Lauren Lejeune

The day Powell had its first snow day of the year, I was supposed to be flying out for a work trip. That absolutely did not end up happening, which in hindsight I am grateful for. But even though my plans were canceled, I still ended up on quite the adventure with a dear friend and made some new ones along the way. 

I had a friend who needed to be out of town for the day for an important appointment. I’ve watched their home for them before, but due to my impending flight, I was unable to do so. So I called up my friend Gracie and she was willing to run up there and check on the house. After my flights were canceled, we decided to make it a girls trip and face the harsh winter roads together, stopping for a latte on the way up. We knew the roads wouldn’t be great — and they weren’t — but nothing could have prepared us for the sheer amount of standing snow on the roads in Wapiti. 

That should have put the warning bells on, but we decided to turn on the road leading to our destination. We got about a quarter of a mile down the road, before the truck got stuck. 

We were still optimistic, but decided to walk the rest of the way, quickly taking care of the animals and stealing some snow shovels out of the car port. The snow was almost waist high, neither of us wearing snow pants. I had texted my friend, warning him that he most likely would not be able to get into his driveway and also texting Nate that he might need to come and assist us. But after doing our best to dig the truck out, a few of the neighbors emerged, decked out in their winter gear and willing to help us out. 

The sun was beginning to go down, but Matt (our new helper) was able to get the truck quite a ways up the road, before getting sucked into the ditch. We all began digging and digging, more neighbors showing up to help. Nate and Jesse were on their way as well, at this point we were still pretty sure we would be driving Gracie’s truck home that night. 

Darkness had fallen, a tractor had been called into action and my jeans were completely frozen. Eventually my friend in question made it home and was able to come out and help as well. It was like a block party, only instead of camp chairs and a fire we had snow shovels and fading hope. The truck was still not out. It was almost nine at that point. Dana, another neighbor, brought us inside to thaw out and have a bowl of soup. We traded stories, toured her beautiful home and it was decided we would leave the truck for the night. 

Naturally, I felt horrible and wished it were my truck instead. But we made a game plan to come back the next day and one way or another that truck was coming out. Our dads and Nate came up with us, some of the neighbors meeting us once again to work on the excursion. It took about an hour, but eventually we were able to get it unstuck and back on the road. 

It’s nice knowing that in the face of tough times, you can almost always count on others in this community to lend a helping hand and be happy to do so. Even though we froze half to death,  we came home with a little more winter road knowledge and a few more friends than we started our trip with. Gracie and I are basically Wapiti residents now.

Thank you to Matt and Laurie, Dana and Ken, Patrick and Mike. See you all at the ACTUAL block party.