Cold Feet and No Relief in Sight

I am here in OR E GONE, where the weather is COLD COLD COLD. These past 48 hours have certainly given me a lot of empathy and admiration for people who have been dealing with deep snow, freezing winds, icy streets, etc.

We left Arizona's 72 degree weather in the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday, drove into California's very wet but decent 50s temperature, and on toward Oregon, hitting the Oregon border mid-morning on Wednesday, only to be greeted with lots of snow and ice and a flashing sign that said, "Chains required from this point on..." There were semi trucks by the dozens and dozens, pulled off to the sides of the road, putting on chains and preparing to enter Oregon. Ditto for automobiles. There was also a bustling business being had by people dressed in orange jumpsuits who were available to install chains for you for $10 per wheel.

The only problem was, we did not have any chains. We decided to chance it anyway and kept going, not heeding the flashing sign telling us we could not do that....only to be stopped shortly inside the Oregon border by the Highway Patrol. My husband explained that we did not have chains but that we have a four-wheel drive SUV. The Highway Patrol guy was great; he simply said, "you've got four-wheel drive. Use it." There was ice and snow everywhere, but Johnny used to work as a professional test car driver, so he is very good in all driving conditions. Additionally, he was part of the Ski Patrol on Mt. Hood for twelve years when we lived in Oregon, so he has had lots of experience driving in snowy conditions.

Southern Oregon was challenging, but we had no problems and continued north throughout the day, arriving at his daughter's house by four in the afternoon. We had stopped Tuesday night in Highland, CA to have a quick dinner with his brother, who told us there was bad weather moving in, so we decided to drive straight through; I drove through California while Johnny slept, and he drove while I slept. We are comfortable with each other's driving, so we really can sleep while the other drives.

I did okay on the trip in terms of food. I had prepared some bottles of watered down chocolate shakes that are 30 calories each, plus I brought along cans of V8, several apples, some almonds, and some Slim Fast 100 calorie bars. The Slim Fast bars are double chocolate and really tasty. Great snack for 100 calories. I screwed up one time on the trip: we stopped at a McDonalds for a pit stop at six or so in the morning after I had been driving all night, and Johnny asked me if I wanted a Sausage Biscuit....and I said yes. Then he said, do you want two? Thank God I said no. I ate that Sausage Biscuit, and I swear that it did not taste as good as I remembered. Unfortunately, I ate it anyway. I blamed my weakness on fatigue. Reeling from the knowledge that the Sausage Biscuit was a lot of calories, I passed on the next food stop and ate only my approved foods the rest of the trip.

It was tough to keep my water levels up. I was ready to beat on my husband because of the problem with potty breaks anyway. He wanted to put me off several times and did. For example, I told him just prior to our approaching The Grapevine (a long winding grapevine type road up and down the mountain) that I needed to stop. He INSISTED that the grapevine took only 15 to 20 minutes and we would stop at the bottom. An hour later, we were still on the Grapevine and he finally stopped. I was ready to scream at him. Then a little later, shortly after we had stopped for gas, he made another stop. I asked, "Why are we stopping so soon?" He said he had to go to the bathroom. I said, "Great. We stop when you need to go, but we keep going when I need to go..." That created a period of silence, but what the heck? It was true. However, he was a little better at stopping for me after that.

Anyway, after ariving and visting his daughter's family and my son's family, we had a good night's rest, which we both desperately needed.

I did some last minute shopping yesterday for my other son's surprise birthday party, and it was great to be there and to see his smile when he saw me there. I had not seen him for six months, and he did not know about the birthday party, nor did he know I was in town; he thought I was coming to Oregon in January. His girlfriend had prepared a great birthday dinner with lots of great appetizers, a really nice dinner, and a birthday cake and ice cream. I managed to pass on the bread, took no seconds of anything, but did have a small piece of birthday cake and some ice cream. I had starved myself all day in preparation for the evening meal, so I think I did pretty well, calorie-wise.

It was so brutally cold when we came out from my son's birthday party. There was ice everywhere: water frozen on the streets, ground and grass frozen, etc. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and a heavy sweater, but it still felt cold. Woke up to 29 degrees this morning, and it never got much warmer than that. I am not accustomed to this cold since I live in Arizona, so I am not having any fun with the weather.

And so far, my good intentions of walking every day are just that: intentions. As I was shivering and procrastinating this afternoon, I found myself admiring those bloggers who have continued to walk and/or run in winter weather. There are lots of people out walking and running here in Oregon, but the cold is just too brutal for me right now.

I guess I have turned into a wuss.