Stranded during a Blizzard

Page 1 – Blizzard – Co-worker, MF

I left a business seminar early with my co-worker Tom because the weather looked like it was taking a turn for the worst. It was only a 3 hour drive back to Hartford so we thought we’d have plenty of time to head off the incoming storm. Driving south through New Hampshire is picturesque any time of the year but during a fierce snow storm it has an almost eerie beauty to it. We talked shop in an effort to take our minds off the ferocity of the storm, but we had been driving for an hour and only made it about 15 miles.

We were somewhere in the Lakes region where there isn’t a soul to be found this time of year. Tom was driving fairly slow because the view was pure white, he couldn’t see the road and he could barely see beyond the hood of the car. The car came to a halt as we heard a thump, Tom got out to look and realized that he had driven off the road, the two right tires were stuck deep off the pavement and the snow was almost ten inches deep. The roads weren’t plowed and at this point we new we were in trouble.

The light was quickly disappearing as dusk began to settle in. We decided our best option was to walk and look for a house, hopefully somebody would let us in to ride out the storm. Dredging through the snow was miserable, it was deep, wet and freezing cold. The houses were sparse, so while arriving at the first house we saw we hoped that we wouldn’t have to go any further.

The house was dark, it became apparent that it was some kind of a summer home that was closed up for the winter. We made a decision to find a way in because the danger of looking for another house with somebody home was too high. Tom started checking windows and doors to see if something was left unlocked. As a joke I said maybe there’s a key under the mat, we both let out a roaring laugh as Tom lifted the mat and found a key.

The house was dark and the electricity wasn’t working. I had a small flashlight on my key ring and Tom used it to find his way around. There was a fireplace, dry firewood outside the back door and candles. It was comforting knowing that we’d be able to dry off and warm up. While Tom got wood and worked on the fire, I played with our cell phones to try and contact the outside world. I finally got one bar on the phone and called my husband. He was glad to hear that we were okay and safe, he said he would call Tom‘s wife and let her know, just in case we lost our cell phone connection. I then called the local police, they said that as long as we weren’t in danger then we would have to wait out the storm where we were, they notified the owners of the house in New York and they replied through the police that it was okay as long as we respected their house.

Tom got a nice fire going. We searched for some kind of clothing because we had to get our wet clothes off to keep from freezing and hopefully find a way to dry them. There was not one stitch of clothing in the entire house. We decided to wrap in blankets while our clothes dried by the fire. It was awkward being stranded alone with him, although we have worked together for five years we never really knew each other. No after hours stuff like cook-outs or family gatherings, nothing other than work. There we were wrapped naked in blankets staring at the fire. At one point we both looked at each other and cracked up laughing.

Tom said that he saw a bottle of brandy in the kitchen when he was searching around.