We spent Thanks giving weekend visiting family in Lead, SD. We decided to make a vacation out of it, and so we arrived last Sunday, staying at a cabin on Terry Peak, the highest mountain peak east of the Rockies, from 5500 to 7000 ft above sea level.
Tuesday evening my wife and I decided to get away from family and spend some time in Deadwood, SD. There are some nice restaurants, casinos and other entertainment. While there a sudden snowstorm came through and in a matter of minutes the roads were almost impassable. When I realized how much snow was outside, I told my wife “time to go!” Turns out I was too late.
To reach the cabin from where we were is to ride winding roads with steep drops on either side. I foolishly thought we could reach the cabin, which was almost at the peak, before things got bad. Halfway up I realized just how foolish that was when we got stuck in the snow. At this point, there is no cell reception, there are literally miles between cabins. There was no one to call. Visibility was zero and the snow was blinding. My wife told me later she had never been so scared in her life.
Not knowing how bad it would ultimately get, as I was sitting in the car calling on everything I had learned about situations like this, thinking of how to keep my wife safe, and what to do next – should we abandon the car and walk; wait it out and risk the car sliding off the mountain, etc. when out of nowhere I see headlights coming up behind us. It was what some would call a “good ol’ boy” in a beat up pickup truck. The truck was piled with tools and all kinds of stuff. He drives past, and then stops. I’m sure the sight of seeing a middle-aged black couple halfway up Terry Peak in a snowstorm stuck in an SUV with Illinois plates was not something he expected to see. But without a word, he went to work. He came up with the idea of towing us to the top of the peak, and then I thought we could possibly walk from there to the cabin. Using some of the tools and other stuff in his truck, we fashioned a towing line between the truck and our car.
I got back in the car and we started off. The next 20 minutes I watched as his truck slid back and forth, getting stuck now and then as we struggled up the mountain. There were times we got so close to the edge my wife screamed, and it took everything I could to keep her calm. We eventually reached the peak and then he stopped and unhitched the tow, because at this point we had to travel downward to reach the cabin. I told him I could handle it from here but he said if I didn’t mind he’d follow us to make sure we made it safely.
When we got to the cabin my wife hugged him, and I thanked him. I offered him to come inside for a bit to warm up, even invited him over for Thanksgiving dinner, but he refused all offers and didn’t want to give his name, just saying he was glad to help. We wished each other Happy Thanksgiving and that was that.
I haven’t told my wife just how much danger we were in when we were stuck on that mountain in a blinding snowstorm, and how had it not been for that selfless person coming by at that time, what might have happened.
This is not the first time someone showed sheer selflessness in offering to do something for me and mine, and I have tried to return the favor by doing for others whenever I can. I pray that I get the opportunity to do for someone else, what this man and others have done for me.
There are several lessons in this, but one is we should not be too quick to judge others’ hearts by who we might think they are, or how they may appear to us. In this moment race became an absurdity.
God bless the souls who live for others.
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Monday, November 30th 2009 at 7:53PM
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