TWO weeks becomes FOUR months!

What started out as our usual two week "fly home for Christmas plan" turned into a four month apartment living reality. Plans change. Family matters required us to come "home" for a longer stay.

We canceled our flights and scrambled to secure our trailer for a "quick-as-we-can" road trip back to Spokane. This was the first week of December, 2012. Mother nature was still holding back the snow for what looked like a one week travel window. We drove some long days, and ultimately decided to pull a 16 hour shift to make it through the blue mountains just hours before a projected snow storm.

We kinda made it : )

Day turned to night as we started up the mountains' still dry roads. Just a few miles up, a little rain started to fall. A few more miles, the rain turned to a little snow. Before we knew it, a little snow turned into a white out blizzard. Just reaching the summit was difficult. At the top things looked really bad. We had no snow tires or chains because there was never a travel plan that included pulling through the snow.

Standing outside the truck – parked alongside dozens of 18-wheelers chaining up for a very tenuous trip down the mountain – Sheila and I looked at each other across the hood and contemplated dropping the trailer right there. We could possibly return in the morning with chains, but the snow was heavy enough now that road closures seemed guaranteed.

We decided to head down the mountain.

 

I'm not sure the speedometer ever reached 8 miles an hour the entire trip down. Constantly, working the transmissions manual settings, trailer and truck breaks, we inched our way down...always expecting the trailer to break loose and start coming around me on the snow packed roads. Zero visibility was constant in the sideways snow. Occasionally, we would catch a quick glimpse of the canyon walls, reminding us of where we were.

There are moments in your life when you are very aware of being alive, and you stop taking anything for granted. Those of you who have been in those circumstances know the feeling.

The relief that follows is also a wonderfully rare feeling.

 

We finally made it to the Deer Park RV Resort where we stored the trailer. We then moved into a Coeur d' Alene duplex with Shelby for the winter.

 

There's a lot to catch you up on. We have a new home and bike! So I'll begin working on some new posts with pictures and close with this...

 

 (I've honestly felt like this guy a couple times during our travels : )