Winter Weather

It has been a week now since I started this post, and have attempted to finish it several times, and whether it has been that other things have gotten in the way, or I just haven't felt like finishing it, but I know it needs to be journaled, so here goes....
Last week was our Stake Temple Week, and each member who could was asked to put in 8 hours at the temple during the week. I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that, but I wanted to go at least once. So last Wednesday, February 13th, Chris and I went and did a 2pm session at the temple. Mom had come down to watch Aynsli, and was going to spend the night, because we were hoping to go back Thursday morning. Well, needless to say, that didn't happen.....We left the temple at 4:15pm to make the 10 mile drive home. If we had known what lay ahead, I am sure we would have done something different. For those of you who live in Utah, let me remind you, that day was the day of the horrible snow storm in Utah County. That should be enough said, but I will go on....it was blowing and snowing when we left the temple--blowing MUCH more than it was snowing. The first 3 miles or so weren't too bad at all, and we covered them in about 10 minutes. To make a LONG story short for those who don't want to continue reading, it took us 20 hours to cover the next 7 miles.

When we turned left onto S.R. 92, also known as Alpine Highway, we were in for an unbelieveable adventure, if that is even the right term. The highway is one lane in each direction for the most part, and we knew we were heading into some evening commute traffic, but we had NO idea the snow and 70 mph winds would keep us literally inching along for the next several hours. The blowing wind was CRAZY and was the cause of most of the problems. We got into a minor fender bender within the first 15 minutes or so--a large work truck was trying to pass us to turn right, and there just wasn't enough room, and he ended up hitting us in the back. The winds were so bad we didn't even get out to inspect the damage, just traded insurance info, and proceeded to inch forward. It took us literally hours to move the next 4 miles, and was the craziest thing I have ever experienced in driving. We listened to the radio during the news hours, and got minor updates, but nothing that could really tell us what was going on ahead. We watched it go from light to dusk to dark, and the winds continued to whip fiercely around us. We saw several cars passing us going east, and couldn't figure out why if the road was closed, which we had heard, that they could be moving so easily, and we were at a dead stand still. Not being nearly as familiar as we should be with some of the side roads, and knowing we were only a few miles from home, we decided to just sit and wait, because we didn't think turning around would do us any good. Finally about 9:30pm we saw a guy in reflective gear walking up the road in our direction. We didn't know who he was, but Chris flagged him down, and he came over to talk to us. We found out that he was a tow truck driver, and had left his truck a mile down the road, at the turn off they were forcing every one to take, and had been walking for an hour and a half up the road, alerting police to those cars that had been just left abandoned in the middle of the road, which was preventing much of our movement. Chris told him our circumstances, which certainly weren't dire, but were becoming a little more concerning. It was now nearly an hour past time for my medication, and I didn't have any with me--yes I carry it in my purse, but we were just going to the temple, and would be home HOURS before I needed it!! He radioed the police, and let them know there was a pregnant woman who needed some assistance, and stayed with us until the police came. Mind you, I was not the only pregnant woman, and was certainly in a lot better shape than the other 2 that I know of. One of who was actually in labor, and from what I heard, ended up having her baby on the road somewhere. The other one was also a 32 weeker, but her car had rolled, and was covered with snow, and she had opened her window and was all wet, and not doing so well. They got to her as well, and apparently she is now fine. For me, being with Chris was certainly a HUGE help, and I now that leaving him that night was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. The police came and got me at 10pm, and if we had had 4 wheel drive would have let Chris follow him down, but without it, the van never would have made it. It was just over a mile to center street, which is where they were making everyone turn, so we couldn't even get to our turn off at Traverse Mountain, and I cannot even begin to describe the chaos that we encountered. Back where we were in line, it was just a traffic back up--everyone single file in line in the west bound lanes, and occasional cars coming eastbound. But that mile down the road, and it was a virtual parking lot. You had cars 5 lanes wide--there are only 2 lanes, and many of them had just been left abandoned in the middle of the road, which was preventing those behind from going anywhere. We encountered snow plows trying to plow the east bound lanes so the traffic could get through, and cars trying to follow the plows,--we navigated around cars and had to stop twice to push stuck cars