A blizzard hit the I-35 corridor just a couple of hours before we were to set out Christmas Eve to head to Norman. We decided to stay the night and set off Christmas Day. We were prepared for the going to be slow, but we didn't quite realize how icy it would be. Things were tense for the first half of the journey. Sam kept telling me to keep reading so that I wouldn't see the road to criticize his driving and fingernail the dashboard any more than was necessary. I did manage to make it through A Christmas Carol eventually. It was a happy distraction.
Keith's car. It thought snowstorms were far behind it when it migrated South from Poughkeepsie. How wrong you were little Honda.
Here is the view of our house on Christmas Eve while it was still snowing. A White Christmas in Texas: poetic.
Oklahoma rest stop just over the Red River. It took us just over 4 hours to make it approximately 80 miles because yes, that is a solid sheet of ice covering the road.
Winter wonderland.
Just one of at least 200 abandoned vehicles we saw in our whole 180 mile trip. The overwhelming majority were SUVs & pickups for obvious reasons.
Stopping at the IHOP in Ardmore for some R&R. Usually we stop here after an hour and a half on the road. At this point we had been driving for 4 and a half hours with all our muscles completely tensed. We parked so far away because the driveway into the IHOP was really icy.
The Daily Ardmorite newsstand was drifted right up.
Nothing says Christmas like an IHOP.
Just a little biscuit & gravy with sausage & hashbrowns pre-Christmas snack.
This was pretty typical of the drive. Mostly ice with the odd tire-mark helping the cars through the ice.
The Cavalry! 
See above comment about abandoned SUVs. "I've got an SUV! I can drive over anything!"Sam: "Just because you can pick up 6 kids from soccer practice at the same time doesn't mean you can drive on ice like its a regular road."
Victory! 8 hours after setting off. Usually takes 2 and 1/2 to 3.
Megan kindly massaged Sam's poor spazzing calf muscle. It was tighter'n a banjo string.
Glad ya'll survived. I'll share my Christmas Day driving story: I hopped in my truck (cause, you know, it's a rear-wheel drive truck. I can go anywhere!) and drove down to 36th street. Then, I turned left, and went half a mile, going about 25 mph. Then, I turned left again, and then a right in to some virgin snow! Got to drive right through a bitchin' snowdrift which was about 24" deep, then got kinda stuck, but then got unstuck, and drove another 4 feet and was at my parents house. Total time elapsed: 10 min. (usually takes me 5 tho) I didn't take any pictures, but I hear the smile on my face when I knocked on mom and dad's door said it all!
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