Thursday morning….I woke well before the alarm, to see a beautiful sunrise….God’s way of saying to me “It’s OK to travel through the pass”….a peace had settled over us as we left at 8:30 in the morning to arrive in Bend by 10:30 or 11:00. We traveled about 30 miles before we hit snow. It was beautiful with the sun, still light snow on the road, but very passable towing the trailer. By the time we hit Santiam Junction, where Hwy 22, Hwy 126 and Hwy 20 meet together, it became a small skating rink. Little did I know it was ice until I saw the trailer coming out of the driver side mirror….toward us. A pretty scary sight. I said “BILL….” Like he was going to be able to do something from the passenger seat! In all my years driving in ice & snow in Michigan, it was 1.) on flat land, 2) Guard rails were anywhere you might go into a ditch, 3.) Salt kept you in the tire tracks. 4.) I never towed a trailer in the ice! SO…which way do I steer to pull this sliding truck & trailer back into the right lane??!! Thankfully, instinct and the Lord took over, and it seemed I knew what to do….what a blessing. The full bladder stayed intact, even though it was scary enough that it could have been a fearful sight!! The going was slow—30mph through the rest of the icy pass…One poor soul tried to pass us, and the trailer slipped again, and he decided it was safer behind us! We were thankful to see the east side of the pass where the sun had melted off the ice…and the rest of the drive down the east side of the mountain was uneventful. Very relieved to be on the other side of the hill…..and now praying to get back over safely on Sunday. If it’s snowy, we may take the long way home through Eugene, but that adds another two hours to our trip, but being safe is a priority. It will still be a trip over the mountain, but the grade into Eugene is much better than the steep 6% downgrade for 11 miles into Sweet Home.
We arrived at Tumalo State Park at 11, dropped the trailer, took care of our sick girl (Lexxi still getting car sick when we travel), got settled and headed over to Teen Challenge.
Charlie greeted us at the door, and there was food everywhere!! We had a great meal, cooked by Charlie, Kim, and a few other guys there.
SO good, and what a treat that we didn’t have to cook this year! We hung out for awhile, had a great dessert and then headed back to camp.
Charlie is able to join us for the weekend!! Everyone crashed for a few hours, and at 8pm, we were still not ready to eat. We had tea, coffee, and just some great visiting.
We headed to bed by 10:30 and slept in until 8ish…it is a beautiful morning. We are headed into Sisters to the coffee shop to download a program, check our mail and upload the blog. We plan to head off today to check out some beautiful spots around here. Saturday will be more of the same, weather permitting, and Sunday is Charlie’s graduation. So proud of him! Probably won’t be back online until Sunday (unless I steal Bill’s phone)…so please be praying for no snow on Sunday afternoon, no ice, and a nice safe trip home.
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