Let's Go Back to Florida

My mom suggested I do a blog about this, and I decided I'd go ahead and do it while it was still fresh in my mind.  Last night, I had quite the adventure.  Our area was forecast to get a big snowstorm during the rush hour commute.  Schools had already been closed yesterday morning, and a lot of government agencies had closed early (except where I work!).  Because we live so far from where we each work, I took leave and left work at 3:30pm.  It was freezing rain when I first left work, which turned to regular rain, and not too long later, HEAVY, wet snow.  I was able to go the majority of my homeward journey with no problem, just a little slower than usual.  When I got to the toll road, we were basically at a dead stop...for what seemed like FOREVER.  The snow continued to fall, as we all literally INCHED up the road.  To make matters worse, my cell phone died, so I had no way of calling Matt or my parents to let them know I was okay, just stranded due to traffic.  I made friends with the driver behind me, as we were all putting our cars in park and getting out to scrape our windshields.  He was nice enough to let me use his phone several times to call Matt.  After sitting so long with the snow still coming down, me and my little Ford Fusion were having a difficult time actually moving without spinning the tires and weaving all over the place.  Turns out that a tour bus and several trucks had jack knifed and were across the road up ahead.  Because of the volume of traffic, no plows, no tow trucks, and no emergency vehicles could get there.  I had no food, no water, and no bathroom.  I had my camera though!  And you know me, being the photographer I am, I never miss an opportunity!  At about 4+ hours into the ordeal, an alternate route opened up like a heavenly miracle, so I didn't pass up the opportunity.  I was able to actually get moving and made my way up the road, swerving however as I had little to no traction.  I FINALLY made it home at 8:45pm last night.  5+ hours to go 40 miles.  It was a night I will never forget, as I'm sure many others won't as well.  As I got closer to home, I saw many people abandoning their vehicles and walking to who knows where, and I am fortunate that it didn't come down to that for me.  I got stuck a couple times in the snow, but was able to get out of it.... me the Florida girl who's never driven in snow like this before, can you imagine?!   This morning, and 8inches of snow later, I found out that some people spent 12 hours in traffic. I count myself lucky that my trek was only 5+ hours, but I can assure you, I don't want to do that again any time soon.