Hurricane Hilary, Road Trip and 60th Birthday Party Celebration - Part Four

     I know...I'm so wordy right? So this is part four of my tale, if you want to get caught up, here's part ONE, TWO and THREE.

   So when last we left the adventurous Alicia and her sister Lisa, they had just travailed the scary bridge that was to lead them to the Old Hwy 58 in what was the beginning of Hurricane Hilary, now downgraded to a Tropical Storm. (But we did not know it had been downgraded.)

    Here's a map of the trail that we followed. Mind you, it was bumper to bumper traffic because everyone had found out that you had to take the Old Hwy 58 to the New Hwy 58, but at least we were all together. 

    By now it was raining pretty steadily and we could see water starting to gather, but we weren't worried...yet...so we were enjoying the rain and the scenery and reminiscing about traveling on the Old Hwy 58 with mom and dad. Lisa took some pictures and you can see the water starting to gather. I'm sure it was not too long after we drove by that the roads started to flood, but by then they were in our rear-view mirror and we thought we were safe.

Photo by Lisa, you can see the water gathering.

    

Photo by Lisa - The water gathers fast, that's what creates the flash floods, they happen in a flash!

    We were pretty happy with ourselves for getting out of there and we were even happier that it seemed like there were no trucks on the highway with us. We figured we had left them all behind us in Barstow just milling around like little worker ants. We figured we would be home soon as it was only 127 miles away and would take us about 1 hour and 55 minutes. Oh how wrong we were!

    What we did not know was that up on the Tehachapi Pass where we were headed, this was going on.

You can see the water and mud starting to break through and it's all over the highway.

Looks like Caltrans was already on scene trying to clear things up, but you can see traffic was still going through.

Check our the Landstar truck in the mud there.

    We got close though but right around the Mojave exit the California Highway Patrol had blocked off traffic and they were directing us to get off the highway. The problem is that Lisa and I had never had this happened, we didn't know that we could look up the Caltrans app and start getting info, we were just lost and scared.

    We stopped at a Subway Sandwich shop in Mojave and there were several other people just as lost and scared as we were. We were tired and wet and we finally decided to just get a hotel room there at the Best Western while it was still an early closure of the highway and we could still get a room. It was a lovely hotel and the person who checked us in was so nice and accommodating, we felt very safe. 

    Once we got into our room it started pouring rain, it's like the skies were waiting until Lisa and I were somewhere safe before letting loose!

    As the sun started to come down and Lisa and I were safe and sound in our hotel room, eating our Subway sandwiches, this was the Tehachapi Pass. I hope that driver made it out.

    We both notified our families by phone and then posted a message in our family group chat about what had happened and we had an army of family and friends praying for us. We both called our jobs and notified them we were stuck and hoped to be able to get home the next day. They told us to not worry about it,  just be safe.

    Luckily our brothers Fred and Jaime and their families all made it home safe and sound. The scary thing is my mom had all her babies on the road, in a hurricane all at the same time. I don't know how she made it through the day!

My mom's babies!

    We had a good nights sleep, we felt very safe. The next morning we had breakfast there at the hotel as they had a free breakfast. I had a lovely Waffle with Scrambled eggs and coffee, because even in the midst of chaos, one must eat!

Make your own Waffle with the Best Western Logo.

    Lisa and I had already plotted our way home, but we were really lucky that our cousin Steve who owns a trucking company and was already checking roads so he could dispatch his drivers first checked on how to get his cousins home! Bless you Steve! He checked with CHP & Caltrans to make sure the roads were cleared for the route we had already chosen. It made us feel that much safer knowing there would be no road closures along the way. Here's the route we took. 

    The roads were passable and it was a very beautiful and enjoyable drive home. The skies were cloudy and you could see for miles since the rain and wind had wiped out all the normal crud in the skies. 

    Never were Lisa and I happier to see this sign!

    We stopped to pick up Fancy at the groomers and she was so happy to see her mom. Then we drove home and I was logged in and working by 1pm!

    What an adventure. Never a dull moment when Lisa and I take a trip. I hope to never get stuck in a Hurricane or Tropical Storm again, but it's good to know that we can handle it. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had not had all that delay in Barstow and had arrived on the Tehachapi pass the same time as that Landstar truck! The spirits of our ancestors and God were definitely with us.

The end...