Iceland: The Day I Didn't Die

 From Tuesday, September 21

Turns out I did my math correctly.  Currently gusting to 71 mph in Hofn, where I am at the moment.  What a day it’s been.  I’m beyond exhausted.

Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

This morning I got up early because I was supposed to be at Jokulsarlon Lagoon at 9:30.  It looked like it should take about 50 minutes, but I didn’t want to be late, so I got up and headed straight there, with the plan to cook breakfast when I arrived at the lagoon.  By the time 9:00 rolled around it was raining pretty good, and was pretty windy.  About 9:20, a guy from the company showed up.  Kayak tour was cancelled due to weather, and due to the fact weather wasn’t supposed to be great in the area the next couple of days either, they weren’t rebooking.  Bummer.  This was the ONE thing I had booked pre-trip.  My plan for the day had been just the kayak tour, and walking up and down Diamond Beach, plus the 200 or so kilometers to where I planned to spend the night.  I did walk out to Diamond Beach and spent about 5 minutes there.  Overall what a disappointing morning, because it could have been such a fantastic time on another day that wasn’t weather crazy.

Diamond Beach - Named for the ice pieces that end up on the beach.

I made it to Hofn around lunchtime.  Not that it really means anything, because I really don’t stop for lunch.  It is just a good time marker.  I refueled my van and drove around town.  During WWII the Allies had a base here.  It was a good place for refueling planes, plus allowed them to keep an eye on the seas.  I can’t imagine they saw too much up here.  It is also historically an important fishing town.  There is a certain fishy smell down here.  It could have been because it was obviously low tide, or maybe there is a fish market that I missed.  

Hofn

I then headed out of town toward Djupivogur, where I intended to spend the night.  I could tell it was windy outside because of the grass to the side of the road, but I didn’t feel it much (obviously it was going in the same direction as me).  Much of the Ring Road at this point is right on the edge of the land.  There is maybe a quarter mile wide area in some places between the cliffs and the ocean.  Just as I was pulling out of the gas station in Hofn, I saw a police car go speeding out of town.  I didn’t think anything of it.  7km outside of town there is a tunnel.  As I was passing through the tunnel, an ambulance passed by me.  Another 15 km or so down the road an off-roading emergency vehicle passed me.  Man, there must be an accident up here somewhere.  A few minutes later a fire truck passes me.  Wow, wonder when I’ll come across whatever it is?  I could see the ocean was looking pretty nasty.  Huge waves, dangerous waves.  Probably at least 20 feet high.  ThenI come around a bend where the road goes from heading east to north. The wind hit me immediately and jerked my van.  My heart raced.  And I dropped my speed down about 15 kph (4mph).  I was crawling and the wind would hit me and speed me up.  I think at that point I didn’t really know what to do.  But then a decision was made for me, thank goodness!  The fire truck that passed me told drove (very slowly) straight at me and then pulled up next to me and said the road was closed.  He told me to turn around and he would follow behind me.  There were two other vans in front of me that had been turned around too.  Then the off-road emergency vehicle made an appearance (I’m not sure where he was hiding) and started following behind too.  We hit two other cars that were turning around.  Eventually I passed one of the vans (the other one was behind me) because she was going at 30kph and I thought I could deal with 40-50.  I slowly made my way back to Hofn, because the wind was bad going back.  I was so stressed.  Every once in a while a big gust would come.  I was driving down the middle of the road because I figured there was no way a gust could blow me that far off the road, and it was obvious that there were no more cars coming to worry about.  When I made it back to the tunnel I knew I was getting close.  It didn’t get any better after passing through though.  Obviously the wind had picked up since I left.  Then I see an emergency vehicle sitting sideways across the road and I knew I was almost to the turnoff into Hofn.  I started crying because I was absolutely exhausted and shaking and scared and relieved.  I had passed the campsite earlier so I knew where it was, pulled in around 4 and checked in for the night.  I can’t imagine I’m going to get much sleep tonight because the wind isn’t supposed to drop below 20 m/s (45 mph) until midnight, and it isn’t going to be below 10 m/s (22 mph) until 6am tomorrow.  By 9 it should be back in the 4-8 m/s range. So Today is the day I didn't die. Thank goodness! And I got an outlet in the camp common space so I could recharge everything.