A Little Saga
by
Dick Prosapio © 2005
The
Denver Psychic Fair was busy, much more so than usual, so by Sunday
night we were (very well) done. The daytime temps had dropped from
the 60's to the 40's by 9 Monday morning and there was a two-inch
snowfall overnight. But the streets were clear and getting out of
town was only the usual insanity Denver traffic tends to provide.
We'd heard that it was snowing at home, but, in
the land of persistent drought, that's good news. Our only worry was
Raton Pass, the big "hump" between home and us. Getting up and over
it turned out to be no problem for our "Outback" however, and we
stopped in Raton in the midst of big, wet snowflakes and had lunch.
Note: Avoid the
Denny's in Raton, bad service and very 'fair" food.
As we headed south towards Las Vegas, New Mexico
the snow increased steadily and our windshield washer had a hard
time keeping things clear. Especially with 18-wheelers spraying us
with muddy bow waves as they rushed by, defying logic.
We replenished it in L.V. and began the last leg
of the journey towards Santa Fe. Turned out, by the way, that the
last bottle of washer fluid was only good to 32 degrees but I
couldn't read the small print and as soon as it hit the nozzles on
the hood it froze leaving us with no effective way of cleaning the
windshield.
The further south we progressed the worse the snow
became and the road narrowed down to a single snow packed lane. We
were soon last in a line of four cars, the leader of which was a
rear-wheel drive sports car that couldn't risk traveling much faster
than 30 while the 4-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles behind him
were unable to pass to be able to get up to 45 or 50 at least.
I finally saw a little daylight on the left side
of the line and passed them all making a bit better time and
Elizabeth a lot more nervous.
We were now beginning to pass the semi's, which
were creeping along about 10 mph in the increasing blizzard. Our car
was holding the road well, and I could reach outside to catch the
left wiper as it was on the up-stroke and snap it against the
windshield to knock off the ice. We could see and we could
move....so far, so good.
Then we saw the line of brake lights in front of
us and two lanes of trucks stopped. A snowplow passed us on the
shoulder and I tried to follow him, but got off on the exit ramp
just before coming to the main "problem", two stalled 18-wheelers
completely blocking the highway. Just then I spotted the sign on the
exit ramp; "Glorietta Conference Center"! We followed the "Dead End"
access road to the Center gate where we told the guard that we were
stranded. She said, "We have rooms here." And off we went to the
Registration building.
About forty minutes later, after waiting for an
airhead registration clerk to clear her brain long enough to get us
into a room, we were in a nest. A spare nest to be sure, but
at least we weren't trying to sleep in our car.
It turned out that we were smack dab in the middle
of a Southern Baptist gathering of teens from USC, Iowa State,
Oklahoma U, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M who had gathered for a
Christian convention and ski weekend in New Mexico.
Here we were, just having come from a gathering of
pagans, witches and warlocks, Buddhists, mostly Democrats and sundry
not-Christians, smack into the center of a "true believers" retreat.
We kept to ourselves and read a lot; these rooms
were not equipped with TV's, the New Testament was the sole
provision for entertainment.
We tried to get news of road conditions from staff
and other stranded travelers and got mixed results, lots of rumors
and very few facts. Finally, the next morning, we heard that the
road to Santa Fe was open and that the freeway to Albuquerque
"might" be open as well. If we could do that we could get within 40
miles of our place at least.
Our kids had reported that the snow was continuing
to fall but we hadn't lost power yet. Good news at that point.
We set out towards Santa Fe and when we got to the
exit we usually take as a short cut home we gave it a shot and found
no stalled traffic and a road we could negotiate.
At least it held possibilities. It was a
two lane that hadn't been plowed but it headed south toward home,
and we could see the faint yellow center line beneath the ice.....a
Big plus since we couldn't see the sides of the road and on these
little New Mexico highways the "sides" aren't shoulders, they are
usually deep ditches. So, off we went to the next intersection,
which would take us even closer to home. We made that turn and found
that road a bit worse, snow packed and slow going. But the blowing
snow had slowed some and our all-wheel drive was holding its own.
So far, so good......then suddenly everything went
white and the car began to slide to the right
.......I clicked the wipers on to "fast", as snow,
thrown up by the spinning front wheels and the wind blasted the
windshield and immediately glazed on the glass. I had about a three
inch square I could see through now and then and hoped we weren't
going to be surprised by any traffic coming the other way. It
probably only lasted one breath-holding minute for us to get through
the snow dune we had hit......and if it had gone on another ten
yards I think we'd still be in it.....but we careened out the other
side of it into the clear and hoped that we had seen the last of
that kind of "excitement".
We came to our next turn, this one west, now at
least we'd have a tail wind and probably no crossroad dunes to
blunder into.
Half way to our third and final turn, back north
and home, we saw a plow coming towards us and, as he passed we
veered over to the left lane he was working to get some traction. It
was as if he hadn't even touched the road. As fast as he cleared it
the snow swirled back to cover it. But we were still moving and on a
little less snow and ice.
As we made the final turn we got really lucky and
wound up behind another plow which was moving a two-foot bow wave of
snow off to the right. We followed him to our road and saw what we
expected; nobody had broken a trail up the hill. We would have to
bulldoze our way up.
In two feet of snow this involved going straight
and fast up the steepest part and hoping there were no ruts to
swerve us into a groove left or right. Our dirt road is seven tenths
of a mile up and about a thirty-degree climb. We plowed our way
three quarters of that distance until suddenly another dune threw us
to the right and into a mud and snow bank.
That
was the end of it for the Subaru. We were buried and high centered.
We walked home the rest of the way, snow up to our knees along the
road and into our driveway.
But the house still had power, the pellet stove
was running just fine and the kids had held everything together. We
had made it.
The next morning we pulled the car out with the
truck and ran up and down the road, making a path so we could get
back and forth.
It'll be mud city for a while, but we're not going
anywhere for a few weeks anyway. One foraging trip to the store and
we'll be set.
Not that we were done with drama. We had to shovel
paths for the dogs and, as it turned out, we had a neighbor that
needed help. She was so stuck in the mud and snow I couldn't even
get close enough to hook up our four-wheel drive truck and in fact,
blew up plumes of earth and snow just to keep from sinking. Getting
four-wheel stuck is a major problem.....but I had enough torque to
pull out of it before it became impossible.
It's all an "adventure" after all.....and once all
this stuff melts and the ground becomes solid again, we'll have a
great story to tell about the Big Snow of '05!
Meantime, I'd better start a path to the fence and
hope we can get a garbage truck up here before too long and start
digging out the sweat lodge which has collapsed under a dome of wet
snow.
Oh! There is one myth I must put to rest.
You know the one about the "......through snow, or sleet or dark of
night the mail will get through."?
Well, it didn't. There was NO mail getting through
this blizzard for three days. And they want to raise the rates
again?
Babies!
Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter
Bunny.........and now the Postal Service.
