Monday – Tuesday, November 15-16, 2010
Monday was a 10 hour day of the most breathtaking scenery as we completed crossing the Canadian Rockies. It snowed heavily at times as you can see in the pictures and video. We had so much footage that I had to make 3 parts to the video. We saw lots of wildlife. When you watch the videos, look for Northern Rockies Lodge. I plan to revisit there by bush plane one day (skipping the roads). Notice Muncho Lake right beside it. The water was a gorgeous sapphire.
There was one pass in particular that I hated; and my little daredevils loved! We were circling a cliff with no guardrails. Yuck, yuck, yuck! I made a lot of promises to God if He would just get me out of there – ha!
We finished the final curves and were finally on a relatively straight path to Fort Nelson. About 30 minutes from our destination, the sun had set and we hit a slick spot. Black ice. The trailer started sliding side to side. Chris tried to pull out by accelerating. Impossible. The trailer continued fishtailing. Chris steered into the slide, but nothing helped. The trailer was grandly fishtailing wider and wider and we were leaving huge marks across both lanes. Chris started praying in the Spirit. He knew we were out of control – in the middle of the wilderness just into British Columbia. Immediately the children and I started praying in the Spirit with him. A power and a peace settled in the truck. No one screamed. We just prayed.
At this point, the road was two lanes and sloped steeply down to the forest on each side. The moon was full and bright and reflected off the eternity of whiteness. The trailer swung out wildly and took control of the truck and started dragging us into a 360 degree spin. It drug us off the road sideways down toward the forest. It pulled the truck/trailer combo into a V-shape stopping only at a stray tire. The truck ended up sideways and we were afraid it might roll. Quickly David starting putting on the little girl’s socks and shoes and coats, hats, gloves. Chris said we had to get out – QUICK! Brennan managed to climb out of the passenger seat and pulled Gabriella out. Then he opened our door and pulled John-James out. I lifted the carseat to him. I pushed and he pulled it out. I climbed out and helped Brennan get David and the little girls out and we cuddled them for warmth. I had piled blankets on top of Havah. Chris was trapped. He couldn’t open his door because we were afraid that would make the truck roll.
Immediately an old Cadillac drove by slowly and pulled over. The two men were very quiet and obviously concerned about what they would find. They offered to help and I told them my husband needed help. I was stuttering and shaking from cold and nerves. The littles started to cry. The men came over and talked to Chris about what he could do safely from what they could see. He was able to get out and grab a few essentials – diaper bag, wallet. It was unbelievable but within minutes of going off the road, we were ALL crammed inside that Cadillac and off to Fort Nelson. No fear of freezing. We were sweating.
We checked into a really nice hotel. The men stayed with us until we were sure we could get a room. One of them had 5 children at home.
In our room, I got the children settled while Chris contacted a tow truck – AGAIN. He left shortly to ride with the 18 wheeler that would rescue Big Bertha and possibly bring her the rest of the way to Fort Nelson.I was so nervous about Chris being out there in the dark trying to get back to us on those dreadful roads. This was Isabella’s birthday. What a day!
When Chris returned the children were settled down, and we just held each other and cried. Both of us were at a breaking point. We were so thankful we were all safe. It was incredibly stressful to make this trip. Oh… how we wished there was another way.
Chris told me the tractor trailer tried pulling Big Bertha up onto the road. It started sliding backwards toward Chris who was in the driver’s seat of the truck! It ended up perpendicular across both lanes. Finally after an hour or so, they were successful. And our truck and trailer had zero damage! Nothing scratched, nothing bent, nothing broken. It was a miracle. And that tire that stopped the U-haul was not one of ours. We could not figure how it came to be in just the perfect place…Later we talked about how it felt like we were being carried as we weaved and circled and went off the road. It was not jarring at all. Felt very gentle – like we were ice-skating and we swished to a stop. Partly it was the sensation of being on ice; partly we were protected by angels. No one was hurt and none of our belongings were damaged. It was a miracle.
At this point, we didn’t care how much an international phone call would cost. We finally had signal in a real hotel in a real town. And we called the parents. Crying. Amazed. Longing for it all to be over with. We had a very hard time thinking about getting back on the road so we stayed and rested the next day. We cried tears of thankfulness that our entire family was unscathed. We were so grateful. I could hardly talk about it.
It was wonderful to have this room for two nights. It was an executive suite with all kinds of extras. We relaxed and held each other and dreamed of green grass.
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