Kelley: 0 Mother Nature: 1...Part 1

Mother Nature has been one crabby lady lately, and I never want to poke fun or trifle with her....ever again.

You have to admit, there have been times when she thinks she is being so BAMF that she scares you into thinking you can't travel anywhere because a few snow flakes are falling. I laugh at her and say, "You ain't got nothing." But then there are the other times where she rages on you for not taking her seriously, and that's when I take a step back and say, "Yes, ma'am. Whatever you say, ma'am!"

I kind of shake my head at people who think that they can take on Mother Nature's full-blown winter storms and icy, snow packed roads and THINK they can travel 30 miles in the 30 minutes it usually should take. Typically, those 30 minutes turn into an 1 1/2 hours and their trip is botched because they either have to turn around or have to stay over night at an interstate rest stop. Just giving my opinion, but I don't find that to be a very enjoyable time. So why do people want to risk being stranded in their car at a rest stop or worse, in a ditch during the middle of winter? But I will tell you why people try to take on Mother Nature after I encountered a "lack of better judgment" moment or what is better described as an "outrageously mental" episode that overtook my brain on Friday.

I wanted to so desperately make it to my sister's baby shower this weekend. It was the very first baby shower planned for her and her very first baby, who so happens to be my very first nephew (SIDENOTE: Due date is in April :) I wasn't going to miss it and nothing was going to stop me from missing it. But Too-Tall Tom Szymanski kept foreshadowing an ominous storm that would take place this weekend. Pshhh, whatever Too-Tall Tom. I'm not listening to you...like I've done for the last 18 years you've been on T.V. When Friday rolled around, I woke up to a bright, happy sun beaming through my bedroom and not a cloud in the sky in Bismarck. As I started to make my way to work around 7:30 am, I turned on the radio and that awfully annoying warning noise came blaring through my Taurus. You know the one that is like the most annoying sound in the world? Yeah...that one. Mr. Roboto voice came on warning me to take cover because we were in a blizzard warning. Ahem...excuse me Mr. Roboto. It's sunny and 35 out, and I think you're lying. I changed the radio station and listened to a little Kidd Kraddick. Which by the way, is a horrible syndicated radio morning show based somewhere in the South. It's like E! News but with annoying southern people talking about last night's episode of the Bachelor. Why I listen to it still, I have no clue. I'm prone to horrible entertainment.

When I took my lunch at 12:30 and I decided to take a little stroll outside and fill up with gas for the trip. I was expecting to be greeted by that big ball of shining happiness up in the sky and crystal blue skies, but there was no bright shining ball. Hmmm. What happened here? Rain started to sprinkle down with a few random snow flakes. Nothing I've never seen before, so clearly I didn't think this would stop me from making my way to the cities. I checked the temperature and it was a solid 33 degrees out. Nothing was freezing, just a big sloppy mess on the roads. No biggy. Nothing I can't handle.

I made my way back to the office to do some more work and go to a 2:00 meeting. I kept checking the temperature and road reports and everything was still looking okay. It wasn't below freezing and I94 had the little blue and white dots scattered all the way to Fargo which meant sloppy and sloshy roads. And again, no biggy. My boss and I  had our meeting a little early so I could ski-daddle out a few hours early so I could make it to the Cities that night. 2:30 rolled around and I was free to go! Went back to my desk to check the road report one last time and a flash of red caught my eye. I94 was closed from Dickinson to Bismarck, which wasn't like that 30 minutes ago, but the road from Bismarck to Fargo was still paved with those little blue and white dots. I thought, "Pshh, my roads are clear from Bis to Fargo. I'll be able to beat whatever it is that's supposedly coming."

I walked outside and it was a bit colder from when I went out at noon. The parking lot was a little bit slicker and the rain turned into big flakes of snow. Now you would have guessed this would have been a good indicator that MAYBE I should have re-thought my travel plans. Nope. I still had that determination to get to the cities because it was my sister's FIRST baby shower. I talked to my mom and she said Fargo had nothing there, so that sealed the deal for me. I decided to venture out. The main road I took to get to the interstate was a little slippery, but I didn't mind driving a few miles slower than usual. I got into the right hand turning lane that would lead me onto the interstate ramp, and started to make the descent down the little hill onto I94. Once my car was fully on the interstate, I came to the horrible realization that I made a VERY bad choice.

I probably didn't even drive 2 miles and it was total white out at some points. I kept telling myself, "You've driven in this before. It will get better. Take your time, drive slow, and make sure you follow somebody." After about 10 minutes of being on I94, I wanted off. I was leading a caravan of cars into a white abyss and I was beginning to become terrified. The roads were thick with ice and I couldn't see 2 feet in front of my car. I decided to pull off on the shoulder as far as I could so I could have others pass me because I did not feel comfortable taking lead in this mother of a storm. Once I saw a pick-up truck in front of me, I decided to follow the leader with them. I did not take my eyes off their glowing red tail lights for a millisecond, but then after that millisecond passed, I couldn't see the tail lights anymore, and I felt like the only car on the interstate. Shear panic took over me. My hands never shook so much before, and I had no clue what to do. It seemed like I was agitating Mother Nature on one of her PMS days, and I hoped she would take some Midol so I could turn around and go back to Bismarck.

Dum Dum Dummmmmmm!!! What will happen next?! Will Kelley and her faithful Taurus find their way out of Mother Nature's white maze of snow and ice?! And will Mother Nature ever learn to take a chill pill?! Stay tuned!