After last week’s wintery blast, it is safe to say David and I are not prepared for winter.Last winter, our first experienced in southwest Minnesota, was cold but manageable. I didn’t have to upgrade my winter coat, and once we discovered the furnace motor was broken, we stayed relatively warm inside our house.This year we thought we were prepared ahead of time. We installed plastic on several windows, hung some heavy duty, (although awfully ugly) curtains and bought a space heater — all in an effort to keep the house nice and toasty at a reasonable cost.However, after surviving last week, I have learned that no amount of preparation can prepare you for the bitter cold and bite of a blizzard. What exactly do people do up here when the temperatures fall below zero before winter even officially arrives.The giant mounds of snow building up around our house had to be shoveled. We watched optimistically as tractors and snow blowers were used on other driveways in the neighborhood. It was our hope that they would take pity on us and clear our driveway as well.No luck.When we moved into the house, we found a metal shovel in the garage. Since last year brought very little snow, we never had a reason to upgrade the shovel or buy a second one. Therefore, we took turns shoveling throughout the week.We were short on gloves. In fact, at the start of the week we didn’t have any real "snow" gloves.The snow on Monday was manageable. It easily lifted off the driveway in a timely manner and didn’t hinder our lives too much.By Wednesday as I sat at my desk in Luverne watching the snow fall in a horizontal direction, I knew it was going to be a long road home.Anyone coming into the office who knew me asked, "When are you going home? … The roads are getting pretty bad out there, that snow is blowing."Finally, around 4 p.m., my husband called to tell me to stay in Luverne. He had just finished a scary commute from Sioux Falls and thought it would be best to stay where I was. Of course, I didn’t like that idea. I enjoy sleeping in my own bed, putting on clean clothes in the morning and having a toothbrush that is my own. Therefore, I left the office and began my journey back to Hills.First, I stopped to get gas. While I stood freezing by the pump, I contemplated which roads I should take home.It was my logic that the interstate would offer less ice and snow, giving me better visibility. The only problem with the interstate was that if something did happen and I was forced to walk for help, I wouldn’t be near farmhouses. If I were to take Highway 75 south, I would be assured to always be within a few miles of a safe haven.Why worry about these things? Because I do not own a cell phone. We buried our cell phones last year after our contract expired and we hadn’t discovered a real need for having them.My final stop in Luverne was at Pizza Hut. I hadn’t eaten all day and figured if I went in the ditch, I could use the pizza to stay warm and to have some nourishment.As I traveled down the interstate, I didn’t have any problems. All of the other cars on the road were staying a nice distance behind me and the right lane had been cleared of all snow and ice.When I took the exit at Beaver Creek, I knew that the remaining six miles were going to be tricky.The highway was packed with snow on top of ice from earlier in the day. The winter storm winds were killing my visibility and had covered any plow work that might have been done earlier in the day.I kept my speed low, put both hands on the wheel and pointed the car south.For four miles, I did beautifully. Then I saw yellow flashing lights up ahead of me. I panicked, not knowing where the lights were positioned on the road. It took only one tap of my breaks and I knew that my fate was about to change.As my car spun the other direction and headed for the ditch on the east side of the road, I began to regret wearing a skirt to work.Fortunately, the lights were those of Erwin’s tow truck. Within minutes, he told me to remain in the car and he would pull me out after he finished another stranded driver.I peered through openings in the white sheet of winter that surrounded my car to see a bus being led by a police car, a UPS truck plowing through the snow and several trucks zooming through the area.Following Erwin’s rescue and another 2.4 miles of intense driving, I returned home to my worried husband. David and I decided that we would get ready for winter over the weekend.We gathered extra winter gear for our cars, started researching cell phones and bought a new shovel.Now … if only we can figure out how to get those men in the tractors to stop at our house, I think we will make it.Story ideas or comments can be emailed to Lexi Moore at lexim@star-herald.com or called in at 962-3561.
