The Breeding of Martha, Main Event

Feb 26, 2008

Fortunately, Minneapolis is directly north of Des Moines - up I-35.

Unfortunately, this has been a particularly active weather season. Much more snow and ice than in the past 15 years to my recollection. A storm-a-week. I was hoping I wouldn't have to drive in a winter storm when bringing Martha to Myles. While there was not an imminent storm, the weather was clearly sub-optimal.

You'd think the realtively flat farmland of northern Iowa and southern Minnesota would result in fairly uniform road conditions. But nooooo ! There is an infamous stretch of I-35, from just north of Story City, to just north of Mason City. There are gates at the entry ramps in this stretch of roadway, the only such gates on an Interstate highway in Iowa to my knowledge. It seems that the snow and ice and wind have a much greater effect on I-35 in this part that anywhere else, and that we know about it. And today was no different. I left Des Moines at 3-ish, and I-35 was dry, smooth, with not much traffic. But at the Devils Rectangle, all hell broke loose. Nowhere else on my trip did I observe any vehicle in the median or ditch, but between Story City and Mason City, I counted no less than 30 assorted vehicles that succumbed to the desires of the winter demon.

It came upon me quickly. Motoring casually at 75, I noticed about a mile ahead, the telegraphing of future danger - the flashing lights of safety vehicles intermixed with anxious brakelights. I took the van off criuse, and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. I noticed the wind had picked up from the west, it was whipping snow across the asphalt, and as the vehicles drove over it, the snow would melt, and reincarnate as ICE. My speed dropped down to 30-ish, and I kept a half-dozen car interval. Every mile brought more destruction. Flipped over cars and SUVs, jack-knifed tractors, a tractor whose trailer top was ripped off like a sardine can, exposing a cargo of numerous small boxes. Still, future Darwin award winners sped by me as if it were normal driving conditions. It is interesting, that in this same general area, numerous wind energy farms have sprung up, like some new variety of perennial GMO corn. So there must be some weather anomaly in this location.

I stopped at Culver's in Mason City for a burger, and soon after, I-35 cleared up, and it again was smooth sailing, all the way in to Minneapolis. Up I-35, to I-35W, to I-494, then I-94 towards St. Cloud. Jeez, I didn't realize we'd almost be in St. Cloud. We were up there two years ago, for an obedience trial at the Civic Auditorium. Man it was cold. Did you know that the nickname for St. Cloud is Granite City. Did you know the restaurant of the same name has its home office in St. Cloud? Anyway, off at Monticello, and we're at Terri's place about 8:30 PM. A brief chat with Terri. I'm off, back to Des Moines, arriving back about 12:30 PM . No hair-raising incidents on the way back, but I did notice a few disabled vehicles that were not present on the drive up just a few hours earlier. I sing the praises of XM Radio for keeping me awake and alert.