Monday, October 21, 2019

Snow Gold

Remember that rough blizzard we had some years ago? 

Well, in that blizzard, my family and I drove back to Champaign-Urbana from Chicago. I do not remember why we were in Chicago, but we were probably there for a weekend trip hitting up Devon street (aka India/Pakistan/Desi central). 

The drive was relatively uneventful ninety-nine percent of the way. However, instead of driving five over the speed limit at 75mph, we had to drive much slower due to the snow covered highways. In addition to that, we could not see one hundred feet ahead of us in the thick snow. 

We drove through 294 and down I-57 with relative ease. However, as soon as we got off the interstate, we met the blizzard full force. We managed to drive through inches of snow, narrowly dodging many a car crash and avoiding running the car off the road... until we were five minutes from home. 

Five minutes from the house, my brother lost control of the car, slid of the road into the shallow ditch filled three feet with snow. The car got stuck immediately, and shortly after, my father, who was driving another car fell into the ditch right across the road, about five hundred feet away. 

And there we sat, for about six hours, stuck in the slowly rising snow. To make matters worse, both cars were low on gas, but we had enough to survive the night. Unfortunately however, we had about half a regular bottle of water to share among all six of us. That water disappeared within the first hour, leaving us with no food or water.

A police officer drove past, but he did not get very far. His SUV got stuck right next to my dad's car. We saw a few ambulances and firetrucks drive past. 

We were lucky that we could keep the heating on. Cold is a cruel and quick enemy. From across the street, my father trudged through the snow to our car. We opened the door and the chill flooded in, sucking out the heat, and my brother struggled to close the door in the wind. In that one minute my father walked to the car, the cold chapped my father's lips and sapped the warmth from his bones. He sat for a few minutes, shivering, to warm up. 

Four hours later, two of those heavy duty snow shovel trucks arrived, followed by a tow truck, and we felt hope. The trucks slowly cleared out the snow around both cars, and the trucks pulled us out. We made it home that night, and I'm pretty sure everyone went to bed straight away, after using the bathroom of course. 

The blizzard was no joke. The next morning, my parents read about an old man who like us was trapped about a mile away from his home. It turns out the old man was an absolute beast, and he walked the rest of the way, however, he was found dead on his driveway. Beware the cold. 

1 comment:

  1. That sounds so terrifying and alhamduillah everything turned out to be okay. It makes me really sad though about how even though the old guy was able to get out, he still wasn't able to make it. :( That breaks my heart.

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