Judith,
Ahh, yes, those Central Illinois winters in the 70s. I am just old enough to remember the winters of 77, 78, and 79. Those were some epic blizzards! The roads became canyons with walls of snow. The roads had to be cleared with earth moving equipment. At the high point of the blizzards, with no power at home, my parents would take my sister and I on a walk to the nearest highway—which was of course closed, and the roads became canyons on which we walked was an old hilly country road that was also closed.
We walked perhaps a quarter mile to reach that country road. It is hard to estimate because we didn’t even try to follow the road to that country road (it was winding), We just walked overland and through the snow till we found the country road. From that point, we turned south and began our journey—about 1.25 miles to the highway through heavy snow, thoroughly snowed over and heavily drifted blacktop and very strong winds. This was the very definition of blizzard conditions and today people are urged to stay inside, never venture out. But my parents wanted to go on a little snow adventure,
I don’t remember how long it t, but the 1.5(ish) miles out seemed much longer than normal. There was no traffic, no tracks from cars or people. The only sign of life ahead was the occasional deer track or other critters that crossed the too. Visibility was low and despite the wind, the road was guarded by trees and old bushes—mostly Osage—that grew up along the adjacent barbed wire fence. And therefore we experienced long periods where the high winds turned to a gentle breeze. At these points the snow got very deep and we really had to climb over it. But once over, the air was quiet, ambient sounds muffled by the snow in the air and on the ground. Indeed, speaking to each other took effort as we were so bundled up that words barely escaped our snow gear only to disappear into falling snow unless we yelled.
Although the road was one we traveled daily, it felt like unexplored territory with all the snowdrifts. I felt like we were exploring unknown territory. Reaching the highway at the apex of our trek was a bit of a letdown—there was no more virgin snow to cross, no explored territory to discover.
Despite the letdown, our trip back was just as much an effort and still something of a discovery as the road looked so different going north than south. The further north we walked, the more our tracks were obscured by falling snow—it fell so fast and drifted so quickly that soon we were covering brand new territory again. It was exciting! I never got cold, in fact, quite the opposite. All that work while bundled up meant that I got hot! I started to unzip clothing and remove some pieces.
I was getting tired but didn’t know it. My child’s body only had so much energy in it and I was getting close to zero. We eventually made our way home, the best part being that the last portion we left the road entirely and just walked over open fields. This was a perfect child adventure.
Once home all the snow gear fell onto the floor and anything that might be wet got hung up. My mother got some nice, warm chilly for us to eat. Soon after we sat by the big window in the living room and watched the storm continue to dump snow and the wind blow it into uniquely shaped drifts. The house gently howled from the high winds outside. Of course the power was out so the furnace didn’t work but we had a gas stove—the only source of heat. We all dressed for cold anyway so a chilly house didn’t matter—it was part of the adventure.
My Minnesota native parents instinctively acquired excellent snow gear for my sister and I, and to this day, I still have this drive, I find myself telling my students how to properly dress for snow as they just don’t know how to do it themselves. Sometimes they try. I recently had a student who left Carbondale for the U of I upon graduation. A Champaign winter, solidly in the central Midwest, is a far cry from a Carbondale winter which borders the South. I told her that the way to dress for cold, blowing snow was to dress in three layers. The first layer sits close to the skin and keeps you dry, the second layer adds bulk and keeps you warm. The third layer blocks wind and water, I told her that yoga pants probably do a decent job at the first layer (and it would be something she had). The second and third layers she might have to acquire. But what did she do—she wore yoga pants (good), but then jeans covered by sweatpants. The wind blew right through! I grew up prepared. I hope I can get this to rub off on my students.
Ultimately, it was snow adventures like these that shaped my love for snow. I may live in the border South but I will never stop being a Northerner at heart.
Let It Snow!!
Eric
