Note: I'm still trying to figure out how to word things carefully when they come to the main reasons why we didn't stay with Jen (as it's still ongoing and I don't want to misrepresent anything if I can help it), so I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut at the moment and instead write about my most recent traumatic exp- er I mean, the drive back from Utah.

The wind was already picking up in Utah at 5:30 in the morning. It was a painfully cold wind, biting at my bare hands as I heaved our luggage into the 4Runner. And, according to all of my weather apps, shit was only gonna get worse the further east we drove, especially in Wyoming. 

But, because I'd more-or-less cried wolf on the way to Utah, there was no point in arguing with my mom any further. She had her mind made up already: we were going back the same way we came. Honestly, I felt a little nauseous about driving back home through Wyoming, as I knew we wouldn't just encounter a little wind and snow. A cold front was making its way through as I was loading up the 4Runner, blasting Wyoming with sub-zero temperatures, a fresh layer of snow, and 60-80 mile-per-hour winds. The weather back home would be nothing like the cold breezes we encountered on the way to Utah. But nothing I could say or do could get my mom to take a different route home.

Things didn't get too interesting till we reached Rock Springs; our first gas stop of the morning. Thankfully, there was no wind, but it was still a painful -5 degrees outside, with dense fog that frosted everything it touched, including the 4Runner's heated windows and mirrors. 

"While I take Toby to go pee, you get the gas pumping and start scraping the frost off the windows and mirrors." I told Mom. 

"Okay." She replied. 

I took Toby across the road to some open prairie near a wide open pasture. Toby wasn't interested in sniffing around very much, but was quick to relieve himself then tug at the leash back towards the truck. I picked him up and put him back on the warmed seat, and gently shut him inside. I half-expected Toby to freak out and bark for me, but instead, he simply curled up in a little ball on his blanket. 

From there, I located the scraper and went to work de-icing the car the best I could. Unfortunately, no matter how much I scraped, it seemed like more frost and ice immediately replaced it. That's when Mom got an idea. 

"Here!" She shouted as she handed me a half-full gallon of antifreeze, "Use this!"

"To do what?" I scowled. 

"Watch!" 

Mom took back the antifreeze and proceeded to splash the frozen side-view mirror with it. But, instead of solving the problem, the antifreeze immediately froze over the side-view mirror, adding another layer of ice to scrape off. 

"Christ..." I sighed as I bowed my head into my hand, "Give me strength."

Mom burst out laughing as she turned bright red with embarrassment. But, I wasn't embarrassed. Rather, I was very concerned about the journey that lay ahead of us. If we couldn't competently defrost the 4Runner, how on earth were we gonna drive through two-hundred miles of blizzard conditions? 

"Mom, I really think we need to go through the mountains." I whined again as I used my fingers to pick the ice off the rear-view mirror.

"Maya." Mom scowled, "We've had this conversation, already, and I've already made up my mind. It's just cold right now, and it's cold in the mountains. I'm glad we're taking this route because there's no ice on the roads here."

I side-eyed my mom with frustrated disappointment. There was, in fact, ice everywhere on those Wyoming roads. Everywhere we stepped there was ice. We were just lucky to have a vehicle that had enough weight and traction to keep us from sliding without any wind. But, I was very worried about what might happen when 60-80 mph crosswinds came into play. Mom, on the other hand? Not at all. She was just annoyed that I kept crying wolf and begging to go through the mountains. 

So, against my better judgement, we pressed on. 

The first signs of real trouble began just after we passed by Point of Rocks, where we exited out of the foothills of Wyoming and onto the exposed, wide-open plains. It began with just the occasional little gust of loose snow, gently drifting across I-80 as we charged down it full-speed. There were still plenty of vehicles traveling easily down I-80 with us, and going toward Utah on the opposite side of the highway. But, conditions rapidly deteriorated, as we sped past Table Mountain towards Red Desert and Wamsutter. 

The winds were starting to impact the semis around us. Some semis weren't just being impacted a little bit. It was easy to tell which trucks were carrying lightweight or nonexistent loads, as those were the ones who were getting pushed into the other lane by the wind. For this reason, more and more vehicles were pulling off at emergency stops and rest areas to wait things out, though we continued still.

I stayed silent, but in my mind, my thoughts were reeling as my anxiety increased. We were nowhere near the official warning areas, yet things were already getting really sketchy. 

"Oh shit..." I thought to myself as Mom finally began to slow down, as gusts of wind blasted us with increasingly heavier snow, "I knew this would fucking happen."