Thunder Snow. Glad to be alive....

Honestly, I'm thankful to be here today. Alive. Last night was the SCARIEST winter driving experience I ever had.

Karin and I went to the Jazz game, despite the fact that a storm of huge proportions was set to hit Utah at any moment. On our way to the game we saw lightning strike a power pole right near us. We almost turned around.

Maybe we should have.

But no, we were brave (or stupid?) and continued on to the game. Got there just before it started.

The tip off came and the Jazz were ahead by a few points against the Golden State Warriors when suddenly the lights in the arena went dim -- well, half of them went OUT. The game was halted and an announcement was made that there was a power outage.

The arena has back up generators, and while the light was dimmer than normal, it was still good for playing so the audience encouraged the game to go forward. It did... and the Jazz started slipping behind, but then they were tied at half time.

David sent me a text that the weather was turning bad so Karin and I left.

Good thing we left when we did.

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!

Karin lives up on the mountain... so the weather was ten times worse up there. We made it to her place ok - only because SHE was driving. (Still a few scary moments for me). I got in my car and headed down the mountain.

The snow was coming down HARD. Blizzard conditions. I have only one headlight. And you cannot drive in blinding snow with highbeams. My windshield wipers kept freezing up. I have night blindness really bad. I have anxiety really bad.

I was frantically trying to find the turn that I needed to go down 4500 South. So I was crawling along Wasatch Blvd in this mess.

Suddenly out of nowhere I hit an island divider in the road and I thought "Huh, I don't remember ever seeing that before." I began to suspect I had missed my turn.

I had.

I kept going along Wasatch Blvd. And going.... and going.... and suddenly there were no lights.... no houses, no stores... no turn offs... the road narrowed and got winding.... and I started hyperventilating.

I knew I had gone too far. But there was no place to turn around! And I felt like I was heading UP not going down at all.

I prayed......... oh how I prayed. OOOOH how I prayed.

I finally realized I had to get myself turned around. But there was no place to do it. So I turned sideways right in the middle of the road. Then I panicked. My car had got stuck in my friend's driveway once when it had snowed and it took 3 of us and half an hour to get it unstuck.

I was alone. On this road. In PITCH black. No street lights. Nothing. And I could tell that I was on a cliff bank.

I was so afraid. If those wheels started spinning. I would be a gonner. There would be nobody there to push me out. It was just a two lane road.... very narrow.... and if any car came upon me I was blocking the whole road so it would have been very bad. I grabbed my phone and thought about calling Karin for help. But I didn't want her to come out again in this mess.

I thought about Brett, but he hadn't even made it home yet. There was no way he could come help me. Nope... It was me and Heavenly Father.

Thank the Lord.... (and I continue to thank Him).... my car turned around without a problem.

I found my turn and headed down the mountain.

The road goes down at a steep angle. I learned I have good brakes. I was able to take that road nice and slow.

But the wipers still kept freezing and I had to pull over several times to clean them off.

Some idiot cars behind me didn't like how slow I was going so they passed me and threw snow up in my face.

I made it home. I was shaking like a leaf. But I was alive. I was thankful.

Oh.... and the Jazz ended up losing anyway.