Despite all our efforts towards failure, we have made it to Southern Maryland. The snowstorm that attempted to take out the east cost struck Friday evening as we were passing over the Delaware bridge. My mom and Mr. C were trundling along with all of our possessions in the UHaul whereas I drove separately in the car with four animals- two cats and two dogs in the back. The snow started off lightly, swirling and dancing across the stage that happened to be the roadway before quickly coating the lanes and covering them entirely. Having grown up with parents that spent most of their driving lives in Pittsburgh and the east coast, I soon began putting into practice snow driving techniques that had been instilled into my brain since I first learned what a clutch was and gracefully -if not very narrowly- avoided several accidents and close-call collisions.
For the last few hours of the trip there were few cars to be seen- most people with any intelligence probably didn’t attempt to move states during the first major snow storm of the year and didn’t have any true need to travel. For a while I caught up on The Splendid Table podcast episodes that I’d fallen behind on before quietly realizing that I had been listening to that podcast when I had gotten into the car accident last November and decided to spend the rest of the drive enveloping myself in the silence that only comes during snowfall as it blankets everything around.
Eventually I made it home (though I’m still not quite sure how I made it over the final hill) and released the dogs who were happy to finally be free and the cats…well they were just unhappy in general. Mom and Mr. C got back about 30 minutes later because apparently for the last hour or so they had to stop every 10 miles to get out and de-ice the windshield. I freed a few items that I had foolishly put in the back of the cold truck (like my Scoby mother and baby that I use for making kombucha) before we all settled in the house and ate a simple dinner of crackers, cheese and wine before going to bed.
Saturday we spent most of the day unloading the UHaul and digging out some of the driveway and Sunday was spent digging out the driveway again from the snow that had fallen on Saturday before returning the UHaul. Today was supposed to mark the first day of classes but due to the storm, school has been closed and my day will now be spent organizing my life and the things that surround it.
Recipes will come later this week.
