The Journey Home (or The Frozen Chosen as Daniel wanted to call it)

After Daniel and I decided to leave Breckenridge early on Saturday, the wind just continued to blow. We stopped in Fairplay to fill up with gas and turn in our rented ski stuff before we headed out to the cabin. As we drove along the road leaving town, the wind continued to pick up, but it didn't appear to be snowing any more than it already had. We turned onto the county road toward the cabin and encountered some pretty slick, snow covered roads. Daniel put the jeep in 4-wheel drive and we continued down the road. We had only gone about halfway down the road before he looked at me and told me to hold on...I looked up to see a huge snowdrift that we were going to try to get through...Dan gunned the jeep and then did an amazing job of steering our way through the drift amid the blowing snow. (I was very impressed at his driving ability). Our cell phones did not work in the middle of the valley so we were going to have to walk the rest of the way to the cabin if we got stuck. Thankfully, we were able to slowly work our way down the road and over several drifts....going forward and then in reverse until we had successfully managed our way through....

We turned onto the dirt road that led up to the cabin and continued to slowly work our way down the road. When we were almost to the cabin, we encountered Jon and Mandy waiting for us on the road...apparently, Jon had gone to plow the road and the 4-wheel drive on the truck broke...it was not going to go anywhere for a while because it was next to a 2 foot drift. Mandy was in their car waiting for Jon to show us where to go before going back home. After several tense minutes of trying to get over the huge drift that got the truck stuck, we finally made our way up onto the field on the side of the road where the snow was a lot thinner. We successfully made our way into the cabin with Jon and Mandy in front and decided to call it a night. We would not be able to get the truck out at this point until the 4 wheel drive worked again.


I had to work on Monday, so Daniel and I decided to try and get an early start on Sunday for the drive home...we knew that the snow could still be an issue, but thought we would see what the jeep could do on the roads. We loaded up and left at sun-up...we made it as far as the cattleguard before we got stuck...Jon had to bring out some excess shingles in the garage for traction, just so we could get back to the cabin...of course this was a 45 minute ordeal...100 feet from the garage door!!



After getting back to the cabin, Jon and Dan decided that a snowplow for the road and a tow truck for the truck were going to be our best bets of getting out...so they looked around and place some calls...nobody would be able to help us until 11-1 (Mountain time). That was definitely going to put a crimp in our day...it was only 815 at this point...so Daniel decided to take the 4wheeler out and really look at the roads. He returned two hours later (of course, I was very worried about him out in the 7 degree weather) and let us know that he thought we could make it out if we could get past the cattle guard. (sidenote...he had run out of gas earlier and Jon had taken him the extra that was in the garage) The boys dug out the cattle guard area with a shovel and thought that would make a difference.



Jon and Mandy's tahoe was running low on gas so the boys thought they would try to make a run to town, see how far they could get, and then fill up with gas. They had originally tried to siphon some out of our full tank of gas, but that didn't work at all. If they made it okay, then Jon and Mandy would wait for the towtruck and Daniel and I would try to make it out and then home. The boys actually had a good trip out...some fancy driving but did not get stuck. They called us from the road to let us know they were there okay. They soon called us right back kind of in a panic...

As they were going into town, the cops were getting ready to shut the road down back out of town due to the blowing snow. They had to beg their way past him and even had to play the pregnant wife card (Mandy) before he would let them come back to the cabin and get us. He told them that if they could be back with us before the DOT got there, he would let them past. Mandy and I quickly gathered all of their stuff and waiting somewhat impatiently at the door for them to come get us.

Once they pulled into the garage, we grabbed everything and jumped in the car to head out...we once again had to take on the challenge of the road, but it was actually getting much easier every time due to the ruts we were creating through the drifts. We called the tow truck and the snowplow and canceled them because none of us would be at the cabin...The DOT and highway patrol were shutting down the road as we all drove by.


The trip home after that was fairly uneventful but snow filled until we made it into New Mexico. We had to drive slowly for a long time. By the time all of the events of the morning had unfolded, we were fairly late leaving CO...I think it was around 1230 mountain time...and then we had to drive below the speed limit for awhile...we pulled into the parking lot of our apartment at 345 am...it was kind of a late night!! Daniel drove the whole way because "You have to work tomorrow...go to sleep" was his mantra for the last few hours of the trip. We did get to wish each other a "Happy Anniversary" at midnight, though!! We also had to stop and pick up the other car in Denton...what a late night!!

Overall, we had alot of fun...it was really hard to get up at 630 the next morning to go to work. I am just very thankful that we all made it home safely and had a blast...can't wait to go back!!