Dicey Driving

So for only the second time in our history of delivering out west we had to delay our delivery run in January.

I hate that ... in fact, if you know me, you know I hate feeling like we're letting our customers down, I hate feeling disorganized and I hate deviating from the plan once it's in place ... however I'd rather deal with all 3 of those things than be dead! 😵

Delivery week is always hectic. Getting all the orders packed and loaded, and organizing all the details is a 3 day job. We usually finish loading the generator and hooking up the truck and trailer around 9 or 10 pm on Wednesday night and then hit the hay for a bright and early 3am Thursday morning wake up call. 🥱

This time was no different but we should have known ...

We should have known already on Wednesday when the snow was melting off the roof as if it was April, and we should have known when we left the yard at 3:30am and the truck and trailer slid down our icy driveway like it was an olympic bobsled track, and we should have known when we were skidding sideways on every curve and hill we encountered but, well, we're stubborn and we hoped it would get better.

It didn't.

I have a special way of judging road conditions.

It's not by checking DriveBC (which incidentally is SO not updated in real time), or by checking the weather channel or even by looking at the roads themselves ... I judge road conditions by watching Rick's face. 

He's a master driver and if he's good I'm good. 

If he's stressed well, then I know it's really bad.

So that morning when my intuition was screaming ...

"The roads are awful, what are we thinking?!"

I kept glancing sideways to read his body language. 

His jaw was clenched. 

His brow was furrowed. 

His coffee was untouched.

That was enough for me. After watching him successfully pull us out of a sideways skid for the fourth time in less than a 1/2 hour, I ventured a suggestion ... "Maybe we should reschedule this trip rather than chance the roads any further."

"Well that'd be better than dying!" he snapped back at me. 😳

Ummm ... pardon me?!?!?!

I could have taken this moment to point out that a night of freezing rain was not exactly my fault. Nor was it my fault that the highways trucks had not been out sanding the roads yet. Nor was it even my fault that our pre-planned delivery day coincided with the worst road conditions so far this winter.

I could have ...

... but I let it go.

 After nearly 25 years of marriage I've learned that sometimes the things you don't say are even more important than the things you do. Besides, I could see the stress oozing from every pore in his body and we all have our less than stellar moments.

He pulled into a parking lot in Telkwa and we made the call,

turned the truck around, and started the nail biter drive back to the farm.

On our way back we met not 1 but 2 ambulances headed back the direction we had just come from. That was enough confirmation for me.

🚑

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig.

We were thankful to make it back safely but what we were MOST thankful for was all of the care and concern shown to us by all of YOU! Thank you so much for your understanding!

We love having you as customers and we love being your farmers!

🥰