ICY ISOLATION

As the warm temperatures continued, rain pelted down for the next few days. The stubborn roads refused to melt away their thick, icy layers causing people all over the area to slide off the road. From the isolated place I'm in, somebody told me they'd heard of six alone going off on Friday but I am sure that there were a lot more than that. BlessedMom asked me on my last post how people could get to the hospital. Well, if an ambulance did make it down here, they certainly wouldn't get out without chains on in these conditions. Sometimes when the weather is good, and situation is bad, they call a helicopter.

Earlier in the week, Goat Girl totalled her car down in the city below. Elasta Woman went off on Friday. Saturday, My husband told me nobody was getting out for church. One of the neighbors tried earlier, and ended up hitting some trees so he returned home "to hunker down". He, and a few other men took some dirt out of a green house to throw on the first mile of steep road climbing out, though with 4 more miles of ice, it was only a start.

Sunday, I was beginning to feel trapped and took off on a trail through the woods for sanity if nothing else. The ice was so bad, there was no way I was going to try it for very far with Moonbeam in the back pack.
That night, I baked some lasagna and called the neighbor lady to see if she wanted to play scrabble. Just the short distance to her house on spikes was terrifying - carrying a container of lasagna with scrabble, Moonbeam and other assorted fixings. By the time I got there, I had a knot in my stomach with a terrible dread for going back on it in the dark.

On Monday, we had tried rescheduling our girls group and I didn't know if I should cancel it again. In the end, my husband had me take the chained truck down the first several miles of drive to meet up with Mist and ride with her. Super Catman begged to go along and even cried but I was too afraid to take him. I honestly didn't know if I could make it or not. I had this horrible, terrible imagination of going over a steep embankment with him shot gun. I passed 5 or 6 places where people had been dug out of the ditch. I even came upon a big fancy white 4wd truck slipped off and sunken into slush. I got out and almost fell, sliding over to it to see if anybody was in there.

When I finally made it to the mailbox, Mist was there. She could only drive 20-30 mph without sliding around. Her baby fussed and her dog nervously nudged his way up between us whining. I imagine it must have been nerve wracking for her. Despite all that, we really desperately needed a good day of encouragement and were terribly glad to see one another. Eerily, one lady called our group whose husband had headed to town and hadn't called. We all prayed for them. After hours of stories, devotions, a variety of muffins, breads, fruit and prayers, we said our good-byes and went back to meet the abominable ice monster in his lair.

The Sock Fashion Expert was waiting at home for a verdict. That night was home school movie night in a nearby city and some of her friends from camp were going to be there. She had been feeling just as stir crazy as I was and wanted in the worst way to go. I dreaded going home to tell her how terrible the roads were. I didn't want to be responsible for us getting into an accident, but I also couldn't imagine how disappointed she'd be stuck at home yet another day.
In the end, after the whole family prayed together, SFE, Archer, Super Catman and I set out with chains on the Tundra. The Archer, who never wants to go to the city, INSISTED on driving us. He drove 12 mph the entire time we were on ice. I thought I was going to go bananas, but incredibly relieved I wasn't doing the driving. I settled in with a Patrick McMannus book and relaxed. After a 2 1/2 hour drive of what normally takes an hour or a little better, we were in the city.

It was late, but we managed to run some errands and scarf down pizza before the movie began. Sock Fashion Expert wasn't long with us as she disappeared into a group of giggly girls. I chummed up with a new friend myself, which was so much fun to do and we settled in to watch "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". It was an awesome movie, and I couldn't have imagined spending the money on a better film. The actors, especially Eustace, were amazing. The adventure was thrilling. Great company, Happy Kids, and a Fabulous Film - what more could I have asked for?

The drive home was uneventful, though it was between midnight and 1am before we were hiking up our hill in the dark. At the mailbox, Archer had put the tire chains on in the damp, cold darkness with the Sock Fashion Expert assisting him. What a crazy way to have to live. On the way back, Archer could see new marks of people who had gone off the road....................