My Sunday night
Next time I'll call G. and tell her to shuttle to a hotel and that we'll meet up as soon as the wind isn't blowing at 20-100mph depending on its mood and that the roads are in better condition.
(begin transcript)
I was worried too
We got stuck on one of many drifts, worked and sat and freaked out for an hour trying to get unstuck ... that was around 10-10:15 pm
Someone came up behind us, helped dig for a bit in the intense winds and snow blowing ... I think that's what they call a ground blizzard.
Got off that drift.
Got over in a clear spot and let guy in truck with snow blower in back ahead of me. Creeped forward as he did and waiting while he cleared drifts with the snow blower. By then there's another car behind me.
Made it 7/8 of the way through the next drift and high centered again.
Tried digging
Tried pushing
Guy in the truck went ahead to check the next drift and left us sitting there. Girl in the car behind us and the other woman who showed up behind her worked for a while trying to help us get unstuck to no avail.
They decided to go back to town instead of trying to go forward. Tow truck arrives behind them. We go with the local woman in her car up to the driveway we'd passed that was clear enough to pull into. She pulled in so the tow truck could get by on the shallow drift side. Then he got stuck trying to edge around me so that he could pull me out.
So I go back up to neighbor's car where she and G were waiting. Let them know that now the tow was stuck. He'd called for snowplows but by then it was like 1-1:30 am.
So there are the three of us discussing our options, which included a 20-30 walk to Carol (the neighbor woman) who lives with in range but it'd have been a hard walk in gusts that apparently at some point last night measured over 100 mph.
We see light coming up the road, and then we see person on snow shoes with ski poles and a head lamp coming.
It's jim smith, neighbor and boulder county sheriff. he'd gotten the dispatch relayed I presume by the towing company about people stranded on flagstaff rd near Pika Rd.
So he bundled up at 1:00 am and trudged out to find us.
Bundled us up, got Carol's car parked out of the way but not actually on the private property we'd pulled into.
Walked us through the snow drifts and blowing windy snow to his house 1/4 mile away.
Dropped us into his entry way where his lovely wife stood in her pjs, slippers, and robe offering us hot drinks of any kind and then trudged back up to check on the tow truck driver and make sure he was going to be okay and then brought in the guy in the truck with the snowblower and his gf and dog to sleep inside to (they couldn't make the next drift even using the snow blower, it was 4-5 feet deep).
we all sat and warmed up for a while and did the post adrenaline buzzy chatter as we hydrated with various temperatures of water products (mostly water, I had mint tea).
Then we were all provided sleeping spaces. And then Stephanie (Jim the sheriff's wife) knocked kindly and woke us this morning when the plows arrived.
Gave me coffee and G some tea. Guy and girl in the truck left to go back to nederland or boulder and wait out this windstorm and come home then (they are also lakeshore rd neighbors)
Carol got up to her car and drove the 1/4 mile down to pika and managed as far as we know to get home okay (she lives down off pika herself, hence the contemplation of walking).
I left my keys, identified and shown where I had set them to Jim before I turned in for sleep. When I got up the keys were gone with him as he'd gone up and helped the plow people get the tow truck clear and then they yanked my car free. he then moved it to where we'd left carol's car last night and came back down to update us on the status of the road plowing.
There was a car stuck on the otherside of the drift down below pika,..that really big one.
so the caterpillar cut through the field and came in behind her to clear and yank her free allowing him to get the drift cleared enough to open the road.
By then Jim had gone back up and retrieved my car and brought it down to the wide spot where pika and flagstaff meet.
We gave it a bit for the plows to make it through farther towards home and then drove home. We parked and are now probably blocked by snow berm from the plow up at the junction of flagstaff and lakeshore to avoid getting stuck in the absolute mess our street is at the moment.
(end transcript)
Plans for today include shoveling our path clear of the drifts that built up last night after I left home. Walking up to the car to see if it needs to be shoveled out before the sunsets so that the snow plow berm that might be blocking us doesn't have time to freeze solid. Trying to clear the small drift that's blocking the driveway, but not until the snow plow comes down our street. Making baked goodies (and maybe including some of the horded port) to give to neighbors who rule and who have been tolerant of the newbies on the mountain; most especially Bev, the next door neighbor who we called and who called the request for the tow truck in for us. She's been wonderful to a couple of pains in the ass. There's probably also a nap somewhere in my very not distant future, but first I hear the call of my belly so I shall go find some food.
