Freezing Rain

We didn’t think we’d actually make it to the Conference office this morning. Overnight the temperatures rose and the snow turned into rain. But in the morning, it was still cold enough so that the rain turned into ice upon hitting the ground. We scraped the ice off of the van and attempted to make our way to the office. The traction on the van is horrible and the windshield wiper doesn’t work. We made our way onto the roads and discovered how slick things were. I tried the freeway, but above 30 mph the windshield turned opaque from the rain, so I immediately went onto the next exit. That’s where even more troubles hit.

There were numerous power outages around the city and we were right in the middle of one. Traffic control was not working, so in the busy morning rush there were 4-way stops all over the place. Combine that with slick roads and cars having difficulties getting started, it made for very slow progress. If that wasn’t bad enough, the offices are located among some hills. That means the roads there are up and down. At some intersections, the slowdowns were caused by vehicles unable to get up the hill, stuck in the middle of the intersection, and sliding off the road. There were many moments when we thought we would be one of those stuck and unable to continue. But with very slow driving, and easy throttle, and lots of help from the van’s traction control, we inched our way through the intersections, uphill starts, etc. and finally, to our great relief, made it to the offices without any incident.

A couple evenings back we went to Office Depot to purchase some office supplies. Just about a week before our trip to Anchorage, I received a “please come back to Office Depot” mailing with a $25 off of $25 coupon. That was very convenient timing and so I got to use that coupon.

Last night we stopped at Fred Meyer for a few things including a fleece sweatshirt for me. I thought I packed one, but could not find it when I arrived. I suppose there’s a possibility it was swiped from the luggage, but it’s more likely that I had pulled it out at home and forgot to put it back in.

Tonight, a room freed up at the Conference office so we drove out to the Korean church (driving another van with studded tires – much better traction – and working wipers) to transfer our belongings. We stopped at Costco and purchased a few more things including a couple Blu-Ray videos and Sonicare electric toothbrush.