It makes for a good story- Road trip home from Iowa

So, here is the story of our long and laborious journey home from Iowa. On Christmas Eve, Mount Vernon got close to a foot of new snow. No snowing on Christmas Day and the forecast looked clear for us to drive home on the 26th. We left the Cardon's house at 5am and headed toward I-80 to bring us all the way back to Salt Lake. It was pretty clear right away that no one had wanted to pay the overtime for snow plows to be out on Christmas Day and it was slow going toward Iowa City on snow-packed roads. Right before we hit 80 Caleb and I had a conversation about whether or not we should fill up with gas before heading further, since it is winter and my dad taught me not to let the tank get much below half in the winter in Iowa. Caleb decided not to stop.
We turned onto the on ramp (from Highway 1 for all you Iowa folk) and about half down it started to accelerate and hit a solid patch of ice at which point we start fishing tailing. This being the first time we had driven the minivan for more than a mile, Caleb over corrected, and we started swerving out of control. We ended up headed perpendicular to the road and deep into the snow filled ditch. It was a 45 degree drop and about 2 feet of snow in the lowest point, our front tires were only about 2 feet from the shoulder, but it was pretty obvious we were stuck. Gavin was the only one who woke up for this, and he was a bit freaked out, but relaxed once we realized we were all ok. Caleb decided he was going to get out and try to push (yeah right). We tried it, but we were really stuck.
Finally we called Denice and Jeff, and asked about AAA and Rich's truck, and told them where we were. Caleb was pretty hopped up and having a hard time sitting still so he got out a few times to try and figure something out. During this whole time almost everyone who came down that stretch with any speed would start fish tailing making us wonder if we were going to get hit sitting in the ditch. There was already another car about 15 yards away that looked like it had been there over night, and one women also went in the ditch about 30 minutes after us. Caleb tried walking up the road to try and wave people to slow down, (since he was ansy), but the whole time I thought he was going to get hit by a car and it was about 7 degrees out. He finally got back in.
Jeff, Denice and Brennan then showed up to help us, with shovels and sand etc. It was quickly decided that we weren't getting anywhere without a tow truck, so Jeff called AAA. We had to wait and hour for the tow truck, but when it finally came it was quick work to pull us out. When the tow truck was hooked up to the van, Henry woke up and looked around and finally asked, "Why are we stopped here?" (very annoyed at us). Gavin told him we were in the ditch and he then had to start an argument with his brother that we were not in the ditch, we were stopped in a snow pile. We can always count on Henry to be contrary for us.
We made it out, and the front tire was leaking air, and we realized getting on the interstate that we had to go somewhere and see what damage the van had sustained. When we hit 55 mph the car was shaking out of control. We looked up a Firestone that the tow truck driver had suggested, and called to find out that they were open. We drove to it, and even though it was 8am on a Sunday, they said they couldn't get us in until 3pm. Caleb called Sears and they said they could get us in right away, so we drove back 15 minutes to where we had been and waited at Sears for an hour for a tire patch, alignment, and for them to remove all of the loads of packed snow and ice that were surrounding the back tires and axle (causing the shaking). $100 later we were on our way.
We decided that we had better try out luck heading home and see how far we could get. We left Iowa City and 10:30am, so much for an early start.
It was smooth sailing until the border of Nebraska and Wyoming, we were feeling cocky about making good time after our rough start, and it was starting to get dark. Out of no-where just past Cheyenne, WY we started to see every sign lit up warning us of "Severe High Winds" and they were not kidding. Shorting after that they signs added "Danger- Black Ice." Awesome. And then "Blowing Snow." It was a white-knuckle drive from there to Utah. Of course, it didn't help that we had been up since 4:30am, or that we had already gone of the road once that day, or that it had to be one of the darkest nights in all of Wyoming winter. The roads were also eerie with the snow blowing across and over the road like we were driving through a cloud, and the wind was blowing so hard that it was a struggle to move the car forward at times.
I ended up feeling quite car sick from being so tense and having to eat junk to stay awake behind the wheel. Lucky for me Caleb had a Dr Pepper and since he never drinks caffeine he was at least awake enough to feel safe driving.
We finally made it home at 4:30am MST, and fell into bed as quickly as we could for a few hours before the boys decided to get up and celebrate the fact that we were home. Through the whole thing, they were such good sports, even Wyatt, who usually loathes the car. Having the van was a huge blessing since on of us could sit next to Wyatt and help him be more comfortable. I was amazed that the boys hardly even asked when we would get home.
There was once awesome moment at a truck stop in Nebraska when I was getting the boys drinks and Gavin yelled across MacDonalds, "Get me a Mountain Dew!" (which we can get without caffeine in Utah) That got us a few bad-parenting looks from other customers.
My advice, stay away from Wyoming in winter... oh yeah, and maybe wait another day after Christmas to leave when snow is involved.