(begin transcript)
I was worried too
We got stuck on one of many drifts, worked and sat and freaked out for an hour trying to get unstuck ... that was around 10-10:15 pm
Someone came up behind us, helped dig for a bit in the intense winds and snow blowing ... I think that's what they call a ground blizzard.
Got off that drift.
Got over in a clear spot and let guy in truck with snow blower in back ahead of me. Creeped forward as he did and waiting while he cleared drifts with the snow blower. By then there's another car behind me.
Made it 7/8 of the way through the next drift and high centered again.
Tried digging
Tried pushing
Guy in the truck went ahead to check the next drift and left us sitting there. Girl in the car behind us and the other woman who showed up behind her worked for a while trying to help us get unstuck to no avail.
They decided to go back to town instead of trying to go forward. Tow truck arrives behind them. We go with the local woman in her car up to the driveway we'd passed that was clear enough to pull into. She pulled in so the tow truck could get by on the shallow drift side. Then he got stuck trying to edge around me so that he could pull me out.
So I go back up to neighbor's car where she and G were waiting. Let them know that now the tow was stuck. He'd called for snowplows but by then it was like 1-1:30 am.
So there are the three of us discussing our options, which included a 20-30 walk to Carol (the neighbor woman) who lives with in range but it'd have been a hard walk in gusts that apparently at some point last night measured over 100 mph.
We see light coming up the road, and then we see person on snow shoes with ski poles and a head lamp coming.
It's jim smith, neighbor and boulder county sheriff. he'd gotten the dispatch relayed I presume by the towing company about people stranded on flagstaff rd near Pika Rd.
So he bundled up at 1:00 am and trudged out to find us.
Bundled us up, got Carol's car parked out of the way but not actually on the private property we'd pulled into.
Walked us through the snow drifts and blowing windy snow to his house 1/4 mile away.
Dropped us into his entry way where his lovely wife stood in her pjs, slippers, and robe offering us hot drinks of any kind and then trudged back up to check on the tow truck driver and make sure he was going to be okay and then brought in the guy in the truck with the snowblower and his gf and dog to sleep inside to (they couldn't make the next drift even using the snow blower, it was 4-5 feet deep).
we all sat and warmed up for a while and did the post adrenaline buzzy chatter as we hydrated with various temperatures of water products (mostly water, I had mint tea).
Then we were all provided sleeping spaces. And then Stephanie (Jim the sheriff's wife) knocked kindly and woke us this morning when the plows arrived.
Gave me coffee and G some tea. Guy and girl in the truck left to go back to nederland or boulder and wait out this windstorm and come home then (they are also lakeshore rd neighbors)
Carol got up to her car and drove the 1/4 mile down to pika and managed as far as we know to get home okay (she lives down off pika herself, hence the contemplation of walking).
I left my keys, identified and shown where I had set them to Jim before I turned in for sleep. When I got up the keys were gone with him as he'd gone up and helped the plow people get the tow truck clear and then they yanked my car free. he then moved it to where we'd left carol's car last night and came back down to update us on the status of the road plowing.
There was a car stuck on the otherside of the drift down below pika,..that really big one.
so the caterpillar cut through the field and came in behind her to clear and yank her free allowing him to get the drift cleared enough to open the road.
By then Jim had gone back up and retrieved my car and brought it down to the wide spot where pika and flagstaff meet.
We gave it a bit for the plows to make it through farther towards home and then drove home. We parked and are now probably blocked by snow berm from the plow up at the junction of flagstaff and lakeshore to avoid getting stuck in the absolute mess our street is at the moment.
(end transcript)
Plans for today include shoveling our path clear of the drifts that built up last night after I left home. Walking up to the car to see if it needs to be shoveled out before the sunsets so that the snow plow berm that might be blocking us doesn't have time to freeze solid. Trying to clear the small drift that's blocking the driveway, but not until the snow plow comes down our street. Making baked goodies (and maybe including some of the horded port) to give to neighbors who rule and who have been tolerant of the newbies on the mountain; most especially Bev, the next door neighbor who we called and who called the request for the tow truck in for us. She's been wonderful to a couple of pains in the ass. There's probably also a nap somewhere in my very not distant future, but first I hear the call of my belly so I shall go find some food.