Well this year was probably one of the most memorable Christmases EVER! Brye and I decided last year that Santa would be coming to our house from now on instead of Grandparents. It was very hard for me to make that adjustment given that the rest of my sisters would be at my dad's for Christmas morning. Our plan this year was to wake up Christmas morning, have our family Christmas then drive to Childress for Christmas with my family. Due to Brye's work schedule we were not going to be able to make it all the way up to Canyon this year, so Brye's parents decided to come to McKinney to spend Christmas here with us! They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and Jo and I made Christmas candy together and got to do some last minute shopping. Christmas Eve day it began to snow some. It rained a bit first then a few flurries came here and there. We again had some errands to run so about 1:00 pm while we were out and about my sister Julie sent me a text. She and her family had set out for Childress around noon that day. Her text stated they had to pull over and ditch the luggage rack from on top of the car due to the blizzard. They were packed full! She said they were only about an hour away!! The snow started to get thicker here and only about 30 minutes later Jodi called. The highway to Childress was now shut down. She and her family who were also on their way to Childress were just entering Dallas. They have a six month old and didn't want to risk it by continuing on and were too far to turn back around. She asked if they could stay with us tonight. Of course! I wouldn't have it any other way. Julie and her family were now stuck on the highway somewhere between Decatur and Wichita Falls. Every now and then we would get a text from her, they haven't moved, they had moved at maybe 5 miles an hour. The snow here was really starting to come down. Jodi and her family got to our house around 3:00 pm. Julie had still not budged on the road. At 5:28 pm Julie's text said they still had not moved at all. It was beginning to get dark and now we were worried. Brian passed around a 12 pack of Coke to other stranded passengers on the road. Throughout the evening still no movement. I have never felt so hopeless. All I wanted to do was go and get them or take them some coffee or hot cocoa, but nothing could be done. Semi trucks were jack-knifed and blocking any flow of traffic. Rescue crews could not get to them and snow plows were getting stuck as well. At one point Julie stated they reached the Jolly truck stop which was only about 15 miles from Wichita Falls. They were stopping to rest, bathroom, etc, but as soon as they pulled in all the power went out. There were stranded people everywhere; out of gas! Finally around 11:00 pm Brye read online that the military was going to send 10 HumV's out to help. It had only been 12 hours!! We had to go to bed and no sleep was to be had. The worry of my sister and her babies out in the middle of no where was too much. We awoke, or got out of bed rather, around 7:00 am and I had a voicemail from Brian's sister from 3:30 am stating Brian and Julie's cell phones were dead and she was trying to reach my dad to let him know. I called her immediately and asked what was going on. She said they reached a Wichita Falls around 3:00 am and by the grace of God found a hotel room and stayed the night. I just broke down in tears. They were safe and warm! I called my dad and told him the news and he too just cried. It was a feeling of relief I have never felt before. I've never in my life been so worried and helpless and hope to never experience it again.
The snow here was beautiful and we had a great White Christmas morning. Santa brought presents for the boys and filled stockings for the girls as well. He took their big presents to Childress ;). We spoke to Julie and she informed us that Santa came to the hotel!! The Highway Department was still reporting road closures around Wichita Falls so we took our time getting ready to leave. Julie and Brian set out around 10 am for Childress from WF. We headed out around noon. We were cruising pretty well until we reached Bowie, then all the sudden the roads became nothing but ice! It was horrible. Traffic slowed to a crawl of about 5 to 10 mph, stopping every now and then. I began counting cars on the side of the road. It was an amazing sight. There were even cars that I assume had run out of gas just sitting in the middle of the road. We reached Wichita Falls and the bridge to enter was at a stand still. Jodi was a bit ahead of us and said to take the 287 loop around the city so we did. The roads on the other side of Wichita Falls were not much better. We finally reached Electra and as quickly as the road became icy, it became clear. Our normal four hour drive to Childress was already at 4 hours and we were still 1 1/2 hours away. We finally made it to Childress around 7:00 pm. Julie and Brian got there around 4:00. It was such a relief to be home. Brye and I had questioned if it was worth it but I couldn't imagine not being there with the rest of my family so yes, it was worth it! The rest of our weekend was great. We had good food, great quality time with everyone and the cousins had a blast together. Needless to say, the drive home went by very fast!! However, when we approached DFW Bexley started to notice the snow had melted and he himself had a meltdown. We scraped together the snow that was left on the ground and made a tiny little snowman! He loved it.
Oh and the final stranded tally?
Cars: 195 (and I am not kidding!)
Semis: 35
Snowplows: 1
Dropped trailers: 3
Snowmen: 2
No comments:
Post a Comment