My Snow Ordeal

I didn't take these photos myself, but they have been floating around and now I am "borrowing" them...

There is so much to tell about last Tuesday. The thought of writing it all down is overwhelming to me. I have heard stories that were worse than mine - 12, 15, 20 hours in a car. I had a 7 hour nightmare and I still can't seem to get it out of my head.

Ok - here it goes.

My biggest panic - I couldn't reach my child. That was absolute worst part of that day. Once I finally had her, it was still difficult and scary, but she was at least with me.

Doug flew out to Tampa last Monday afternoon. Already, the flight he had booked for Tuesday afternoon was canceled as he was sitting on the plane waiting to take off. I knew something was amiss, but I also thought it could be an overreaction. Georgians have a tendency to do that. The local weather forecasters were saying the "storm" was going south of where I live. South of Atlanta. I might get a "dusting" in my neck of the woods. The airport is about 45 minutes south of where I live, so I figured that is probably why flights were being canceled.

That morning, schools were open. I watched the local weather report. (The Weather Channel had actually predicted snow at 10AM the night before - but I decided to listen to the local stations. Never happening again.) They said it might get up to an inch but it most likely wouldn't happen until the afternoon. I sent Bri in to school but knew I'd probably be getting her early. If I had known any differently, I would have never sent her in the first place. School was called to be let out at 12:45PM. It started to flurry at 10AM and the local forecasters started saying  - "oh it's snowing earlier now!" Well, duh. And a lot can happen in two hours. I figured it would be fine though because I was only about 8 minutes away from B's school and it wasn't snowing THAT hard. But around 11 - it started to snow harder. I was so incredibly wrong about not going to pick her up earlier. This is where I can say I blame myself a bit. Just a little bit.

When I headed out before noon, I was moving along the two lane road. Then I wasn't. Traffic just stopped. And to this very minute, I am not sure why we stopped. I am not sure if the hill we needed to go up over iced that quickly or if a wreck happened and that caused delay. I sat for about a half an hour. I finally heard from a bus driver coming the other way (that was turning around) that there was a 12 car pile up ahead. But, I'm not sure that was the truth. I tried to turn around, but the traffic blocked the road going back toward my house too. So I turned around again and waited. I would rather be going toward Bri than away. We inched toward that hill. I started calling people. My hubby in Tampa, my parents, my friends. I was stuck and couldn't get to Bri. I asked the few cars going opposite of me if I could get to the school. I started to cry a bit too. I asked one man coming opposite of me if I could get to the school. He said I could if I could get over the hill. I then asked if I should turn around. He said I wasn't getting anywhere that way either now. I was stuck. We inched and inched toward the hill that I needed to go up over. Some good samaritans were trying to help guide people one at a time over the hill. I had two school buses in front of me. After inching for 2.5 hours, one bus finally got over the hill but the bus in front of me couldn't and neither could I. I tried and tried but my wheels just spun - I tried every setting. I tried backing up and gunning it. Nothing. I finally pulled over and the woman behind me couldn't get up it either. The road had not been pretreated. It was a sheet of ice by the time I got to it. Even Northerners can't drive on pure ice.

I was really scared and wasn't sure what my next move should be. I was worried that Bri was wondering where I was. My parents and I were calling the school to ask for updates but they knew nothing. It was more like we were giving them updates. I asked one of the good samaritans if I should just park and walk to the school and he shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know. No one knew anything.

I never saw one cop. One salt truck. One DOT person. Nothing. If the main highways were slick and jamming (which I didn't really know at the time), who was going to care about this two lane country road. Right? We were totally on our own. I had no husband to call to even try to pick up Briana. My family all lives 40 minutes to an hour away. Everyone around the school was struggling to get their kids and were stuck too. People with golf carts and ATVs were going to get their kids and neighbors' kids.

I finally decided to get out of the car. I grabbed Bri's beloved Pink Baby and a stuffed dog, our two iPads and my purse and started walking up the hill in the snow. I had no idea what was going to happen to the traffic behind me. Either they got up the hill or they would have to pull over too. And it was cold. I was dressed warmly - but not really good enough to hike in the snow. I knew I had quite a walk ahead of me. Probably a twenty minute walk with no snow - much longer in snow. My dad was on the phone with me and was suggesting that I wave someone down, but everyone was panicked. I'm not sure someone would have stopped.

As I started walking, I remained calm. I remained calm the entire time from at that point on. I knew I was getting to Bri and that was what I needed to do.

I walked for a couple of minutes and came across a man sitting on the side of the road and he looked like he was waiting for someone. I was scared, but I walked up to his window and asked if he could take me down to my daughter's school. He was so unbelievably nice. The nicest person I had come across that day. He was waiting for his wife that left her car at the preschool she works at because she couldn't get out. She was hiking to him. He said I could sit in the backseat of his car and and warm up if I didn't mind waiting for his wife - he would drive me. She arrived just two minutes later and she was as nice as he was. They were my angels.

