Adventures on Ice

(Oh, how I wished I had thought to grab my camera this morning!)

The hubby works at Menard's as a morning stockman. It's a short shift, just 5 to 9 in the morning. About once a month I ride over with him on a Saturday and hit Walmart and a few of the other stores to get the things I can't get here in town. I figure I save us a couple gallons of gas plus I practically have the stores to myself! He debated going into work today because we had freezing rain last night. Our sidewalk and driveway were covered with a thin layer of ice, but that didn't mean that the roads were bad. So we took a chance and headed out. Everything was good until we turned off the highway onto the Outerbelt road that goes straight to Menard's. There are several truckstops off that road and they were flooded with Semis! Went passed Walmart, same thing. Even Menard's driveway was half-full. We could see the Interstate from there and traffic was barely moving. If we had listened to the radio before we left, we probably wouldn't have tried it! I dropped him off and I left to do my thing. The city roads were alright, but the parking lots were another story. The hotels were full. Not just travelers, but also employees of the local businesses. Effingham sits at the crossroads of two Interstates. It is surrounded by little towns like mine that are mainly "bedroom" communities. My town's population is a bit over 2000 and we are one of the bigger "small" towns. The "ice" hit right at 5 p.m., just as people were getting off work. It happened so fast that there were dozens and dozens of wrecks. From what I hear almost every Interstate and Highway in the area was blocked. One woman told my husband it took her 3 hours to get home (less than 20 miles).

Overheard:

Customer: There isn't many people in here this morning.

Cashier: Short on customers, even shorter on help!

I really do prefer snow.