Oct - Dec 2006

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OCTOBER 2006

Will be updating soon...  I hope!

NOVEMBER 2006

Will be updating soon...  I hope!

DECEMBER 2006

Well the next two and a half days will probably be our most trying adventure yet.  We depart today to pick up Tommy in McKinney, and head toward our final destination of Breckenridge.  Due to another snow storm approaching we decide to leave a day early, in hopes of beating some of the rough stuff, and getting more daylight hours to travel.  Mike feels the concern is not really the driving part of it, but the possibility of closed roads along our way.  We have two routes planned, the normal route which takes us through Kansas, and a southern route that takes us through New Mexico.  We will have to wait till the last minute to decide which will be the best course to take.

We depart Lonoke at 3:30pm, heading to McKinney… its 59 degrees, going to watch it drop drastically throughout the next few hours and days...

Well our first adventurous moment happened less then 30 minutes into our trip… we saw an old man pull onto the freeway going on the wrong way on the off ramp, cutting in front of cars, causing cars to swerve, tires squalling and smoking for applied brakes.  This all caused two cars to collide… we immediately call 911 and give the information on the truck, with License plate and a description of the driver.  The old man just kept on driving, ranging from speeds of 35 to 70 mph.  We kept watch until he exited, and inform the state police again of the location of the truck.  They were already in route to his house, and had been on the scene of the accident.  The cars that collided we family members… luckily we might have help them save alittle money in regards to their future repair bills.  Hope we helped…

We arrive to pick up Tommy at about 8:30, he seems raring to go, and ready to try out his new Video Player that he got for Christmas which, thanks to Chase is all hooked up to hi Game Cube and ready to go.  This should keep him very much entertained for quite a while.

Well we arrived in Memphis, TX around 12:55AM with a temperature of 55 degrees, for a few hours of sleep.  We are going to shoot for Denver the next night.  Hope the weather holds out.  

We are up and out the door at 6:45AM, its 45 degrees and raining.  We hope to have a few hours of driving with no snow, and are praying for no ice.  While Mike drives, and the internet stays functional, I am continually checking the weather and road conditions.  My luck when it becomes critical to have this information, I won’t have the signal.  We will see how we all do.  Today could be a very long day.

We hit our first sign of Ice/Snow conditions just outside of Dalhart around 10:00AM, and 31 degrees.  Snow on the ground here, and slushy streets with some icy areas.  Well we made good time up till now, guess we knew it was coming.

Well its 11:45 and we are in Texline, Tx.  Just heard of the first closer that will affect us.  The next town to go through, is a town called Clayton, heard at the gas station that you couldn’t get there, that the road was closed.  We will see…

We didn’t make it through Clayton after all…  we are now having to go up through Oklahoma, which means we won’t have internet service…  Some of the roads that we are trying to travel on our new route we have found to be closed.  This may make for a very long day.  We have reservations, for Pueblo & Denver Colorado.  Having to go down back roads has slowed us down, but there is little traffic to deal with at this time.  It is now 2:45PM at the OK/CO border and 27 degrees.  Well we are now stuck on 287 with several other cars… we are trying to turn around to get back to a little town called Campo.  We have canceled our reservations for Pueblo… we won’t make it to any of our reserved destinations.  Well it’s a good thing we have a lot of gear with us… we are now going to have to dig a truck out in front of us.  This is an adventure you never want to have.  Well its 5PM and the snow plows have arrived…  apparently in this band of stranded adventurers, there is a 2 year old with a high fever.  We have been told that they are here to get us out and take us to a community center where they are prepared to take us in and feed us.  This will be the most interesting adventure that I have had since we began our life together.  I don’t think this is one I wish to attempt again.

Well its 10:15PM and we are still in the same spot… they found the 2 year old and an ambulance has taken it or is attending to it.  The trapped vehicles, span about a mile and a half.  We are now just waiting for the snow plow to come back to the front of the line where we have been waiting, to cut the path back into town to this community center that is waiting on us.  Well we arrived at the Campo School, at about 12pm, where there were several waiting to great us including the Mayor.  With food cooked and what bedding they could find, we find out spots and bed down for the night.  It was a good thing we had our sleeping bags and a couple of air mattress.  We have no idea what tomorrow has in store… but we may be here for a couple of days.

