What Do You See?

So little snow, almost none, but it fell on Friday evening right at rush time, along with sleet. The roads quickly turned icy, which made for a long commute home.

My regular interstate was a parking lot and was eventually closed hours later so the salt trucks could go on and do their work. I decided to take the old road, Dixie Highway, into Covington and then cut east toward my house. Dixie Highway was constructed almost 100 years ago and I grew up a mile from it, many miles north. It goes on to Florida, but is no longer a continuous highway - it never was totally continuous but is much less so now. I lived only a block from Dixie Highway in Berea and in fact have never lived more than an hour from it except in my college days.

Traffic moved slowly as other people opted for that route to avoid the stalled interstates. In places it was very icy, especially on the downgrades going toward the river. I was talking to Steph on the phone, getting tired and nervous. I had an approximate idea where I was but without a reference to how much further there was to go.

She asked me "What do you see?" and I mentioned an apartment or condo area on my left when I looked up and could see the lights of Cincinnati, so close I couldn't believe my eyes. I figured that it was surely Mt. Adams (or if not I had a long climb up in front of me.) And from there it was a few blocks until the highway turned toward the left and I turned toward the right into Covington.

My planned turn-off was closed because there was a steep hill going down and I took the next one. Evenually I came to a street I recognized and I was soon driving past the basilica, always lighted and impressive and especially welcome on that night.

In retrospect, the chosen trip home was the right one. Traffic moved slowly but it did creep along. The skidding on the icy areas was no less than on other roads. People were polite and gave large spaces in areas where cars were skidding. I would have gained nothing at all by stopping for dinner in the hopes that traffic would clear up. The bridge going into my community was salted and open.

I'd like to think that this will be the last of the bad-weather commutes this winter, but it is, after all, only January 9.