We had a wonderful time being with the Mountain Plains pastors and leaders at the Minister's R and R in Hill City, South Dakota. We enjoyed worshipping, learning, eating and playing together. The weather was beautiful and the Black Hills were stunning. We decided to stay one more night in the hotel after the retreat ended. That's when our adventure began.
We awoke on Friday morning to about a foot of wet, slushy snow in Hill City. After discussing the situation with the hotel clerk and other guests, we decided the roads would probably be safe enough to drive on to our next stop, Midland, South Dakota. The road to Rapid City was plowed, but the snow was coming down steadily, so the driving was slow. On the way, we talked by phone to Andy Blye, the pastor at Midland, who told us that the weather was fine where they were and that we could probably make it all the way to Midland without any trouble. By the time we got into Rapid City, however, we decided that it would not be wise to continue and that staying in a comfortable hotel overnight would be a nice way to spend some of the tax refund we had just received.
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| Driving from Hill City to Rapid City |
By the time we picked up a winter coat for Nancy and a couple of other items at the store, the storm was in full force. We made a wrong turn and missed our hotel because it was snowing and blowing so hard we couldn't see the sign. We had to use the GPS to find the hotel, but soon after we checked in, the electricity went out and we were without heat, hot water and lights for almost two days. The cold wind blew through the heater in the wall, so the hotel gave us a blanket to cover the heater to keep the cold out. We ate some snacks we had purchased for our supper, dressed warmly and went to bed in the dark. All night we could hear the strong winds beating the hotel. The wind and snow stopped the next day, but we were snowed in. The cars were buried in parking lot and a six-foot drift blocked the driveway. The hotel loaned out the only two shovels it had, but both of them broke in the heavy snow.
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| The path made through a drift behind the hotel |
We were able to talk to Pastor Andy in Midland. Even though they only had rain there, he knew we probably would not be able to make it to the church by Sunday morning. He offered to call everyone in the church and reschedule the service for Sunday evening. May God bless them for their flexibility.
The restaurant connected to the hotel had gas ovens and served complimentary quesadillas for lunch and pizza for supper to all the snowed-in guests. Two Bobcats worked as fast as they could in the parking lot to open the drives and free the cars. The guests not trying to shovel out their cars spent a lot of time in the waterpark (closed since there was no electricity) since it was reasonably warm there, much warmer than the rest of the hotel. Finally, the electricity came on about 10 pm on Saturday.
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| Mike (center) shoveling with a trash can |
Sunday, however, we were still snowed in. Even though Mike was able to free our car by shoveling with a waste basket and the Bobcat opened the drive behind the car, I-90, the road to Midland, was still closed. We were told it would be open at noon, so we checked out about 11 and went into Rapid City for some lunch. All of Rapid City was trying to dig out. Most of the streets that were plowed had only one lane open, so going was slow. The only place we found open was WalMart, so we bought some lunch there and then set out about noon for Midland. We got just outside of Rapid City and were turned back by the highway patrol, who said the road would still be closed for another two hours or so. We waited again and were finally able to arrive in Midland later that afternoon. Although the highway was clear, we saw cars and trucks that had gone off the road in the snow and cattle that had died in the storm.
Sunday evening the gracious people of Midland welcomed us with a delicious potluck supper and listened to us talk about Hungary.
Monday morning we left for Billings, Montana, driving through Rapid City on the way. They were still digging out with drifts and piles of snow everywhere, but the temperatures were mild and the sun was shining. This experience with winter in South Dakota in October will make us appreciate itineration in Florida in November even more.
We were welcomed by Pastors Greg and Debbie Carr and their congregation. The entire congregation, including the children listened intently to our presentation about Hungary and INSTE and asked some good questions. Afterward they filled us full of delicious food at a potluck and asked even more questions. We had a wonderful time.
