Icy Roads Make For Interesting Drives

It rained last night.

I hadn’t seen rain this late in the month in years. But that was Malta and this is Livingston where it’s no surprise. In Malta today there’s a winter storm warning that calls for freezing rain and ice accumulation.

That’s always fun.

A couple of years ago Barb and I were headed south on 191 when we slid on ice halfway down the hill to the river. The road had been bare and dry until then. It was a puckering moment, but we were headed straight again when we reached the bridge.

Freezing rain makes it treacherous to even step outside where it coats every surface with ice. It’s typically snow that covers the ground by now.

I talked to my friend Debra last week. She lives on the Loring Colony 40 miles north of Malta. She said it had been bitterly cold and it was snowing.

But it’s often like that in the big, wide open country that Debra’s mother calls “out here and gone.”

Barb and I would always expect sketchy road conditions when we drove up there for the colony school’s Christmas program. It was 40 miles of lonely 191, then five miles of gravel, and always worth the trip.

We always drove a large 4-wheel-drive with relatively good tires. Carried chains and a shovel.

Now we’re driving our Mini convertible (with the top up) on mostly dry streets in Livingston.

While it’s hard to complain about such balmy winter weather, this doesn’t bode well. Fire and smoke, rivers closed to fishing, and poor crops often follow more tolerable winters.

I suppose I should get used to it and no longer think of this as an anomaly, accept the pleasant weather for what it is and not a cover for something else.

But with a place on a lake fed by the Missouri River, I’d sure like to see enough snow to float my boats.

By now ice-covered Malta has probably begun to thaw. The temperature is expected to reach 42, a veritable heat wave on the Hi-line.

At the colony I’ll bet it’s in the single digits, lightly snowing with a slight breeze. That’s a reliable forecast up there most days in the winter.

Given a little time, it should cover the entire state.

Safe travels.

Merry Christmas.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]