Trip to Iowa City

I set out for Iowa yesterday morning at about breakfast time; I had an ENT appointment at the UI Hospitals, a place which I have gotten to know better since I got old. From Galesburg it is 40 minutes up to Quad Cities and from there about 60 west to Iowa City; there has been snow and ice but the roads seemed to be ok and it was sunny.

The first indication that there had been trouble was outside of Galesburg, where a truck cargo crate lay open on the shoulder, the truck itself not there. But the real trouble was in Iowa, west of Davenport, where I saw trucks pulled over and abandoned; cars in the ditch; cars on the shoulder, abandoned; cars in the median abandoned; a truck facing the wrong way on the shoulder, abandoned; I even saw cars abandoned on the shoulder, that had been plowed on top of - not going anywhere soon, I guess?

This carried on all the way into Iowa City, where I found the ramp, and the ENT, after getting lost a couple of times. I was curious about why they would have so much trouble towing anything out of there. The roads, as I drove, were ok, and it was only about twenty. The drifts of plowed snow were packed solid I'm sure, so that once you went off the road you'd have trouble getting back on, and I'm sure the tow trucks were aware of that. There was evidence that some cars had gone down in the low spots and driven around for a while trying to get back on the road, unsuccessfully. My guess was that they'd been told to abandon out of concern for their personal safety in fifteen-below weather, and that the IDOT would rather have their cars sit there three or four days, as long as they weren't in the road itself, and let the cold snap pass through.

In the hospital the ENT had got their signals crossed and a bunch of tests and surgery preparation that I'd been promised never took place. In fact, because of some problems, they said, it took them two hours just to see me. They did however confirm that I was ready for my cochlear implant, and they promised to call and set up appointments soon. I ended up somewhat disappointed, with hree hours waiting with not much to show for it.

And, the whole time, I worked my phone, where weather reports showed another snow coming through. Great. I read the reports over and over until I found out that it would come any minute; it would only be an inch or two total; it would blow around in high winds all evening; and it would never really get below zero though eight or ten is cold enough. When I left (I'd missed lunch) I was spit out of the hospital back on Melrose, in a part of Iowa City I don't know very well, and I ended up back on 218 and getting straight on the interstate back home. I was starving but anxious and I decided to hightail it before the snow got worse.

But now I had another problem. My car chose this particular day to run out of wiper fluid, and it was a day I really needed it. The snow was not very wet but had disrupted visibility. The salt and dust kicked up by the trucks quickly made my windshield hard to see out of. I squinted as hard as I could to stay behind whatever truck was immediately in front of me.

It occurred to me, as I was driving, that there had to be a reason that I-80 from Iowa City to Davenport has become bumper-to-bumper over the last thirty years since I was up here last. My theories are 1) popularity of world's biggest truck stop in Wolcott; 2) high road taxes or weight restrictions in southern Minnesota, or whatever would be the east-west competition for 80, or some combination of the above. Is it mostly trucks? And if not, is there a reason ordinary people like myself want to be on the road? My friend in Iowa City says locals have begun to take the back roads (6) even though I can tell you it's not exactly a straight shot.

Going back, the same thing. Two cars, up on two wheels, belly facing traffic. A truck backwards on the shoulder, facing traffic. Cars off in the shoulder or way off the road. Abandoned. In one case, I saw a tow truck working on ssomething. One. There were about fifty others, abandoned.

There had been one good thing that happened that gave me hope. UI Hosps in general hadn't come out looking good. But as I pulled down the icy parking ramp, and pulled a little too far at the machine where I'd have to insert my ticket and scan my code, the woman working there noticed that I was on the edge of tears, and offered to just do it for me. My hands shaking, I gave her the ticket and scan code and she did it. I was so grateful! It saved me from backing up on icy pavement, with a car right behind me.

On 80, I had to pull over twice to use snow to wash my windshield. I needed gas, and considered buying antifreeze and putting it in myself, but I held out until Illinois and by then the roads were much clearer; one more snow-wash of the windhield at the Casey's in Andover, and I made it home ok. With fewer trucks on the road, less traffic in general, I can see just fine out a dirty window. But I have trouble at home trying to read anything. My eyes are just plain worn out.