Planes, trains and automobiles: Part deux
Don’t mess with mother nature. She will always win. It was just a week and a half ago … Remember waking up Wednesday morning to light snow dust and then Thursday morning to inches of snow covering Humboldt County? My daughter had a direct flight from Burbank to ACV that Thursday morning. Unfortunately, ACV’s runway was frozen, so flights were canceled that day from LA and SFO, although my niece arrived on a flight from Denver. Avelo Air rebooked my daughter on the afternoon flight to Santa Rosa. Guess who got volunteered to drive down to pick her up? I thought this was going to be an easy 8-hour round-trip to drive down and back. I was wrong. I had to drive south on 101 through a blizzard in Garberville. Garberville!
I was able to make it down to the Santa Rosa airport and got her picked up. We stopped for tacos and wine tasting in Healdsburg before heading north. Here’s where the train went off the tracks. Driving north, we cleared Ukiah, Willits and Laytonville before Caltrans stopped traffic on 101 a mile north of Laytonville and turned everyone around and told us to head south again as the freeway was closed between Laytonville and Garberville, no reason why. I immediately had my daughter get on her cell phone to book a motel room in Willits. We were lucky enough to secure one of the last remaining rooms in Willits before the town sold out and people had to head further south to Ukiah.
Thank God they stopped us and turned us around as I saw the devastation between the massive blizzard and all the trees down in the middle of 101, south of Garberville when I finally drove home. Between Kym Kemp’s “Redheaded Blackbelt” blog and people that I spoke to, there were probably a hundred vehicles stuck on the side of 101, south of Garberville that spent Thursday night in 29-degree weather. At least we had a warm motel room, shower and coffee. While I applaud the job that Caltrans did in clearing 101 of fallen trees in two days, I just wish they communicated that information with the media, websites and the drivers on 101. Had they used flashing signs, “101 closed Willits to Garberville”, people could have made other plans.
The next day on Friday, things didn’t get any better traveling north as we got a mile north of Willits before being stuck for two hours on 101 without moving, so we turned around and drove back south again as I had to be in Eureka on Saturday for my brother’s memorial as I was doing his eulogy. Not many options available. We looked at going around Highway 20 to I-5 north, however Caltrans showed 299 needing chains and closed in sections. I hate Highway 36 on a sunny summer day, so there is no way in hell I’m gonna try it during a massive winter storm at night.
Our only option was to keep heading south through San Francisco to SFO. I purchased a round-trip ticket for myself and a one-way ticket from my daughter. Texting frantically with the misses, she was able to secure us a parking spot at SFO. From the SFO parking lot, we took the AirTrain to SFO Terminal 3 (United Air). Due to my status with United, I was able to get us stand-by on an earlier flight that was also delayed, and we got into Eureka around 8 p.m. on Friday night. The flight was full of Willits refugees.
We had my brother’s memorial at the Moose Lodge on Saturday. I highly recommend arranging for the local Honor Guard if the deceased was a veteran. My brother was a Vietnam veteran, so he qualified for military honors for his memorial. Between taps, the 21-gun salute and the folding and presentation of the American flag to the widow, it was quite an emotional event.
Sunday morning, I’m up at 4:30 a.m. and on the 6 a.m. United flight back to SFO, where I then had to take the AirTrain back to the SFO parking lot to begin the long journey home. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I was able to stop off at the Windsor Home Depot and purchase a dryer at 60% off. Next, I was able to hit two Dry Creek Road wineries and enjoy some wine tastings.
The things we do for family…