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Thursday, November 19, 2020

Ed's Travelogue: Jan 1979 Snow, Snow, and More Snow - Can't Escape It! Pt 2 31 Jan 1979 7" of Snow In The High Desert

Sooo, the plan was simple. Instead of driving westward through Minnesota, then down through Colorado and eventually California and having to face all that snow and winter weather, I would head straight south through Illinois, wind up in Texas and head westward to California instead. Simple.

Yeah right. After the whole neighborhood got out to clear the 30" of snow from the alley and our driveways, I loaded my car with personal belongings and my stereo, said my 'goodbyes' and headed towards the freeway and south to Chicago. What a pain in the ass! If you've ever driven in Chicago (and this wasn't my first time), you know it just ain't no fun! By the time I left Milwaukee, the snow plows and salt trucks had done their thing and the heat from all the traffic had all contibuted to melting the snow and turning it into dirty slush :-( 

**Winter in the city is not all that glamorous. To be sure, the light displays in the downtown area and elsewhere are a treat as well as all the homes decked out in holiday cheer. New fallen snow looks pretty, but it doesn't take long at all for it to turn into a brown/black/gray ugly messy slush, as well as the icy spots you have to contend with. You don't really notice that stuff as a kid, but when you grow up and have to drive in it, it finally hits you that it is not a fun time.**

Back to Chicago. The drive from Milwaukee to Chicago was uneventful, but then I had to enter their highway system. In Wisconsin we have 'free'ways. In Chicago you have 'toll'ways where every couple of miles - or whatever - you toss your shekels into the tollbooth as tribute to the God Of Roads and pray for safe passage. But that too shall pass. And when it did I thought to myself "Boy, am I glad that's over with! Now on to Cali." uh-huh! yeah sure. Not long after passing through Chicago on my way south day turned to evening, and evening turned to night, and then to ICE!  For the next approx 100 miles due south through Illinois the highway was covered with glare ice  @!#^&^* What a treacherous - and slow - drive that was. Holy Cow!!

But that too shall pass. And it did, fortunately without incident. What followed was a fairly interesting, yet mostly uneventful, drive through Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally on into California. Sometimes I slept in Howard Johnson's parking lots, sometimes I found a cheap motel, or just found a rest stop. I wasn't afraid - I should have been, but I wasn't - and except for a flat tire somewhere in Texas, the drive went well. The slow going in Illinois put me behind schedule and I had to find a place to make a long-distance call to my OIC to let them know what was going on. I don't have any photos of that drive because there was no time to play tourist, and I do remember that for a large chunk of miles driving through Texas it stunk of oil! yeccch!

I don't remember now what time of day it was when I finally pulled through the gate of George AFB on 30 Jan 1979, but it was a relief and I thought "Yay, I'm back in the desert - NO SNOW" Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

During the evening and night hours it started to snow in Victorville so when I woke up on 31 Jan 1979, a freak snow storm dumped 7" of the white stuff on the High Desert! AAAAARRRGGGH! Locals said it was the first time in about seven years since that happened! I'm telling you that crap followed me from Wisconsin! LOL I can tell you another thing: desert people can't drive in snow to save their lives! In Milwaukee you could count on places like McDonald's to be open and ready to serve coffee and breakfast - especially welcome to the road crews who had to clear the streets. Victorville? EVERYTHING closed tighter than a drum hahahaha And hey guys, here's a winter driving tip: Unless you deliberately want to risk your lives or at a minimum, damage to your vehicles, you cannot drive as fast in snowy conditions as you do when the streets are nice and dry and clear! Really - SLOW DOWN! Funny as heck to me at the time but also dangerous driving because I always had to be on the look-out for reckless drivers.

Now here's some pics I took of Snow in The High Desert. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Near the HQ building


The base park


Snowball fight in the base park









Pics from off-base





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