We decided to cut the meeting short to avoid bad weather and then we got a phone call from a mom who told us she hit the ditch trying to get there and that we shouldn't try to get home. We all banded together to travel and since I live the closest - everyone was to phone me when they got home. Before we started, one mom started out and just got to the corner and turned back and told us that there was extrememly poor visibility. We were all pretty nervous but decided to try anyway.
Well it really wasn't so bad and the boys and I got home easily. And then I was on the phone for a while and realized my closest neighbor, Janine and her two little girls were not home and should have been by now. They live a half mile from us and their road goes by our place. I asked Ladger to walk out to the road to see if he could spot their vehicle. He found them stuck in deep snow just to the west of his parents' yard. Janine knew her husband would be looking for them so decided to stay in their minivan and wait for him. Ladger said if he didn't hear from them in an hour, he'd go back out and get them.
Meanwhile I got a hold of her husband so he knew exactly where they were. Well an hour later with no word, Ladger went out again and didn't come back until another hour and I was getting really worried - it was a white out situation by then - I couldn't see anything on the yard. As it turned out Ladger and the whole family were at our house and then they left in Bob's 4 wheel drive truck to try to get home again. The visibility was so poor - I had no idea they were sitting in my yard until they were gone and Ladger came in the house. That was about 1:30 pm. I couldn't believe they would head out again in that terrible storm!!!
I must have just about worn the phone out trying to get through to them. I didn't hear from them until 3:00 pm. They phoned with their cell phone to say they had gotten stuck in pretty much the same place except now in the ditch and just were unable to get themselves out. So Ladger went again and brought them home again and this time I was determined they were not leaving again. I was so happy to see them when everyone got in. Of course the family was starving by then so we made a lunch and were set to keep them overnight.
Only Bob really wanted to get back because he had been doing chores when he left that morning and decided to leave his tractor running for the 'few minutes' it would take to get Janine and the kids. So he walked home. By then the wind had died down a little so visibility was improved - the wind had gotten up to 91 miles an hour. He finished feeding his cattle and then later decided it was clear enough to come through with his tractor and push some of the snow out of the way. So he made it to our place by 10:30 pm and they all left again. They got home safely and phoned me at 11:30 pm. An hour where normally would take less than 10 minutes!! Unbelievable - much more like the stories I used to read of prairie life in the Laura Ingall Wilder's books.
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