Stormy Weather

I love the Progressive Insurance commercials about turning into your parents. I absolutely LOL’ed when they released the weather commercial; it perfectly describes both Kenn and our oldest son. Every morning, Kenn gives me a weather report including the high temperature expected and any chance of rain. Yesterday’s weather report was basically, “Things have changed. The rain now isn’t expected in this area until around 5pm. Radar shows a big blob of rain over Birmingham, AL.” With that, we went about our morning.

It was a muggy day, so we elected to sit inside at church. Inside was a good call; when the service ended, it was obvious that a pretty good rain shower had moved through and it was still sprinkling. Kenn and I said our goodbyes and headed home. (He volunteers with the parking team, so we usually drive separately.) As I drove, the rain picked up enough that the intermittent wiper setting wasn’t enough and I switched to the lower “continuous” setting. Then, about halfway home the rain changed from a steady, semi-hard rain to what my youngest would call a “wrath of God” rainstorm.

Y’all it was horrible. I switched the wipers to the fastest setting, turned on the defroster just in case, and turned on the hazard lights. Fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the two-lane road I was on. It was one of those storms where it would probably have been best best to pull over, but doing so was impossible. That stretch of road has no shoulder to speak of; pulling over would mean going down an embankment and into a field. There’s also a section of road work where a traffic circle is being installed. So, I hugged the center line and kept my eye on the white line at the outside of the lane. However, even with the wipers at the highest setting, I could only get a glimpse of the white line every few seconds. The rain was blowing across the road in sheets – which occasionally included small limbs. Since there are a lot of pecan trees in the area, I prayed that, in addition to staying on the road, no limbs would come in through the window. I have never been so glad to get home. I made a dash inside, then stood at the window watching for Kenn. He and I take different routes home from church so I had no idea what he might have encountered. He did arrive home safely. It turned out that his route had several trees and limbs blocking the road.

I have to say that yesterday’s storm is in the Top Three worst storms I’ve ever driven in. One of the other worst storms was also in the local area. I had headed out to pick up my oldest grandson for a visit when a horrible rain storm moved in – equally as bad as yesterday’s storm with hail thrown in for good measure. I did find a place to turn around so I could head back home, but that time, I actually wasn’t on the road and didn’t realize it until a sign suddenly appeared ahead of me. I veered to miss the sign and wound up in a field. Fortunately, I was driving the Tundra and I managed to get out of the field, back on the road, and crawl home. The other Top Three storm occurred in Fort Smith, Arkansas when I was driving to Estes Park, Colorado. There I was, on the interstate in an unfamiliar town, and I couldn’t see a bloody thing. As soon as the rain let up and I could find somewhere to pull over, I did so and just sat in the car and shook for a few minutes.

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Fortunately, Daisy waited until yesterday evening to act up. Kenn and I met friends for dinner and on the way home, Daisy lost her mind. She started beeping and displaying error messages. “Eyesight disabled.” “RAB disabled.” “Check engine.” Simultaneously, the engine lost power and began running erratically; we managed to pull into a parking lot and began doing research. I thought I was going to have to call our friends and ask them to circle back and take one of us home to get the truck. We were able to eventually get the engine running smoothly enough to be able to make it home. Once at home, we disconnected the battery for about fifteen minutes and removed and replaced the gas cap making sure that it was sealed correctly. One or the other of those things fixed the problem. I’m convinced that some sensor got wet and temporarily malfunctioned. As of today, Daisy is still running fine. I’m just so, so thankful that whatever happened didn’t happen during my drive home earlier in the day.

Now that I have the song stuck in my head, I’ll leave you with a link to Lena Horne’s version of Stormy Weather.

21 thoughts on “Stormy Weather”

  2. This is the kind of story that makes me nervous just to read about. I’m glad you were okay. I hate driving in rain or snow storms that obscure your view. And the stretch of road with no shoulder, I have been on them knowing that the only way off the road is down. Scary stuff.

    Thankfully Daisy had her conniption fit later. I think she just wanted some extra love for how well she did during the storm.  

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  3. Oof! Estes Park! I’ve been there. We looked at some real estate and then I had a dream that I was making a terrible mistake.
    The worst storm I’ve ever driven in – actually my husband was driving and I was riding – was a snowstorm on the way home to Idaho from visiting California. The road was completely covered in snow and the snow was coming down so hard. It was a complete white-out. We couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down, let alone where the road was. I thought we were gonna end up on the news. 🤦🏻‍♀️

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  4. We had “thunder snow” when we were in Estes Park. In late May. Ft. Smith–that’s near where my grandmother is from. I’ve driven through there, too. I’ve driven through everything from snowstorms to hail to tornado weather on the plains. I don’t think I’ve ever pulled over for it, though–too dangerous in the snow, especially. But the weather is getting more extreme!

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  5. What an ordeal for you and Daisy to drive through that build-an-ark weather. Thank goodness you are okay and timing is everything for cars to act up sometimes. As someone who took the bus at the end of my street to Downtown Detroit for decades, bad weather wigs me out to be honest. I once left the house in sunny weather and drove two miles for allergy shots … 1.5 miles into my trip, the sky opened up and hail came down – hard. My Buick Regal was an iridescent maroon color with a Landau roof. Thankfully the Landau portion was spared but the roof, trunk and hood had marks where the hail hit it. It was not large hail, but just enough to see the dents in the sun if you looked a certain way. But the sensation of driving on a beautiful Summer day and it turning to a hailstorm in mere seconds was an incredible experience. Mother Nature has been doling out severe weather left and right these days.

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      • We have had some volatile weather, though more west of where I live … 11 tornadoes last Thursday and 27 tornadoes this year in Michigan. Our average is 13 each year. Each severe weather day/night knocks another year off my life.

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      • I was surprised, not to mention dismayed, when I heard those stats and with less NWS folks on staff, it is worrisome. I found a place on YouTube called Michigan Storm Chasers. I had heard about it, but thought it was some guys just chasing after tornadoes and live streaming, but it is several meteorologists that are monitoring the radar from different sites and reporting on where severe weather is, when to take cover, etc., so I’m happy I have an option (besides the Midland Weather Radio). I’d be a nervous wreck if they were a common springtime occurence – two nights in a row was bad enough!

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  6. All of your driving stories are frightening! Running off the road into a field! Yikes! I’m glad you were both able to get home safely. Falling trees is a real concern with high winds and rain. What did Kenn say about his “weather report?” 🙂

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  8. My worst driving experience was probably the massive hailstorm I encountered after leaving the Badlands of South Dakota. Everyone pulled over to the side of the interstate. I was on a road trip at the time, and returned to the PNW with a dinged-up Hyundai. Not the kind of souvenir I was looking for!

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