After holiday time spent with family, the middle of January had us looking toward our next house sit, which was on the schedule for January 26. Luckily, we’d been watching the weather carefully and became aware of a huge impending storm threat over Kansas and the overall Midwest. Consequently, in order to miss the bad weather, we canceled appointments, packed in a rush, and left for Texas on the afternoon of Wednesday, January 21st.
But, we were shocked to see signs warning of blizzard conditions as we drove through southern Minnesota and approached Iowa. Unfortunately, the warnings were accurate. Whiteout conditions and black ice make for harrowing driving conditions. Throw into the mix a jack-knifing semi truck 50 yards in front of us, and you have a recipe for disaster!
Needless to say, we took the next exit and spent the night at a hotel in Mason City, IA. We were traumatized and terrified, but safe and sound.
Things cleared up the next day and we headed to Emory, TX to spend a few days with our friends, Sharon and Bob, before heading to Boerne for our next sit. We had a wonderful time there enjoying camaraderie and eating like royalty (as usual). The storms hit Texas while we were there, but Bob kept the fireplace stoked and Sharon kept us in peach pie and pound cake, so life was good!
Alas, Mother Nature had another joke up her sleeve and left most of Texas blanketed in ice. But, we had to leave our safe and comfortable home-away-from-home and head to Boerne, TX for our house sit. It’s about a six-hour drive from Emory to Boerne…when the roads are not ice-covered. So, we drove slowly and, for the most part, enjoyed having the roads to ourselves.
Once we got through Austin, the roads improved steadily. We eventually arrived safe and sound in Boerne, where the roads had mostly melted and life was getting back to normal.