Thanks to my trusty little Toyota Corolla,* I am writing this column from the comfort of my own home. If not for its good handling on slippery roads, I might be shivering in a ditch somewhere between home and frigid Lincoln, Nebraska.
Now don’t get me wrong.
As my friend and Ohio native Katie Wetherbee says about her first trip to Lincoln last weekend, “The weather is cold, but the people are warm and welcoming!” The people truly were warm and welcoming during our three days working with volunteers and ministry leaders at Lincoln’s First Free Church. Their passion for and commitment to developing a quality, inclusive special needs ministry program is phenomenal.
But the weather.
Now that’s a different story. Katie mentioned the cold, but it’s about the same cold in Iowa where I live. So that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the light snow that began falling in Lincoln after midnight Sunday and proceeded to move east along the route I took home. By the time I left Lincoln a little before noon on Sunday, the interstate was wet and messy, but not slippery. The first 70 miles of interstate in Iowa weren’t bad either.
But then.
The roads got a little slippery. And a little slipperier. A semi was in the ditch in the westbound lane. I slowed down. Then I noticed an armored car decorating another portion of the ditch. I went a little slower. And passed a couple pick up trucks in the median. So I went slower still, until the exit came into sight and the intrepid Toyota crawled along the exit ramp, tires firmly gripping the snowy surface until turning onto the two lane highway.
Which wasn’t slippery at all.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. And this morning, I’m very thankful to be home since more light snow fell through the night, and the road reports say it’s slick, slick, slick out there. Which is why the man of steel drove the Corolla to work. It’s better for winter driving than the big ol’ pick up truck.
Thank you, trusty little Toyota Corolla, for keeping us safe once again!
*In the interest of full disclosure, the photo above is not my car. It is the same year, make and color, though mine has a sun roof. And even though the dealer who sold me the car said white cars don’t show as much dirt as other colors (I’m not making this up. The dealer really said that, and in the process, created an instant, inside family joke), my car is much, much dirtier than the pictured vehicle.
