A Day of Fun and Frolic in the Snow

When I started out to work this morning there was a County snowplow stuck in the snow about a ½ mile from the house. Anyone else might have taken that as a warning. Not me, I’m a Powers through and through.

When I turned off Hwy 124 and started up Zuger HilI I knew I was in trouble. It was snowing hard. The snow was deep and drifting. It was very difficult to see the road. However, there was no place to turn around. Ten miles later I was in a white out condition and drove off into the ditch. That was around 8:30 AM.

A few minutes later a 4x4 pickup came by. The Lady driving is one of Lynn’s nieces. She couldn’t see any better than I could. We took a shot at getting to Walla Walla in her truck. We had to stop after a ½ mile or so as we couldn’t see past the hood of the truck. We decided that if we could make it a mile or so further up the road to an intersection we could turn around. I got out and walked where she could see me. We made it about a ¼ mile before we gave that up. Most of the time I couldn’t see the road. I had to pick our route by the feel of the snow. The snow was up to my knees and our progress was tiring. We decided that the road was wide enough to turn around where we were. It was marginally easier to see going up the road the other way. However, we couldn’t see the tracks we had just made. Corrine dropped me at my truck and went on home. Corrine lives about 2 miles from where I was stuck. Where we had turned around, there was telephone reception, so I had been able to call Lynn and AAA. I was stuck out there about 5 ½ hours. Corrine was the only driver that had come by.

I didn’t have any cell phone reception where I was stuck. There was a farm house a 10th of a mile or more off the road from where I went in the ditch. It didn’t look like anyone was home but I decided to go over and check. It was still snowing and drifting. Everything looked flat. However, just as I started down their driveway, I stepped off the drive and fell into their field. I landed on my feet but was standing in snow up past my waist. I crawled up the bank and trudged on to the farm house. I’m sure by now you have seen a pattern developing. No one was home except their very large black dog. Fortunately he was locked in the house and could only bark at me. As I was knocking on the door my cell phone rang. It was a provider wanting to talk about getting a new contract. Considering my situation we decide that we could discuss the contract when I got back to my office. I called Lynn and asked her to call the tow truck with the farm house’s address. While we were talking she was interrupted and said she would call me right back.

There I was standing out on that snowy porch. It was still snowing hard, the wind was blowing and I still had to wade back to the truck. I was also getting a bit of a chill. I knew I had to get back to the truck fairly soon. If I had any kind of problem in route to the truck, I was going to be in real trouble. It seemed like I waited a long time for Lynn’s call. I was getting colder by the micro second. Ok, so maybe it was only a matter of a few minutes but it seemed like a long time. I’ll admit I was freaking out a little. I called Lynn back and explained my situation and that I really had to get back to the truck. Lynn could tell from our conversation that I thought I might be in a bit of trouble. She had a little panic attack started crying and called 911. The dispatcher told her that the Lower Waitsburg Road had not been plowed so there wasn’t much they could do. Lynn started crying harder. The dispatcher was a survivor and told Lynn they would see what they could do.

Next Lynn found out that the tow truck wasn’t going to be of much assistance. They had a lot of calls and I was in a bad location. I was about 10 miles from Hwy 12 in Walla Walla and about the same distance from Hwy 124 coming out of Waitsburg. The road was unplowed and the driving conditions were dangerous.

I made it back to the truck rolled up in a blanket and turned on the heater.

One of the things I love about Lynn is that she is a very resourceful woman. She called Todd Wood and told him the situation. Todd agreed to come and get me. He has a tall Dodge Power Wagon with wide over sized tires. He aired the tires down to 14 lbs of pressure. Lynn called me and even though I didn’t show any reception bars on my phone she rang through. I was glad to hear Todd was on the way. Forty minutes or so later Todd called to say he was stuck but would be there soon. When he showed up he didn’t have any problem pulling me out of the ditch. Driving home was an adventure in itself. Most of the time I could see Todd’s truck, but I couldn’t see the tracks he was making.

When we got home Lynn was stuck at the head of the driveway. Steve had tried to pack down the driveway with his truck and he was stuck. Todd drove around through the yard and pulled Steve back to the house. In the mean time I got stuck in some deep snow in front of the shop. I dug it out fairly well and Todd gave me a little tug which saved me some digging. Todd had to leave and headed back to town. I ran the pickup up through the yard to the garage. I only got stuck once. The Camry doesn’t have a place to hook on to for towing. Everything is plastic. Every time we moved it forward we high centered on the snow. We ended up shoveling a trail the full length of the driveway to the garage. It was a few minutes to 4:00 PM when we finally got into the house. Would you believe we are tired and have some sore muscles tonight? We measured the snow before we came in the house. We have 20 inches on the flat spots where it hasn’t drifted. - Paul & Lynn