Pre-Testing My Driving Skills

It's about 12 days to our planned departure date. We're still waiting on confirmation of Mom & Dad's travel health insurance, because there's no way we can risk the financial gutting of the folks' reserves through an uninsured stay in a U.S. hospital. Brother Bob just heard about a Winkler man whose short stay following a heart attack cost his insurers over $200,000.

Ruth and I are in Palm Springs this week (Jan. 24-31), though not through the good services of United Airlines, which was to have delivered us here on the 24th. For the second consecutive time, UA had equipment problems with our flights. Back in October, we were stuck on a plane in Denver for over two hours while they sorted out an equipment glitch. This past Saturday, we were boarded early as there were two UA flights leaving Winnipeg at the same time. The Chicago flight got away and then they pushed us from the jetway. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour, while the pilot and crew tried to get the right engine to "normalize." Finally, they taxied back to the jetway, cleared us through customs, and advised us that we had been booked for a flight the following morning.

Ruth walked over to the Air Canada desk (we had booked through AC) and got a refund. (Ruth was told that UA seems to be having lots of problems these days.) I got a cab and we headed home. Once there, I checked out our '95 Lexus coupe (in winter storage) and then loaded it up. Within 45 minutes of arriving at home, we were on the road and headed south. We love road-trips. I'm getting to the point where I don't want to travel by air. The difficulties of moving film and cameras, the hassle with shoe and belt removal, the tight quarters, the cattle-moving mentality, the logistical problems of airports and plane maintenance all work against the benefit of faster travel to one's destination. Give me the relatively hassle-free experience of car or motorcycle travel, thank-you.

By 7 p.m., we were in Sioux City, IA, where we stopped and sat down in a fine Panera Bread cafe for a bite to eat. We highly recommend this chain of tasty eateries. However, it was after our departure from Sioux City that we started to encounter some weather. Ruth had started her first driving stint after our Panera stop, but the blowing snow and relative unfamiliarity with the car made it hard for her. I took over and drove until about 3 a.m. Ruth managed to convince me to sleep a bit during "the killing hours" (3-5 a.m.). We parked in a Flying J truck stop shortly after starting down I76, tilted the seats back and crashed.

We got to Denver around 6:30 a.m. Since Panera didn't open until 7 a.m. on Sundays, we carried on to Idaho Springs in the company of hundreds of snowboarders and skiers. After a fine veggie frittata at the Two Brothers Deli, we got back on the dry road under clear, sunny skies.

Unfortunately, conditions changed shortly thereafter. Snow began to fall on the swelling traffic volumes. The Lexus has never been winter driven before, the tires are semi-performance rated, and so the drive over the passes to (and past) Grand Junction were quite stressful.

Happily, conditions improved as we approached Utah and were looking quite good as we merged onto I15, heading south to Las Vegas. That sense of ease lasted about two minutes. A Pontiac Grand Am passed us, pulled into our lane, and almost immediately began slowing quickly as it went through a dip just before going through an underpass. I learned why as we made to pass: the light rain had turned to sleet within a couple of hundred yards, and the roadway was absolutely slick. As we settled in behind the Grand Am, we saw vehicles pulled over in both directions, with people running to the median. A couple of seconds later, we saw a new Acura SUV on its roof, hunched up against a service crossing. I could see the front passenger scrunched in with the airbag deployed. I turned my attention right back to the road and heard Ruth say, "There's another one." Off to our right was a baby-blue Porsche, the driver out and circling his vehicle. Then we passed the signs of his trajectory. He had come from the south, around a slight bend, and lost control. The Porsche just missed the uprights of a large road sign, spun across the median and the line of oncoming traffic to wind up on the west side of the interstate. It was minutes later that I finally came to understand that Ruth had seen the whole episode, and that the Porsche had just missed the Grand Am in front of us.

Happily, the snow stopped a minute or two later, and the rest of our drive was not hampered by precipitation. After stopping in Mesquite, NV for a quick snack of salad and sourdough bread, we drove the rest of the way to Palm Springs. We arrived at 12:30 a.m. We had driven 2,150 miles in a total of 40 hours.

The last bit of road from Barstow, CA to Palm Springs on CA 247 was eerie. The road is blacktop and seems to have just been laid over the desert floor. There are no real shoulders and the contour of the terrain seems not to have been modified to flatten the roadway. Suddenly, this sleep-deprived landscape was assaulted by a blaze of blue and red lights, as several vehicles swept around a curve, driving down and directly towards us. As I pulled over and lowered the window, the police officer advised that an oversized load was coming through and that we were to stay put until it had passed. It was an appropriate other-worldly experience to top off the drive, as a massive structure sitting on a flatbed trailer and accompanied by more flashing vehicles, swept by.

Happily, non of the trip with Mom & Dad should involve this kind of manic driving, so I think I can say with confidence that my road-trip skills have been tested and honed in preparation for the three-week trip.

More to follow.