When Weather Strands you at the Historic Elk Mountain Hotel, Part Two

We called the Historic Elk Mountain Hotel from the ConocoPhillips Station as the storm raged outside. We were doubtful as to whether they would be dog friendly, they weren’t, but made an exception for us due to the storm. We were given directions and set out in the white out. We found the tiny town of Elk Mountain, and the hotel with little trouble, and promptly checked in.
The temperature had fallen from the mid-twenties to single digits in less than an hour, and was now at -5.
As it turns out, the hotel scheduled to be closed for a month, opening to accommodate stranded travelers.
I will be writing an entire piece on the Historic Elk Mountain Hotel very soon, but let me just say the experience was unbelievable! The entire staff made it a terrific experience.
What I wanted to focus on in what’s left in this post, is the other stranded traveler who was in the next room … Eddie. Eddie was a trucker hauling 27,000 pounds of high end furniture between North Carolina and Salt Lake City. Traveling westbound on I80, his truck was hit by a gust of wind and toppled his truck and trailer on its side. The man had been battered and bruised in the accident, lost his cell phone and was forced to leave some of his gear behind. A tow truck driver brought him to the hotel, were after three cups of coffee while warming himself by the gas fireplace, he retired to his room for the night without supper.
Before the staff left for the night, we all checked on him to make sure he was okay. He assured us that he was sore but otherwise fine. When I took the dog out at nine thirty, the Temperature had dropped to -20. A White-Tailed Deer came out of the trees to check us out.
The next morning, I found Eddie downstairs by the stove holding a cup of coffee. At that time the estimated time for the interstate to be open was 8 to 10 hours. I loaned Eddie my phone to make some calls and overheard a conversation with his boss, who seemed more interested in the truck and the contents of his trailer than of Eddie’s well being.
by twelve-thirty, the interstate eastbound was open. We gave him a ride to a truck stop in Laramie fifty miles away, where he hoped to catch a ride with another trucker back home to North Carolina.
we said goodbye and wished him well before making the push to our final destination south of Denver Colorado.
we drove a total twelve-hundred and thirty-five miles, in sun-zero temps, reaching an elevation of eighty-six hundred feet.
We settle into the Christmas festivities, one day later than planed, but in good shape and spirits.
DE Haines