Thanksgiving Adventure 2019

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Hi Blog!

One of the reasons we camped in Riverside was to be with Darla for Thanksgiving. When our friends, Lee Ann and Jim moved from California to Wyoming, Darla "stole" their two daughters, Janis and Stacy. Darla is like a second Mom to them. Last year, we all had Thanksgiving at Janice's house in Pinon Hills. Unfortunately, Lee Ann and Jim couldn't make it this year, but Janice and Stacy invited us to join them this year.

By now, you probably all heard of the big storm that hit California over Thanksgiving. The weatherman predicted heavy rain in the valleys and snow in the higher elevations.  In order to get to Pinon Hills, we had to drive I-15 over Cajon Pass in the San Bernardino Mountains. We were hoping to avoid the worst snow, by taking SR 138 before actually getting to Cajon Summit. You know what they say about best laid plans.

By the time we got the exit, SR 138 was closed. There was no way to turn around. The only option for us was to go forward by an alternate, longer route. The drive would normally be an hour and a half. By the three hour mark, Dave and Darla were getting a little punchy.

By the five hour mark, Darla was not amused!

The folks in Pinon Hills had no choice but to proceed without us. Stacy and her family, who left just a half our before us, made it through before the road closed. No dips and chips for us. It was beginning to look like Thanksgiving Dinner was going to a Cliff Bar!

As the four lanes of traffic creeped and crawled, we eventually merged down to one lane and passed all the spun out cars and folks stranded on the side of the road. By the time we made it down toward Victorville, we could see the entire area was in total gridlock. Nothing was moving south.

As we turned West, we could actually see a break in the snow. We were beginning to feel optimistic that we might actually get our turkey dinner after all. The snow was actually looking kinda pretty.

While we were valiantly trying to get there, Janis and her husband took the opportunity to play in the new fallen snow. Unfortunately, we later learned that Janis fell off the sand board while sledding down the driveway and broke her ankle. [Janis - we wish you a speedy recovery.]

Stacy and her clan joined in the snow fun. Look at those smiles. Little did they know that after dinner, they, too, would be stuck in traffic for six hours. [Stacy - hope you recovered from your drive.]

As for us, we arrived at 5:05 p.m. to the most beautiful sight a hungry person could ever ask for. The
three of us tucked in and tried to tell our tale through mouthfuls of tender turkey, creamy potatoes, sweet corn and fluffy stuffing. There was also salad, cranberries and biscuits.

While all the deserts were amazing, we had our sights set on Scott's homemade apple pie.

By 6:30, we were back on the road again. We decided not to go anywhere near Cajon Pass. We mapped a route that took us west through Acton and down CA 14 to I-5 to I-210. The route was two and half hours, but there was very little snow or traffic, and we kept moving. We were home by 9:00 p.m.

It may have been the shortest Thanksgiving visit ever, but it will definitely be one we will remember for a long time to come.