This morning we wake to more blowing snow.  We have internet access and we are watching the radar and road closures.  There are 3 roads out of Campo and believe it or not these are the only ones that are closed in the area.  Meanwhile, Mike’s dad is waiting at our condo… his flight came in at 7:30 this morning and he took the shuttle on into town.  Can you believe that is sunshine and beautiful weather there… go figure! 

There are shower facilities here, which made Chelsie, Tommy and I feel a lot better, however Mike and some of the other guys were in that portion of the facility and while in the room, the ceiling collapsed.  Sure and glad nobody was injured.  There are some other showers that we can take advantage of when we need them.  They turned off the electricity to the area, its a good thing it was an addition to the original building.

We have heard that out of Lamar, north which was where we were heading, they have snow plows working toward Campo.  It is now 5pm, and the snow and wind have lightened up.  Our hopes are to head north early in the morning.  Everyone is pretty calm except me… Mike is being the really strong one, of course he has been here done that before in March of 2003 when the Denver area got 11ft of snow.  My problem is that I wanted this to be the perfect trip for Tommy… he has never been to snow like this, I just hope this does not ruin his feelings and opinions of one of our favorite places in the world. 

We were all winding down, watching movies when we heard a large crash...  more of the building had collapsed.  Luckily the electricity to the main building was not connected, so far was are still in pretty good shape.  Sometime during the night, not sure when, Mike got up to go to the bathroom and smelled something coming from the gym.  He went over to the area where they had blocked it off from the roof cave in, and realized there was a gas leak.  Mike jumped into action got Cliff, a fireman who is going to Valdoro as well, and went outside to try and turn off the gas main...  Mike called 911 and contacted the mayor.  Guess you could say Mike is a hero, cause if the heaters had kicked on in the gym, then this whole place could have blown... 

Photos this adventure

Well we are still here.  Looks like for another night at least.  The area have been determined a natural disaster area, and its the only place where there are people stranded.  We heard this morning that the National Guard are trying to get to us.  They were 17 cars out on the road.  Apparently they went through the barricades and got stuck.  We have also heard that there are road crews coming from Lamar, CO which is north of us, and some going up from the south from Boise City, OK.  We have also heard that they are clearing pads for helicopter's to land to bring in more food and supplies.  The people here at Campo have been incredible.  Mike has been a huge source of strength for me...  I am trying but its not easy.  Tommy is sleeping a lot, which is probably a good thing for him.

The town people have recruited Mike, Chase and Cliff, to try and help dig out some older people that have become stuck due to the storm.  The sun is shining now, and the snow and wind has stopped blowing.  Hopefully we can make it out tomorrow.  A Black Hawk helicopter arrived with more supplies, that was pretty exciting...

Well we are making a run for it... LOL  We have decided to head south.  If we don't we may be stuck here for several more days.  It 1:50PM MST and the temperature is 31 degrees.  The plan is to get to Boise City OK, then go east some, and try and make it down to I-40, depending on how the roads are.  We have Cliff & Bernice with their family following us... they are going to Valdoro as well.

Ok we made it through Boise City, then changed a tire on Cliff's truck.  We are heading toward Clayton now.  Yesterday the roads were out around there, but with the sunshine and the plows we are hoping that is has been cleared.  Ok we didn't make it to Clayton...  we are backtracking trying to find a way south now.  It would be nice to be able to bring in the new year in Breckenridge, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

Well we are arriving in a town called Dalhart.  Its a big city from the lights we can see, the roads are fairly clear, and we may have found a way out.  Ok, things are looking up.  We will be staying in Las Vegas, NM for what is left of the night, then the plan is to get up early and make it in the rest of the way. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR Central Time Zone...  its 3 degrees.

Photos this adventure

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The Adventure continues into 2007