One of the most memorable events in recent years was the big cold wave in February 2021. I had a business trip to Texas at the wrong time and was scheduled to drive there and back.
When we arrived in Texas after a 30-hour drive each way with two drivers, we were surprised at how cold it was, even though we knew that a cold wave was coming. The maximum daytime temperature was something like minus 5 degrees Celsius, and everything we saw was frozen, not snow, but frozen branches that were so heavy that they broke off at the root and hit the car, crushing it to the level of a crippled car, a sight I had never seen before.
It was a battle against the cold and ice, completely different from the hot Texas where the temperature usually exceeds 40 degrees Celsius in the summer.
It did not snow while we were there, so we were able to move around, but we had a hard time seeing everyday situations in some parts of the country that we were there to observe.

When I woke up on the last day of my five-day stay, I said, "I should have left yesterday! I said to myself. I should have gone home yesterday! I was driving a rental car with normal tires, not even a 4x4. Can I go home? I wondered first. But the day after tomorrow, I have many appointments at stores in California. I had to make it there.
I searched for the best route using a weather map app and other things.

The shortest route from my current location in Dallas to California is to take the I-40 through Oklahoma, Amarillo, and Albuquerque, but the cold weather is coming down. The temperature was minus 17 degrees Celsius in the morning and there were rain clouds. We were completely stuck and couldn't move.
On the other hand, the San Antonio side to the south was still 5 degrees Celsius with little snow.
We took the longest route possible, taking the big road south from San Antonio, through El Paso near the Mexican border, and then through Texas to New Mexico.
However, the road to the south was already covered in snow and ice, and more than 30 trailers and regular cars had spun out and were stranded on the side of the road.
The speed limit was 30 to 40 miles per hour.
As we drive along, we keep an eye on the weather map, but a cold wave of -20 degrees Celsius is approaching from the north.
El Paso, on the border with Mexico, is the southernmost point through Texas. When the -20°C cold wave hits there, we are stuck.
Watching dozens of spun-out cars, we drove on with a sense of urgency, knowing that in 10 seconds we might be in the same situation.

Texas is a big place. This route actually took us 24 hours to reach El Paso, the exit to Texas.
The snow was getting heavier and heavier, and we had no choice but to get off the freeway when we hit the mountains and ran out of road. As night fell, the headlights illuminated the two lines in front of me (the tire tracks of the car in front of me), and I just kept driving, hoping that I wouldn't slip, being very careful not to step off the tracks.
Finally, I couldn't see the lights of the car in front of me anymore, and the two lines I had been relying on started to disappear. I couldn't tell where the road was anymore. The windshield wipers began to freeze and lose their function. The windshield froze and my vision was reduced to the size of my palm.
The next thing I knew, I felt like I was floating up in the air. The car, which was supposed to be driving straight, was moving in parallel. It was as if I was in a state of weightlessness.
I thought, "It's over."

But miraculously, I was able to steer the car again. For a moment, I could see myself waiting in the car for rescue.
I saw a lot of lights ahead of me. A traffic jam. Compared to the situation where I was completely isolated, I was quite relieved. Just knowing that there were other people was a relief.
We were stuck there for two hours, not knowing if it would be two hours, four hours, or forever, and we began to feel uneasy.

We could see the lights of the gas stations and everyone was going into them. All three of the large gas stations are out of gas. There were probably over a thousand cars here, all waiting for the end of their lives.
We were lucky that we were in traffic from the moment we floated up. Otherwise, we wouldn't have made it through that mountain. A lot of cars were driving slowly in groups, so we made it here without slipping.
So what to do now? There were two options. One is to stay here and wait until morning. That's what everyone does. The other is to move forward.

I chose to move forward. There are two reasons. One is the weather map. The cold air from the north and the rain clouds from the south are intersecting over our current location. If we continue into the morning, we could be stuck at this gas station for a couple of days as the snow accumulation increases and we get stuck.
Secondly, from my experience, if there are several big cars in front of you, you can follow the two lines behind them and you won't slip.Second, if there are several big cars in front of you, you can follow the two lines behind them. There was no time to be stuck. So we did it.

Luckily, I had a rental car, a Chrysler minivan with 130 miles on it, with stock tires but good Yokohama tires. Depending on the condition of the car and the tires, the result might not have been the same.
A few hours later, we entered El Paso at dawn and the temperature rose quickly. The current location on the weather map in the photo is the moment when we will soon be out of the cold wave.
After this, I watched the movie Deep Impact again. I think it was the real Deep Impact.

After more than 40 hours of driving, I made it home safely, but I'll be watching the weather forecast carefully on future business trips.