Well, my drive home on the Dec. 31, was...hellish!!!I left at 10:30ish (am) and headed out. I wasn't too thrilled about the weather as it was snowing..not heavy but not light either. I had about a quarter of a tank of gas and was going to wait until I arrived in Blairmore to fill up, but by the time I got to Sparwood I decided I'd better fill up.I got to the gas station and while the attendant filled my tank, I went into the gas station. I picked up a few things, went up to the cash register and asked the other attendant if she heard what the weather was like in the Pass. She said it was pretty bad.

Now, I had a decision to make. Keep going or go home. But then I though well, what's the weather going to be like tomorrow? So I decided to chance it.Well, it turned out to be an adventure. I got to the place on the road where there was the barrier for when they close the Pass. It was up so I thought, how bad could it be. So I pressed on.

Everyone was going about 50 kms per hour...not fast, but not bad. Some people had their blinkers on because there was snowy fog...but you could still see ok.And then it hit. Whipping snow and the snowy fog got so thick you couldn't see a foot in front of you. Seriously, I couldn't see anything in front of my car. I had my blinker lights (emergency) but realistically, the guy behind you would have already been crawling up your tail pipe before they saw you. It was frightning. I almost cried.

The whole thing was, it was in for a penny, in for a pound. You couldn't turn around...you could only go forward at that point. And I was the "leader." The blind leading the stupid, I swear. We were all going 20 kms or less....but I do believe everyone got through. Took about 2 hours for an hour drive.By the time we hit Coleman, the Pass was closed...the barrier was down and there were people redirecting traffic. I wish it had been closed before I went through.

The roads between Blairmore and Pincher Creek were better. There was blowing snow on the roads...which creeped me out when I drove to Elkford...but nothing like the Pass. I even almost said to Mother Nature out loud "Is that all you got left BIATCH?" I then decided to forgo tempting Fate.

There were only two small challenges left after Pincher Creek...just before Claresholm the wind was blowing very hard and I almost lost control of the car when a huge semi that was towing another semi went past me and just outside of Nanton, going around a downward curve, there was a patch of slushy/icy road and I saw it just in time to slow down. There was a car with a women in the ditch...so I wasn't over reacting...there was a tow truck helping her so I didn't stop.After that it was awesome driving...practically bare roads.

I'm still glad I drove home on the 31st. I just wish that it was little less exciting.