The Edina I Knew

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The Blizzard and Two Young Neighbor Boys 1970

It’s January 1970 and I am working at the Army Record Center in St. Louis. My wife calls and says, “Bill, they are forecasting blizzard conditions for North Missouri, you should try to get home before it strikes.” I ask my Colonel for a 3-day pass to take care of my family. He says, OK go for it, call me when you get home.

There is heavy snow all the way up Highway 61 and it gets worse when I turn west on Highway 6, and small drifts make it bumpy. The further west I go, the bigger the drifts get. I notice that I am about the only car out there. By the time I reach 2 miles east of Hurdland, the road is almost drifted shut. I’m driving with one wheel on the left shoulder. I pass a snow plow stuck in a drift.

It was just pure luck that I made it to Muir’s Station. A couple other pickups were there loading up groceries. Joe Muir said, “Bill, you will never make it home, Highway J is almost impassable. It was about then Jerry Woodard pulled in with his 60 John Deere. He picked up some groceries. I had already bought a mail bag full. Jerry said if you can hang on, I can get you to within a mile of your home. Not really a good idea but I had to get home, so I said let’s go.

We plowed our way down Highway J, busting some small drifts. Lucky once, lucky twice as we reached my road, Billy Baker was in his yard with his snow mobile. He said throw your mail pouch in the front carrier and jump on the back seat. We’ll see how far down your road we can go. I’m half froze to death with only a field jacket for a coat.

So here we go! We make the first half mile pretty good, but at a half mile from my house we hit a big drift. The incline was too much and we were stuck, but with both of us pushing we got through. Now only half mile from the house, the rest of the way was not too bad. Bill dropped me right at the kitchen door, I had no more than grabbed my bag of groceries, when Bill turned around and started back home. He made it through the spot that we gotten stuck because it was downhill going back.

I have thought about it several times. How could I have been so lucky  to be in the right place at the right time? It was the wildest snowmobile ride I have ever taken, and the most fortunate also.

Yup, safe at home thanks to two young neighbor boys.

Contributed by Bill Lewis