Ten kilometers to go. So close. White-knuckled and cramped fingers clenching the steering wheel. The last 80 kilometers had been the worst I had ever driven. The blowing snow was blinding, making it impossible to see even five feet ahead. I was going about 30 kilometers per hour and even that felt reckless. If I could see clearly, I would get off the highway and turn around for the drive home. But, I couldn’t even see far enough ahead to see an off-ramp until I was passing it.
Obviously, I was going to be late for work. I usually arrived by 7:00 a.m. and it was almost 7:30. I was determined to make it. I switched the radio on and tuned in to the Sarnia news. They were reporting on the current snowstorm and announced that Highway 402 was now closed! Wait a minute!! I’m on Highway 402. I’m trying to make it to Sarnia! How can the road be closed? Am I the only one on the road? I’m so close!
I didn’t have long to ponder this new situation as, moments later, I brought the vehicle to a stop. The truck in in front of me had come to a stop and I couldn’t pass, even if I wanted to. I could see one truck in each lane in front of me and a car and a truck in the two lanes behind me. That’s as far as I could see.
Well, now what do I do? I waited a few minutes, in case the vehicles started moving again. When it was obvious that there was going to be no movement. I called into work and told them of my current situation.
I called my wife to let her know that I was stuck on the highway. As luck would have it, I had packed an extra lunch that morning. We had leftover pizza from the night before that I noticed after I had already packed my lunch. I wrapped it up and put it in my lunch bucket. Nice. I won’t need food for a while – and, while the wind howled around me, I figured it would be a long while before I went anywhere.
The storm worsened as the day progressed and by dusk, I couldn’t even see the cars around me. The wind was wailing and the snow was still furiously coming down. The anxiety kicked in when I suddenly realized the vehicle was virtually covered in snow. Oh no. What if nobody can find me? How long can I safely stay here before I begin to die? I had some extra food, but no water. Can you live without water? I don’t think so. I called my wife. She’s the calm one. She’s the practical one.
Her instructions were that I would get out of the vehicle and make my way to the truck parked beside me. I would introduce myself and ask if I could join him if my vehicle ran out of gas (I had only a quarter tank of gas at this point). He was a nice guy, agreed that it wouldn’t be a problem at all and stated that he had enough fuel to last 3 days! Holy cow. I hope we’re not here for three days.
Safely back in my vehicle, I warmed up with the heater. I decided that I would run the vehicle for 15 minutes every hour – enough to warm up the inside while preserving the fuel that I had. My wife organized my kids and a few close friends so that somebody was calling me every hour. I ate part of my lunch and tried to relax and catch some sleep.
I awoke thinking that it was sometime through the night because of the darkness. It was only 8:00 p.m. I had been here 12 hours by now. There was zero visibility as my vehicle was completely covered in snow. It was dark, but it was loud. The wind was still strong and I could even feel the vehicle move with the wind. I knew it was going to be a long night.
When morning came, I realized that I needed to get something to drink. I still had my Tim Horton’s cup from yesterday morning so I grabbed it and pushed to get my door open. After a few heaves, I was free. The wind had stopped and it was a clear and bright morning. As I surveyed the cars around me, I could see perhaps 8 rows of cars ahead me and behind me. That’s as far as I could see. I assumed there many, many more than what I could see and from the news I had heard that there were hundreds of cars stranded on the highway. My intention was to fill up my cup with snow to bring back in to the vehicle to melt so I could drink it.
Just at that moment, a snowmobile drove by, handing out water bottles to the people in the vehicles and asking if anyone wanted to leave their vehicle and get a ride to the nearest shelter. I thankfully accepted the water while declining to leave my vehicle. I just felt that I should stay with it and be ready for when the plows were able to get us out.
So now, it had been 24 hours since I became stranded on the highway. I was still talking to family and friends every hour and there was no news, yet, as to when they might be able to dig us out. I settled in for a new day of “routine on the highway stuck in my car in a snowstorm”.
At about 4 pm, I could hear the rumble of an engine coming from somewhere in front of me. I exited my vehicle to see what was happening. Coming toward me was a front-end loader. He was clearing the snow away as he went so the cars that were parked in front of me were able to manoeuvre through the cleared pathway and drive the one kilometer to the nearest exit into Sarnia. I learned that my vehicle was about the 10th row in line of the stopped vehicles. The first vehicles to stop were a couple of large transport trucks. When they couldn’t go any further the day before, they just stopped where they were and the rest of us stopped behind them. Some of the drivers in the parked vehicles had chosen a ride in to a shelter, so their vehicle was essentially abandoned. The front end loader had to work around all of these vehicles and clear a path that was zig zagging along the highway.
As it turned out, they were able to dig out the westbound lanes and stranded vehicles but it took another three days before the eastbound lanes were opened for me to return home.
While it’s a great story, I wouldn’t want to do it again.
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