Snowed-in in AZ?

Our friends Pete & Jess joined us for the ride home to AZ. We made good time, 12 hours, and hit no weather on the way up, so even though the car was overly packed, we knew we would have a fun ride home. We stopped in Santa Fe for lunch and a little shopping, and were making good time. It was snowing in Santa Fe, enough to be beautiful and not a nuisance. So we hit the road again. As we crossed the AZ line, we could see some weather coming. But it is AZ, right? No problem. Actually, big problem. Driving through Holbrook, they had received 10 inches of snow, and the ground was covered. We had just missed the storm, and thought we were in the clear. However, just outside Payson, about an hour from home, there was a cop blocking the highway. Closed due to black ice. Seriously? Totally. So we took an alternate route, that should have only added an extra 45 minutes to the trip. Irritating, yes, but we were all tired of being in the car at this point. We drove around Roosevelt lake, and through Globe, into Miami (not FL, that would have been more than a 45 minute detour, dummy), and traffic was stopped on the highway. After waiting 30 minutes, we found out 2 semis jack knifed on the highway, and the road was closed for the night. Hhhhhmmmmmm. What now? Dinner at Mcdonald's, and a talk with a cop, we decided our 3rd route through Winkleman and up through Superior may be risky. So we bunked in a seedy motel for the night. We checked into the internet after we settled in, and roads were closed in every direction. If we had tried going through Flagstaff (3 hours out of the way) we also would have been stranded. The next morning roads were clear, and the sun was shining. Typical. Our 12 hour trip turned into 31. It is a good thing we liked our company.