First off, please excuse the dramatics. I was trying to think of a post title which captured all that happened Valentine's Day weekend. Celebrating Valentine's Day and of course the potential death trap (aka our accident).
To start off on a positive note, we finally got a mini vacation! School has been definitely taken its toll on me. The weekend of the 15th we drove up to Grand Forks, ND and stayed the night before driving the last hour to Fargo where we stayed through till Monday. I was very lucky and didn't have clinical prep like I did the last holiday so this is why we decided it would be a good time to make trip out of it. Interesting turn of events....but I will get to that later.
Andrew and I have this weird habit of celebrating holidays the day after they occur. Not necessarily weird, just practical. I mean everything is 50% off the day after so why not celebrate it the day after? So this love holiday fell on a wonderful weekend. In a way I guess our Valentine's Day turned into a Valentine's Weekend. We spent most of our time in Fargo, ND the largest city in North Dakota and only 4hrs from where we live. We love feeling like we are in a "big" city again. It actually is pretty decent size. Of course most of my gifts including shopping at Forever 21 which of course I loved. We both love any excuse to get each other gifts. We celebrate pretty much every holiday:)
My hubby almost peed his pants with excitement when he finally got his gift... The Lord of the Ring trilogy on blu-ray. Over Christmas my parents got us a blu-ray player since my dad believes it to be superior to a DVD player and really make you feel "like you are there" in the movie. Well, if he is right, Andrew will really feel like he is also with the fellowship to destroy the ring of power....in all its extended version glory. That's right, the extended version. Yikes!
Doesn't he look happy?:) Hopefully this picture breaks up the story a bit!
We had a great weekend and decided to start our journey back on Monday since I was doing IV starts and didn't have preclinical. Well, we woke up early so we would make it back in plenty of time. Big Mistake! What we didn't realize was a horrible blizzard had hit this area extending from Fargo all the way to Minot. Wind conditions were 30-40 mph! With the windchill, it literally felt like it was -35F. Not to mention the roads said " No Travel Advised". We should have listened, but we didn't have a choice! Andrew had to get back to work and I had to be back for school. You do not miss school during the nursing program...you really just cannot miss.
We slowly made the first 60miles behind a semi, since his lights were the only thing visible on the road. When we got to Valley City they had already closed down highway I-94. For the next 3hrs we semi-patiently waited for them to open back up the highway while they cleaned up all the accidents. Around 1pm we tried again to get home. We made it about 3miles out of Valley City when it happened.
On top of the crazy wind, snow, and zero visibility, the roads were also covered completely in ice. Andrew was driving in the left hand lane going around a huge semi. In attempts to get into the right hand side we got the tail wind of the semi. You fight against the wind the whole trip but suddenly when you are on the other side of a truck there is none. Next thing we know, Andrew has lost control of the car which is sliding across the right hand lane down into the ditch. There is nothing as scary as realizing the driver doesn't have control of the car and still being able to see the on coming traffic potentially able to T-bone your car as you fish tale into their lane. It all happened so fast, yet the result could have been much, much worse. Luckily, Andrew had passed the semi in the right lane with enough space that it was able to slow down enough and not hit us as we slid into their lane.
Andrew handled it like a boss. He didn't try to fight the car when it was trying to correct itself (if he had, we easily could have flipped). I know if it had been me I would have panicked doing who knows what. We ended up going down a ditch into several feet of snow. Our car was going no where. But, again, how lucky we were that we didn't hit the mile marker only a couple feet away, the oncoming traffic, or the fence down about 10 feet away from us. Instead, we got stuck in the snow. Unable to get out even with 4 wheel drive. Andrew couldn't even open his door since we were so deep in the snow and at an angle. We felt even more blessed that someone stopped (even in the horrible conditions) to make sure we were all right. They couldn't pull us out but at least they were able to check to make sure the exhaust wasn't covered in the snow. They even waited with us while we called to get a tow truck.
In the end, the tow people weren't allowed to tow the car yet. The conditions were too hazardous that they were only told to get the people and bring them back safely. They dropped us off back in Valley City at a Super 8. We were so worried about leaving our car in that kind of weather but we didn't have a choice. We stayed the night and got our car. In the midst of all this I was freaking out about school but I was so lucky my teacher understood so I made up clinical on wed instead.
I feel so grateful it wasn't our time to go yet. I guess we still have a purpose to fulfill in this life. Everything could have been worse in these conditions. The weather was better Tuesday (only about 10-15mph winds) so it was bearable to get home. Our car was completely fine. No damage because we landed in a snow drift. I have such a testimony knowing someone was keeping their eye on us that day. The tow people came within 20 minutes to get us and we had those amazing people who stopped to help us. Sometimes I can't get over the crazy weather in North Dakota but I can honestly say we have had so many opportunities and blessings just by being here. It was a crazy, unforgettable experience but we are safe with not even a scratch as proof it happened:)
Love,
The Andersons
P.S: Next post should be a more positive update!
P.S.S: Sorry for the long, drawn out story;)
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