We made it through all the Thanksgiving festivities, and Temple Square, and on Saturday morning, we loaded up the truck and the trailer and headed to Panguitch.
We decided to take another load of insulation in the trailer and various odds and ends and put them in the conex - waiting for spring.
The drive down to Panguitch was reasonably eventless...There was major head winds, but nothing that would stop us. I have a flu kind of thing going on, but I figured as long as I was in the truck and it was warm, all would be good.
We got into Panguitch about 5 and decided to head directly to the property because the weather forecast was calling for snow showers on Saturday.
We made it to the property about 5:15, just as the sun was setting and it was getting majorly dark. The roads up to the subdivision was reasonably clear, but as soon as we hit the outskirts of the foot of the mountains, there was snow... lots of snow... We decided to just drop off the trailer with the insulation and go back and unload this morning.
Well, about midnight last night, the wind picked up more, and it started to snow.. and I mean, really snow. We slept in, and were greeted with a hearty good morning from.. snow... Not good.
We needed to meet with our contractor, and we did so at about 1:00 in the afternoon at Tod's, which is a little gas station/cafe just up the road. Travis got there, and it was decided that Jim and Travis were going to drive up the mountain in his DuraMax truck, and I would wait in the cafe. That was fine by me.
They were gone about 45 minutes. Jim says there was about 6 inches of snow around the concrete work, it was bitterly cold, and the road was covered in snow. Travis, our contractor, is supposed to finish the concrete walls this week, and we'll be done for the year - planning on starting up in the spring when we have a thaw.
On the way back home, we got about as far as Scipio, and the traffic came to a complete stop.. we hardly moved in about 3 hours. We tried to call to find out what was happening, but had no cell service. I texted Brianne and Brad and asked for them to find out what was going on... Apparently, the road was at a stand-still due to snow and ice, and there was a major problem with snow removal trucks... So, we sat, and sat, and sat. When we finally started moving, it wasn't any faster than about 5 miles an hour. After about 2 hours, a highway patrol officer pulled up behind us, and parked his car sideways across the highway - stopping all traffic behind us.
The road was incredibly icy. Cars were slid into the ditches, or just parked on the side of the road - people refusing to go forward. After about 2 hours, we saw 3 snow plows running tandem on the southbound lanes - we, were in the northbound lanes.
Incredibly scary. Incredibly tense. I told Jim that it reminded me of when we went to New Mexico and got caught in a snow storm and spent the night on the side of the road.
After sitting on the road, for hours on end, let's just say, nature was calling, and nobody could answer the call. And, wasn't just us, but every man, woman and child and dog on the highway. It really was quite comical. The conversation was, "What the heck are they doing... they pulled over... oh... never mind"... The part that made us giggle was, Jim and I are both wearing fluorescent yellow jackets with reflective tape on them... absolutely not the right clothing to be on the side of the road with and trying to be inconspicuous with....
We saw one car that had run off the road - the front left wheel was hanging over the side of the ravine, and the other three were still on ground. Scary!
After 9 hours, of a 3.5 hour trip, we made it back to Provo - safe and sound. Terrifying drive, and thank goodness, the last one this year!
The amazing adventure continues... but, now is on hold for spring to make an appearance.
Jim and Cheri
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