Blizzard

Storyteller’s Corner

Nearly 40 years ago, my soon-to-be-husband and I attended a wedding close to the Colorado/Nebraska border in January. I don’t remember paying attention to the weather forecast, but surely I did. I just knew I was singing in the wedding, so I had to go regardless of the weather.

You guessed it. A blizzard struck the day we were to return home to teach and attend school. We made it to Hayes, and being young, stupid and fearless, thought we could make it to Topeka on I-70. Getting low on fuel, we decided to exit the interstate at Russell, only we turned one exit too soon. We literally came to a stop at the first intersection we encountered due to the driving snow.

As we pondered what to do next, we were startled when a couple knocked on the window. They wanted to know if they could sit in our car to warm up because they were out of gasoline while trying to run their car’s heater. They informed us there was another car at the intersection with us. They, also, asked for shelter, and now the car was full.

I had a laundry basket of clean sheets and towels in the trunk of my car, and we used them to cover ourselves for added warmth. Someone had cookies and snacks we devoured. All the while, the snow was getting deeper and deeper. We discovered the other two couples were returning from skiing and visiting family over the Christmas break, and all of us were teachers except my fiancée.

My attentive husband-to-be had noticed a farm house after we turned off the interstate. He thought he could walk back to it and borrow a tractor to pull our car out and tow us to town. Once again, we thought something that dangerous was a good idea. He set out see if he could get us help.

The longer he took the more apprehensive I became about his plan. Finally, we heard the tractor and felt so relieved. The main reason it had taken so long was because the farmer did not believe my fiancée knew how to drive a tractor. (Remember he was the one who started driving one in second grade.) The farmer had followed him with his pick-up, and we climbed into the back covering our heads with the canvas he brought with him to ride to town.

It took two days for my car to dry out because so much snow had blown in through the grill and packed itself under the hood. I missed two days of school, as did the others stranded at the intersection. My future husband has asthma and ended up with frostbite on his lungs. Our decision-making skills have improved over the years together.