Day 99 - December 30, 2012

WHAT A DAY!!!

We got some snow during the night and it was 24° F when we woke up.  We had already decided that we would go to 11 o'clock mass in Mountain City, TN.  That is on the short side of the mountain, about 17 minutes away according to google maps.  However, it is also the steep side of the mountain.  The entire time that we have been here, we have planned our trips into town around the snow, never having to venture out after or during snow.  Surprisingly though, there has always been a lot of traffic on those days and we see the snow plow pass several times.  Danny went out to the car early.  He had to defrost the windows and scrape the snow off.  He turned the heater on and got it warmed up.  We were allowing ourselves about 40 minutes to get there...just to be on the safe side.  We got everyone loaded and buckled.  There was a thread hanging out of the glove box so I opened it to see what it was and shove it back in there.  I was a little startled (OK, maybe slightly terrified) to find a nicely laid nest in the glove box.  Seems something had found its way into the car and out of the cold.  I quickly shut to glove box and said something like "oh, that's not good".  Danny agreed with me and all of the kids were now curious.  "What?  What?  What is it?"  Because I knew that we needed to get down the mountain and really didn't think there was much that we could do about it, I tried hard to appear calm, all the while trying to keep my feet off the floor.  (I should tell you, I am TERRIFIED of mice.  Rats even more so.  Logical me knows that there is no reason for this insane fear, but illogical me really doesn't give a crap what logical me has to say.)  Danny knows how afraid of mice I am and stopped the car and told me to get out.  I did...and went very far away.  He proceeded to sort through the glove box.  Whatever was there was gone...or at least not in the glove box anymore.  I loaded back up and we headed off to church.  Our trip down the mountain was uneventful even though the road was obviously frozen over in many spots.

We enjoyed mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church and then headed home.  We didn't make it far up the mountain before Danny started to slip and we realized that we would not be going up the mountain.  Danny started to back down and a truck came up behind us.  The children informed him of the obvious.  "Daddy there's a truck behind us."  Yes, Daddy had already seen the truck.  The ice got the best of us and our front driver's side wheel slipped into the ditch (mountain side...whew).  The gentleman behind us pulled around, stopped and proceeded to pull a chain from his truck.  (I guess everyone on this mountain drives 4X4's and carries pullin' chains.)  Since Danny was pinned in the Suburban, I got out (seemed the proper thing to do)...I slipped and slid and almost fell on my butt.  When I got myself in an upright position, I said, "I was going to say hello and thank you, but I think I should just get back in the truck".  He agreed that that was probably best.  Danny rolled down his window and thanked him for his help.  He hitched his truck to us and tried to pull us out of the ditch.  He was unsuccessful.  He told Danny that he was going to try to pull us out backwards.  My biggest fear was that he would get us out and then we would just slide into him.  As he began pulling us backwards, we actually started moving, but in the wrong direction...our rear wheel was now in the ditch.  He was persistent.  He kept pulling and we kept hearing our truck grind against rock.  Danny tried to signal to him to stop,  but he was  determined.  He got us out.  We were grateful!!!  Danny was able to back down and let the gentleman pass us.  We then turned around to head home the 'long way around the mountain'.

We stopped in Boone and had lunch.  We met a nice man who was a 4th generation native to the area.  He shared many stories with us.  He told us that when he was in high school, they didn't 'hire' bus drivers.  The junior and senior high students drove the buses.  Can you even imagine?  Of course, he said, these were boys who had been driving tractors and such since they were young and he felt that they were much better drivers than the bus drivers of today.

We got home around 3PM.  I felt bad for the kids.  When we left there was a beautiful amount of snow on the hillside, but the sun had pretty much melted it all.  They still headed out to see what fun they could find.  The lake looked pretty much frozen over and there is always the backside of the mountain...loaded with rocks and other treacherous hazards...But they're kids and it's always fun until someone gets hurt or mom puts a stop to it.

I mapped our route for you.  You really must see it to appreciate it.  17 minutes to church...almost 2 hours back.  You'll have to click here to enjoy it.  "E" is both our beginning and ending, "B" is church,  "C" is lunch, and "D" is where we attended mass on Christmas Eve.

I always say, "There's always a rainbow."  Sometimes you just have to look a little harder for it.  There were plenty of rainbows in today's eventful day.  1) God kept us safe heading down the mountain.  I believe that had we slid while heading down, it would have had much worse results.  2) The gentleman in the truck...with a chain.  Who would have guessed? 3) Lunch out with good conversation.  4) Surprisingly little damage to our Suburban, 5) A drive that Danny had already said that he would like to take during the day....beautiful country, amazing sights, HUGE icicles hanging from the rocks...things the kids have never seen.  6) A warm house to arrive home to. And lastly, NO MOUSE in the glove box!!!

God is good.  Life is good.