Our Scary Crazy Excellent Adventure

On Saturday Curt and I left with Lydia and Rick to fly back to their home in California. The weather looked fine when we left, but little did we know the adventure that awaited us. What should have taken 8-10 hours, turned out to be a 30-hour trip for us.

At some point in California we hit a storm. Lots and lots of clouds.

It looked like this outside the airplane:

We had to climb really high, about 14,500 feet, to avoid the clouds and icing of the wings that come with it. It was too high and everyone but Curt started feeling the effects of lack of oxygen. Plus, the turbulence was really bad and Lydia and I felt really, really sick. We were also scared because the weather was getting worse, not better. We developed icing on the wings, which made it even more scary.

I kept thinking of our girls over and over, and wondered whether or not I'd ever see them again. Just thinking about it now makes me want to cry.

Here we are trying to be brave:

Lydia and I were doing this or holding each other's sweaty hands the entire time.

We decided to find the nearest airport and land until the weather cleared. Curt had to do an instrument approach because he couldn't see anything but white. He was able to find a small airport in Groveland, California. We had forgotten the charts in the van, but Curt found a instrument landing approach in the computer, which saved us. The airport is too small for a tower so he had to land without any help.

We finally broke out of the clouds after what seemed like a very long time. All I saw was hills, mountains and snow. My first thought was, "Oh great...I bet the runway is covered in snow!" Luckily, it wasn't. It was wet with rain. I've never been SO glad to land in my entire life.

I started to cry after we landed. I didn't freak out during the crisis, but afterwards, which is probably good.

The airport is surrounded by houses with hangers. We saw the name/number of a pilot that lives right by the airport and gives rides to people. We gave him a call. He kindly drove us into town and let us borrow his truck for the rest of the time that we were there. Thank you Larry!!!

We stayed at Hotel Charlotte, which is a quaint hotel built in 1921. The rooms were small, but clean and cozy. They have free long distance and high speed internet. We couldn't get cell service there, so that came in handy. The staff is really nice and accommodating.

Here we are eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant, happy to be alive!

We did some shopping at a boutique that evening, went to the local grocery store for a few necessities, played Trivial Pursuit and each ate our own pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

My main concern was being away from the girls. We had left Isabel in charge, but weren't comfortable with having them spend the night alone. I called our old babysitter Emily and she came over and spent the night with the girls, which eased my mind.

The next morning as we were finishing with breakfast we realized that the weather was clear. Curtis checked it on the computer one last time and then we headed out, hoping for the best.

When we got to the airport we found our airplane covered in ice. Rick and Curt cleaned it off while we stood around trying not to freak out before we had to get back in the airplane. I was already feeling sick again just from thinking about getting back in the plane.

This is what we saw as we were flying Lydia and Rick to their home:

We ate a quick lunch at their home and then headed back to our home.

We had to climb really high again, 15,500 feet, to avoid some clouds, but I wasn't affected much by the lack of oxygen that time. The turbulence wasn't as bad so that probably had something to do with it. We did develop some light icing twice as we passed through some clouds but it melted quickly.

I was so happy to land and have it finally be over.

The girls were so glad to see us, and I was so glad to see them.

I'm glad it's over and we are all safe.

Curtis said that that was the worst situation he's ever been in in 24 years of flying. It was very scary. I don't know when or if I'll feel like flying again. Curtis has no qualms, but I'm not a trained pilot.

Thank goodness for Curt's awesome flying skillz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if I'll ever get in a small plane again.