Interview Trail: Kalamazoo & Detroit

Knowing that it was supposed to be bad, but not quite understanding exactly how bad was "bad," we set off for Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the middle of one of the biggest snow storms in Minnesota. With already at least a foot of freshly fallen snow on the ground, our neighbor had to plow us out of our driveway, and then we were on our way. The kids snacked on Cheerios and raisins (without a care in the world) while Erik slowly made our way out onto the freeway. The road was only partially plowed and most of the on and off ramps were not even touched, making getting on or off the freeway almost impossible. Luckily we made it on and with hardly any visibility, we slowly made our way to Michigan.

The journey seemed to take forever and that's probably because we never knew where we were. We couldn't see signs and could hardly see the road. Thank goodness for GPS! In this picture (below), you can barely make out the sign on the right side of the road. It was so bad! You didn't even know that you were approaching a car until you were practically on top of them! Very dangerous conditions. The thought of stopping and staying over night crossed my mind, but I knew that it would be just as bad in the morning, and Erik had an interview dinner that night that he really needed to try to make.

I was so thankful for Erik and for all of the experience he has had driving in snow and ice. There was one time when a semi caused us to fishtail on a bridge and if I would have been driving, I'm 100% sure that we would be dead. However, Erik was able to get things under control and I have no idea how he did it and stayed so calm in the process! It was such a wild ride that Skogen got car sick and threw up all over the car, himself, and me a few minutes later. I stripped both of us down and we kept trucking along, Skogen in his diaper, me in my undies. There were several accidents along the way, the worst involving a bus and a semi. I actually couldn't believe that there weren't more and I feel that there is nothing I could say that would accurately portray or describe this experience.

We stopped to eat lunch in Madison, Wisconsin, where the snow had finally let up. I cleaned up a bit, fed Klaasen, we ate lunch, and gassed up. When we got back on the road an hour later, the car started acting very funny. It was acting like we were running out of gas, however we had just gassed up. We made a call to my dad who knew exactly what was wrong and he suggested that we add something called, "Heet," to the gas tank. We stopped at the next truck stop to get some Heet and while Erik was in there purchasing some, the car actually died. Ah! This was not the time for car troubles! Erik added the Heat to the gas tank and the car started right up. My dad told us that it would take a while for the Heet to take effect, so I took over the driving while Erik took over the napping. I slowly noticed the car getting better and better the further we went. I got us to Chicago, where we switched drivers again. Erik then took us into Kalamazoo where we checked into a very nice Radisson (thank you, Kalamazoo EM program!) in pouring down rain and Erik was only 30 minutes late to his dinner!

After one night in Kalamazoo and a day of interviews, the storm found us again! Just in time for us to head out and go to Detroit for Erik's next two interviews, it started snowing. The snow, mixed with the ice from all the rain the day before, made for a miserable drive to Detroit. Erik did a great job, again, of getting us there safely, despite all the challenges the weather provided. Honestly, I have never felt so scared driving in a snow storm before.

We are now in Detroit and have been here for two nights. Erik is interviewing at two different hospitals here and then tomorrow we will head off again! Our next stop will be Omaha and I'm praying for better weather and driving conditions. The kids have been perfect through everything. They are great at entertaining themselves and have really enjoyed using the swimming pools and hot tubs in the hotels. They have also been sleeping very well at night and have actually slept in until 11:00 both of the last two mornings! Erik has had to be up by 5:30 to get ready for interviews, but I have been able to wake up with him and then go back to sleep. It's been great catching up on my sleep!