He drove me over to the school, I wished them luck and I hiked across the parking lot to get Briana. I was so happy to see people that I recognized. I ran into Bri's kindergarten teacher as I was walking in and she was going to attempt to go the opposite way from my house. I don't even know if she could even get home. Briana was called to the front office and I gave her the biggest hug. She was in good spirits. I was so happy to see her. She knew something was up, but the school shielded her from the panic that was going on. I told her to sit with her iPad while I tried to figure out who might be able to come get us.

I called my friend V and asked if her husband J could come get me (he had to go to his kids' school and pick them up - they go to a nearby school). While she was trying to get a hold of him, I called my friend/neighbor L as a back up. In the meantime, V called me back and I cut L off. V said J could come to get us - he had a four wheel drive and he had dropped his kids at home. I called Doug and my parents to update. And in the meantime, cellphone lines were jammed and I couldn't get a signal at times. I forgot to call poor L back. Finally, I saw J pull up and I was so happy.

We knew we couldn't go back the way I came due to the ice, so we tried to maneuver on other streets. We did well for a while, but when we came around the other side of the two lane road my neighborhood sits off of, once again, we stopped. We sat for two hours. Bri was an angel the entire time. Luckily, J had juice pouches and a power bar in the car for Briana. I left the drinks I had in my car. One of my close friends/neighbors called me and she was ahead of us on the road. She had been driving for 6 hours trying to get home too. She said there was a bad 6 car wreck right past my n'hood entrance, but we could maybe get to my entrance if we were just patient.

We waited a few minutes and then someone coming the other way started yelling out his window that the road was closed. I considered stopping at the Publix by my house - thank goodness I didn't because I found out they kicked people out of the store and refused to give any shelter. (I won't even say what I think about that). I knew if we turned around to try to go to back to J's house, we might get stuck again and it was just starting to get dark. I just wanted Bri home. I told J that Bri and I would walk the rest of the way. We were not too terribly far from my n'hood entrance. He was so awesome and refused to let us walk alone. He pulled over and we started to walk. Bri's feet started to get cold. J picked up Bri on his back and carried her to our entrance. Yes - he was our hero...

I called my friend L (that I left hanging before - ugh) and asked if she could get to the front of the n'hood to pick us up (I am in the back). She has all wheel drive too, so she was able to get to us. Just as she was pulling up to get us, I slipped and fell in someone's driveway. I couldn't believe I made it that whole way and never fell - until then. Luckily, I was ok - just sore the next day.

She drove us to my house and it was 7PM.

J stopped to take a super quick rest, use the restroom and then he took off. L drove him to the front of the neighborhood and he had to walk back to his car where he turned around to head home.

I knew I wouldn't rest until he got home. Finally V texted me at 9PM to tell me he got home and she also told me to go to bed. It took J two hours after he dropped me off and we live 10 minutes apart. And he had to leave his car too about a mile from his home and walk the rest of the way. I am so unbelievably grateful to him for helping me. There are no words.

Doug was so relieved we were home. He was completely helpless from where he was. Bri was very happy to be home and I fed her some dinner - though I wasn't hungry obviously.

She and I decided to have a special sleepover in my bed that night since Doug was not home. I was so happy to cuddle with her that night. I wondered about my car, but I didn't really care. It was the last thing on my mind. I was just grateful to be home.

I watched the news a bit and saw that there more definitely worse stories than mine. People were stuck in their cars all night. Kids slept at schools. Not one treated road in the whole area. It was horrible. So traumatic.

Bad forecasting. Bad government planning. Bad everything led to this debacle. I'm so disappointment in the local weather forecasters, my county and my state right now.

 By the time it was all said and done, I had a couple of inches of snow at my house (counts in my county said 3.5 inches). That's a lot for the south. So much for a "dusting to an inch" in the afternoon...

This sign now sits in front of my neighborhood...

I had so many amazing friends and family help me that day. And a few strangers too. I could not have gotten home without them. I am so incredibly grateful. Words cannot express how grateful I am.

As much as I didn't want to spend one more second in the snow, Briana wanted to play in it the next day. The roads were still so icy and I wasn't going to be able to leave the neighborhood. So, I set up a snow play date with friend/neighbor L and her daughter E (that's my next post). It was fun watching Bri having so much fun. I was tired and sore, but being with friends made it ok.

Doug finally got a flight home on Thursday. His flight was canceled and rescheduled 5 times. He finally ended up leaving 11:30 on Thursday and it was actually a 6:15AM flight. I decided to wait for him to get home so he could take me to get my car. I had no idea what it would look like when I eventually got to it. As soon as he drove in the driveway around 2PM, the local sheriff was calling and threatening me with impounding my car if I didn't come and get it. Really nice, right? It was blocking the road some, but so were other cars. I explained that my husband would be home any minute to bring me to get it. I really didn't want to ask one more friend to help me out - though a couple had offered. Not sure if everyone was getting a call or not. Doug and I ran over and got it right then. Luckily it was in one piece.

I never, ever, ever want to go through something like that again. And I actually hoped for snow. Now I know to be careful what I wish for. Dang.