road trips from hell...or just from Arkansas

....just finished reading the longroof's blog about the road trip from Ark to Spfld Mo in the snow.....it is funny how each participant of an adventure will have distinct memories of the same trip without ever crossing the same path....I refer to this trip as adventure because both the longroof and I survived the trip....if it were a vacation or a road trip, there would be lots of reference to parties and wild women.....neither one of which were present during this event.....as mentioned in the lr's blog we started north on US hwy 71 out of Ark on a clear afternoon.....yes, there was a forecast for snow, but before departing we did as any traveler would, we called home to Mom and asked her what the weather forecast for the overnight time frame included.....I guess we had spent too much time away from home because Mother assured us that the forecast was for just cold weather with a small possiblity of snow.....so as any young man would/should do, we proceeded to load up the old beetle and hit the highway.....we should make it just fine...we have plenty of cash....warm weather gear ( down jackets, sleeping bags, long underwear, multiple pair of Levis) and we are on our way HOME.....the drive north out of Ark was an uneventful trip....lots of beautiful views from the mountain top road, but nothing that would excite a young man in his prime......of course that was until the snow began to fall south of Joplin Mo. ..... you know those signs they put up in the middle of the highway telling you that the single lane is becoming dual lane..???....it is very easy to hit one of those when you can't see them.....oh yea, the wind that comes though a fist sized hole in the windshield because your hand slipped off the steering wheel and hit the windshield on impact with the sign......at 30mph in sub-zero weather is very cold....cold enough for you to swear off breathing...or at least tell everybody to stop talking because they are exhausting the warm air supply......oh and the guys that came to our rescue with a couple of gallons of fuel....they were out there because they were poaching deer .....and what we traded for the fuel is still not legal in the lower 48 states.....but it got us gasoline and that's what counted that night....and again, because we were young (and foolish) before the snow plow caught up to us, we had driven off the road following an 18 wheeler.....stuck, we walked up to the cab of this truck and asked if he could help us......guess he was smoking the same as us because he got out of his warm truck and stood in waist deep snow pushing that old bug......the longroof forgot to mention that this should have been a Minnow trip and by dawn the next morning we were still 30 miles west of good old Spfld Mo......the television helicopter hovering overhead should have been a sign (this was WAY before Bill Engvold) that we weren't quite right.....don't ever wave at a television news helicopter.....you will make the morning newscast...... finally arrived in Spfld Mo to no fan fair, bugles, parades, dancing bears.....just a very cold snowbound town.....couldn't make it north on Jefferson Ave off Glenstone because the snow pile at Jefferson was over four feet high......tried to breach that pile and finally gave up......drove across town to Oak Grove and after several attempts broke through the snow piled up and made it to Linden Ave......left the car 5 houses from our sister's home because we finally got tired of backing up and running forward then backing up and running forward......we had done that for the past 8 hours......two steps forward.....one step backward....and hiked to her front door.....frozen Levis up to our knees and all....never saw a prettier site....never experienced a better feeling than when that front door opened and we were greeted by a blast of hot air......good old Danny went down and towed the old bug to their house with his big Ford 4x4.....I remember sleeping the day away and finally getting to Mom and Dad's house the next evening.....I do remember getting teased because we didn't know about flipping the heater vent from summer to winter incoming air.....and for wont of a better knot, the ship was lost......