tyler

Adventures in the Snow

Thu Feb 14th 01:10:36 2008

I left work about 3:45pm to run an errand on my way home. On the way I decided to take a back road and the snow began to fly. There is one section of my favorite back road trail that can get hairy, and sure enough... it wasn't anything I wanted to attempt in the snow. I barely managed to turn around, but did manage to get back to the freeway.

The freeway was a mess. It took me till 4:30pm to get to my local gas station/convenience store. I grabbed a 24oz. Rockstar Punched and hung out with many many other folks for a couple of hours. All within about a mile of home. A few of my neighbors started showing up as the evening commute started. The authorities finally shutdown the road up to my house so it seemed we were going to be stuck all night. Well one of our neighbors had a 4x4 so we piled in there for a quick ride home. This was at around 6:30pm.

It ends up the road was still closed, and we were forced to get back on the freeway and head south. We had been informed that Ryan(the neighbor driving the 4x4)'s daughter was on a school bus that wasn't able to get the kids home. We decided to work our way over to the elementary school where the kids were expected to return. We finally got to the school at around 7:30-8:00pm.

Well it wasn't just 1 bus, it was 3 buses that were in varied distances from the school. Within about 30 minutes one bus showed up and several parents were relieved to be reunited with their kids. The school had been in contact with the other 2 buses and they were just slowly trying to make their way back. After a couple of additional hours folks started bringing food and bedding to the school. I was thinking to myself that this was going to be one long night. A couple of different news crews even came to the school. I was hit with a swarm of text messages as friends and relatives saw my ugliness on the local news. I didn't interview or anything, I was just in the background.

Well finally we received word that one bus had pulled over to a church that had been turned into a shelter for stuck travelers. Here in Utah there is a church on every corner thanks to the Mormon Church. The other bus was indeed stuck and not moving. The local police department stepped in though and shuttled the kids back to the school.

By now there were a fair amount of folks from my neighborhood at the school to rescue their kids. A few of us with 4x4 vehicles decided to caravan back to our neighborhood. I finally came through my garage door around 11:30 pm. My car is still stuck up the street, I'm sure amongst several other vehicles, but luckily I'm home and the family is all safe.