A winter memory

The first winter related memory that comes to mind brings back an incident that happen many years ago. I had all but forgotten about it until I read the prompt. I was stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in the state of Washington. It was in the middle of the week, I remember because we were on a Vancouver Run, which meant that myself and a couple of the guys were making a mid week run to Vancouver BC to have a bit of fun.



We left the base shortly after we had finished work for the day. Luckily we were not on the duty detail so we were free until the next work period. As we made our way to Vancouver the weather had started to take a turn for the worst, a snow storm was building up. Things were touch and go as we passed cars that had ran off the road. By now you could not tell where the pavement ended, or where the snow covered mud began. Fortunately a Greyhound type bus was headed in the same direction we were going. It had little trouble makings its way through the snow, and so we followed it until we were able to make it on our own. We made it to Vancouver and had a great time.



That would be a neat little story except it is not complete. On the way back I became very tired and sleepy while driving through the snow. It had started to come down pretty good. I can still recall seeing the snow flakes dancing in the reflective glare of the headlights as they lulled me to sleep. There was little else as scenery other than the snow. Someone volunteered to take the wheel while I took a nap. I reluctantly agreed. As a habit, I never let anyone drive my car, but this was a matter of safety. Off to sleep I went, taking the back seat as my refuge. I had drifted off into another world in no time. After being sound asleep for a while I was awaken by shouts of distress. As I raised my head to see what was going on, all I could see was snow flakes pressed against the windows as we spun out of control in what seemed like a never ending spiral.



We finally came to a complete stop and everyone got out of the car. Luckily we did not hit anything . I was very relieved. I said, Okay I will take it from here, and then I looked around, and said to myself, "where exactly is here"? There were no cars coming or going, everything was heavily covered with snow and the worst part was that there was no definite way to determine which direction we were previously headed. So we had to back track the spiral in the snow. I will never forget that night. It was a 50/50 chance of getting it right, fortunately that is what happen. It was miles and miles of anguish before we were able to determine if we were on the way back to the base, or on the way back to Vancouver BC. Thank God we made the right choice.