So, a group of friends and I start off a journey to Happy Jack, Arizona. If you're not familiar, it's about 150 miles north of Phoenix.......and about 4,300 higher in elevation. We take a slightly different route than is normal, for reasons not necessary to mention here, which seems completely logical because we have TomTom, our trusty GPS. Um, yeah. "Trusty". For future reference, you need to know that we exited Stoneman Lake Road, which is basically an exit off of a busy highway but in the middle of n-o-w-h-e-r-e. As Phoenicians, we are thrilled to see snow. And we're going to a party in Happy Jack. We couldn't be happier.
As we drive along, however, the snow starts getting thicker, the road turns to dirt, and the sun is starting to set. Yet, we keep going. Seemed like the thing to do at the time. Oh, did I mention we were in a truck with NO 4-wheel drive. Yep. That's right. And you guessed it, we came to a very anti-climactic sliding stop. We were stuck. Nothing we could do would get us out. We tried pushing. It didn't work. But we had cell phones, with service, so we started making phone calls. After numerous phone calls to Roadside Assistance, friends, and several tow truck companies, we started to think we would be in for the night. And somehow, we weren't too worried about it. We had a LOT of food and
By this time, it's 10pm on New Year's Eve. It was about 9 degrees, very still, with a beautiful blue moon that lit up the night. And the snow was thick. We decided to walk (yes, you read that right.......even after all of those horror stories you read!) down to the tow truck for a ride out. Seemed like the best thing to do. A half hour later, we make it to the tow truck to discover there are two of them, four of us, and one small cab of a truck. But, they were giving us a ride out. So us girls crammed ourselves into the cab of the truck with our two rescuers, while Steve had to squat on the back of the flatbed. It was cold, did I mention that? 45 minutes later, we were back at the highway and Stoneman Lake Road, where the tow truck drivers left us. Yes, on the side of a road at the base of a highway off-ramp. At 11:30pm on New Year's Eve. Where we actually waited for a cab driver from a small town about 30 miles away. Seriously? What crazy person is going to pick up a bunch of strangers on the side of an off-ramp at 11:30pm on NYE? We didn't believe they would come, but they did. SHE did. Yes, it was a woman cab driver. I wish I knew her name, I'd totally give her kudos here. Amazing. She drove us up to Mund's Park where our friend picked us up. We made it to the cabin at 1:45am on New Years' Day. The first day of January, 2010. I figured with all that we had gone through, I could absolutely count that as my trip for January. And after doing snow angels in the perfectly white fluff at 7:00am, I thought maybe I'd fulfilled my January resolution in one fell swoop. But, who hasn't done snow angels at some point in their life? Nah, I'd have to find something else.
