Slip Sliding Away

Perhaps you remember the opening line from "Slip Sliding Away" by Simon and Garfunkel:

Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip sliding away

I discovered this morning just how literally true those words are. Nothing starts your day off quite like doing a three-sixty in the middle of Towanda Avenue and ending up in a cornfield. And I was literally a quarter of a mile from my destination. You could say with 100% accuracy that I went for a spin.

And to answer your question, no, I was not speeding. In fact, I was doing 5-10 under, so lay off the speed demon comments—save them for the good weather when I can REALLY earn that distinction!

Mother Nature seems to have quite the attitude problem as of late. This morning was no exception when she dropped enough light snow on an already slick pavement to give it that extra dash of slippery goodness. I guess Mother Nature gets up earlier than the Town of Normal road crew because it did not appear that a plow or salt truck had yet traversed this road. It was impossible to visually discern that fine line between where the pavement ended and the rocky shoulder began, but my Michelins found it. There was a hardened ridge of ice build-up on the edge of the pavement that kept the tires from easing back onto the pavement. When I was finally able to get all four wheels back on the pavement, I hit an ice patch and started to fishtail—a lot. I always remember Dad's slick weather driving instructions, "When you start to slide, take your foot off the gas and turn the steering wheel in the direction of the skid." And it usually works but not this time. I am truly thankful that it was early enough that only one car was approaching and its driver paying enough to slow down and move as far to the right in their lane as possible. I slid off the shoulder (luckily there was no ditch) into the edge of a cornfield but was able to easily drive back onto the road. Oddly enough, just before this occurred, I was having a little chat with God (mind you, my eyes were open) about how I hadn't felt that close to Him for awhile and wanted to change that. I guess I'd better be more careful what I ask for.

So, to conclude, I'll leave you with the last line of the Simon and Garfunkel tune...

Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip sliding away.

Maybe in more ways than one.