out of the way just so we could get through. The police officer took me to a church which was about 4 blocks south on center street, and which was command center for police, medical and search and rescue. This mess had been going on for at least 6 hours, if not longer by this point, and it was an incredible hub of activity. They got me into the church and into a chair, and I sat there for a few minutes, just trying to warm up, calm down, and take in what was going on around me. The chief of police gave me a blanket, and I heard him say that he hadn't seen anything like this in his 25 years of policework. The thing that was most incredible to me was the search and rescue teams. There were at least a dozen of them, and they were going out on snowmobiles, up the road, checking on people. At first they were talking about going and getting Chris and bringing h im down on a snowmobile, which would have been an adventure itself, but from what Chris told me later, they were checking car to car on people, making sure they had sufficient gas, and that their cell phones were still working. It is something I will certainly never forget, and how grateful I am for good men and women who work so hard to protect us and keep us safe. The paramedics came and chatted with me, and I told them I really didn't want to go to the hospital, I just wanted my husband there with me, and they said, we really think you need to go and be checked out. I agreed to let them take my blood pressure, and then decide from there; but really the decision was already made. We got into the ambulance and they took my vitals. My blood pressure was 190/120, so we were off to the hospital.It was about a 15 minute ride to the hospital, and I was amazed that the further south we went, the roads were just wet, and there was hardly any snow. We also were only about 4 blocks from the temple, so in reality we ended up right where we had started. They took me straight up to labor and delivery, where they checked me out and monitored me. I was very dehydrated, but otherwise doing ok. Even my blood pressure was fine-which I couldn't figure out. My nurse was wonderful, and we talked for quite awhile. Shortly after 12:30am they moved me down to a LDR room--I was officially discharged, but they knew that not only could I not get home, but I had no way home, so they moved me to a more comfortable room so I could try to sleep. I was talking to the nurse for several more minutes, and about 1am we heard voices down the hall, and one of the most wonderful things I have ever heard--the voice of my husband. It was 1am, and after 3 hours of separation, he was back with me. We talked for awhile, sharing details of what happened while we were apart, and then settled down to try and sleep. Apparently about midnight traffic started moving--they had gotten enough of the abandoned cars moved, and a plow through one lane, but they still weren't letting traffic down to where we needed to go. So he stopped and got gas, and then made his way to the hospital. We left the hospital about 10am the next morning, went directly to get snow tires, and then headed home. I-15 was flowing fine, but our exit was quite backed up, and we sat there for over 30 minutes. We could see a lot of what was going on--tow truck after tow truck passed us on the off ramp--apparently there were still several cars that had to be towed. We saw a dozen or so snow plows going back and forth, and at the bottom of the exit there was law enforcement stopping each vehicle. Some were allowed to go through, some had to turn around. We were about 15 cars back when things started to move. We could see 5 snowplows, 3 in one lane, 2 in the other, followed by 2 police cars, one in each lane, start up the hill heading east, and traffic free flowing behind them. We found out later from ward members that police were checking IDs, and if you lived in Traverse Mountain they were letting you through, if you were trying to go further east, they were not, because the road still was closed. So what we saw was the opening of the road past Traverse Mountain. Even with all the traffic that had gone into our area, the roads were still awful, and I am grateful we got those snow tires. It was noon when we got home, and I was so happy to be home. We heard later through the day of many of our ward members who also had not made it home. Some had spent the night at the maverick by the freeway, some had spent the night at an elementary school where about 75 kids were stranded. Others had family members in different areas where they were able to stay. Several school children finally made it home by midnight. I would imagine that there are very few people who live up here, who weren't affected in one way or the other by this crazy wild storm. I have included a couple links to articles about the storm, hopefully they are still accessible. I'll tell you this, I already was a NOT a fan of snow and storm driving, and this has certainly intensified those feelings. But at the same time, I am so grateful for the blessings we received, and the saftey and protection we were given. It certainly could have been much worse in many ways.

So now we are off to get those preparedness kits for our car!!


http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695253134,00.html

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2659200