The snowstorm

Heading to the coast in October, Ed encounters a snowy mountain pass

After a great summer at the lake, Gail and I saw the leaves starting to turn and the smell of fall was in the air. Our thoughts turned more and more to our planned winter stay in Arizona. We had made reservations with a Mesa RV park and I was anxious to get behind the wheel of my new diesel pusher, a 1999 Beaver Contessa.

A departure date was set for late October and we found ourselves counting down the days. A surprise early snowfall the first of October further stimulated our anticipation.

Gail always wanted to see the Oregon coast, so we decided to drive first to the west coast and then south on US 101. This would mean we had to drive through the Rocky Mountains in late October, which I was a little concerned about. I was also told by a few experienced travellers that taking a 40-foot motorhome towing a car down the 101 could present a few challenges.

As the end of October grew closer, I was watching the weather forecast for the best time to make our run through the mountains. A date was soon set and the motorhome was loaded and ready to go.

Departure day gave us an overcast morning with an optimistic weather forecast. The first three hours brought great driving conditions with a few sunny breaks. As we drew closer to the mountains, the weather started to deteriorate and we soon found ourselves in a winter blizzard. I had almost decided we would stay overnight in Hinton, the last stop before the Rockies, but soon the clouds parted and it became a sunny day. We decided to proceed and were soon driving past the town of Jasper in very light snow.

The light snow turned to heavy, wet snow as it started to get dark. This is just what I was trying to avoid, and it was 10 times worse than I ever thought it would be. The headlights on every motorhome I have owned have always been marginal and this one was no exception. Now the wet snow was clogging up my wipers, leaving me narrow streaks that I could barely see through. The road was white, with one set of tracks that left no reference to where the shoulder was. If I tried to stop I would be risking someone running into me, but if I tried to pull over to the shoulder that I could not see I could end up going down the side of a mountain. I can honestly say I have never been so scared in a driving situation in my life. But it gets worse!

In the dark, and through the tiny slits of view my wipers left me, I could see the lights of a few cars and trucks pulled to the side of the road. Of course there were no pull-over spots left for me as I went by the sign that said “chain-up area.” Hmmm … I am driving a 40-foot, 15-ton motorhome with summer tires and dragging a car and I am about to try to climb one of many mountain grades. All I could do was put the pedal down and grasp the steering wheel even tighter with my white knuckles.

The next several hours of driving was an experience I never want to live through again, but eventually we saw the lights of Valemount in the distance. We quickly found a service station that allowed us to park overnight.

The storm we hit was not in the forecast I saw one day before departure, but that is the chance you take when you do mountain driving in the winter.

The next morning was clear and overcast, but I was not getting back on the road until I was confident we were past the storm. I could get no radio or TV reception, so as a last resort I went to our CB. I quickly got a response from a trucker telling me it was clear through to our next stop, Clearwater, where we were going to meet up with our travelling companions, John and Gail.

But that is my next story...