For my spring break, I
decided to drive out to
Minnesota to visit one of my
best friends that moved out
there two years ago.
First and foremost, if you
ever have a chance to drive
out to Minnesota or anyplace
farther, fly.
If you value your sanity,
just fly there.
So after getting out of work
on Friday, I packed my bags
and was on the road by 8:30
p.m., by my calculations I
should have been at my buddies’
house in 15 hours or so.
One thing I didn’t count on
was the weather. If you
remember, Saturday there
was a very nasty storm that
hit PA, there was a ton of rain
and power was out in a lot of
places. That rain storm was a
blizzard in Ohio, and I had to
drive straight through it.
There is nothing better than
driving on the turnpike for
five hours at 35 mph.
Overall, Ohio got roughly
20 inches of snow, there was
at least two to three inches of
snow on the roads and my
breaks were close to shot, so I
just took my time and made
as much headway as I could.
Roughly an hour later I hit a
traffic jam and was in gridlock
for a half an hour. When
I finally started moving again
I saw what the problem was,
two semi-trucks collided
under a bridge and flipped.
I pulled over at a rest stop
and slept for a few hours to
give them a chance to clear
the roads. It was still snowing
but the roads weren’t that
bad, so I hit the road again.
After driving for an hour a
traffic pattern formed around
me, two cars to my right, a
semi-truck to my left and several
cars behind and in front
of me. Then the wind kicked
up and a white out covered
the road. None of the vehicles
around me were visible. It
was kind of scary, but I didn’t
even take my foot off the gas;
maybe I didn’t care if I was in
an accident, or maybe I was
just frustrated that I’d been
driving for 10 hours and still
wasn’t out of Ohio. But
nobody crashed and soon I
was out of Ohio.
Indiana and Illinois were
pretty uneventful, there was
some beautiful scenery and a
few car accidents but other
than that, it was standard
driving. I drove through
Wisconsin and it was pretty
boring, I was 23 hours into
my trip and only 60 miles
away from my destination, so
naturally my foot was getting
pretty heavy.
I’m doing 90 mph and pass
a snow bank in the middle of
the highway; I didn’t see the
nose of the cruiser until it was
way too late. I get pulled over
for doing 90 in a 65, and the
Wisconsin state trooper gave
me a $270 speeding ticket, I
should have just flown.
And I didn’t know this at
the time, but if you get a moving
violation in a state that
doesn’t share a border with
the state you live in, you have
to pay the ticket right then
and there, otherwise they
hold you at the police station
until someone comes and
pays the fine for you. So my
travel tip for this story is if
you’re driving far, make sure
you either have a lot of cash
on you or a blank check.
So I had to follow him 20
miles back to the police station
to pay the ticket, the
extra slap in the face, but honestly,
this state trooper was so
polite and respectful that I
couldn’t even get mad at him.
And I’m not used to the
police being respectful to me,
partly because I’m only 20
and partly because I look like
a little hoodlum. But this guy
was unbelievable, he opened
the door for me at the station,
apologized for giving me the
ticket, gave me directions
back to the highway before I
even asked for them, what a
stand up guy.
So I get back on the highway,
doing the speed limit of
course, and after another
hour I finally made it to my
destination.
Twenty-four hours of driving,
$550 in gas and tickets,
sleet, rain, fog and a blizzard-
I finally arrived in
Minnesota and started my
much deserved vacation.