Midwest Snow Storms Halt Long-Awaited Road Trip Plans

The snow that blanketed the state of Iowa this week came just in time to stop my plans for a trip to my lake house in Minnesota. I've been planning on the trip since September and had many errands to take care of once I'd gotten there. I live in the state of Missouri and to get to my lake house I'd have to travel through the north half of my own state and the entire state of Iowa. The storm that swept in covered every highway and route that would get me to my place.

Getting ready for this trip was no small affair. I'm in the middle of building this lake house and had packed my van full of lighting fixtures for the place. The weather was sure to be cold even without snow and I'd packed plenty of warm clothing, boots, hats, gloves, socks, and coats. There's always a chance of running into snow when traveling as far north as Minnesota at this time of year, so my van was also packed with ice scraper, spare tire, and various other safety items.

I started watching the weather on Saturday and saw no sign of anything that would keep me from doing all the work needed in order to get ready for my trip. I'd called the man who built the shell of my lake house and made plans to meet with him to discuss work that I'd planned to hire him to do. With one phone call , I was able to get my friend Kat to agree to take the trip with me and she began packing and making food purchases for the trip. We loaded my van till it was completely full. Then, I sat down Monday at dinner and began watching the local news.

As early as six in the evening, it was apparent that this was no small storm. I went to my computer and started watching the storm progress on weather.com . By Eleven in the evening, the doubt in my head that I'd be able to make the trip safely began to sink in. The reports of snow had gotten me excited at first. I believed seeing some snow would just help to put me into a holiday mood. I still believed I'd be leaving in the morning until I woke at four and saw the weather again. This storm was massive and it was dumping huge amounts of snow all across my intended route. It was no longer safe to even attempt traveling through Iowa. My trip and my plans were quickly put to a halt.

As sad as I am about missing the trip, I still smile with the hope that many children are off of school and having snowball fights and many adults are getting a well deserved snow day off of work. Hopefully, they're not spending most of the off time digging out of the snow!

Sources :

www.weather.com

www.kmox.com