truck trailer to stir my auto drive into a lower gear and gently nudge me awake. Finally, we hit Quebec and the race is on to outrun the dark clouds looming behind us. Actually, they were darkish grey and flaccid looking, nothing like the pending tempest we had been warned about.
Brazenly, I hit 96 kms per hour and keep my wary eye on the weather behind us. For some reason, the sun was out and shining quite brightly. I put on my camo sunglasses and the scenery is quite nice. We reach our destination with a quick stopover at a roadside dépanneur to buy a few cartons of tax-free smokes and thank the Great Spirit that taxes were not part of the great agenda. We check into our hotel room and head off to the Asian buffet for some much-needed fuel.
I check Facebook to see what’s up and notice the many comments of other travelers’ woes dealing with freezing rain, slush, whiteouts and zero visibility. I look out the window of the eatery and note nice weather with no indication of a storm. Sated with culinary delights, we head back to the room and ready ourselves for the next day of travel, the flight home.
The next morning my phone twinkles me awake with another storm warning. Isn’t April fool’s over by now? The complimentary continental breakfast perks me up and I head out to warm up the car. Again, as the night before, it’s covered with about six inches of white stuff. But the sun shines so brightly, making it another pleasant day.
After checking in, I return to social media to see if all the warnings have debated. Again, Facebook posts brim with stories and pictures of terrible weather. No driving conditions are considered safe, and I wonder if the plane will make it. The sun shines on as we lift off and sail smoothly to our home. It’s a beautiful day and I thank Mother Nature for this and curse the meteorologist who first uttered the term Polar Vortex.
We land and head home in my old beat-up truck. The weather is glorious. At home, I watch the news reports of all the bad weather conditions pummeling the southerners. Some schools are closed, and there are massive vehicle pileups. There are even a few tornados, I note.
Oh well, some days aren’t meant to be exciting I guess.