The Adventures Of Bette Porter And Sissee Gardner After Yale (Part 5, Chapter 4)

PART FIVE: PHILLIPS, WISCONSIN

Chapter 4

The man in the snow plow was very helpful. He had a thermos full of hot cocoa which he said would  warm us up as well as give us an energy boost.

He then told us how severe the storm had been. It had gotten just under ten below zero with a wind chill factor as low as minus thirty. There were drifts up to thirty feet in some areas. He told us we were lucky we did not get buried alive in that car which prompted us to look back at it. It was almost covered. The north side was totally buried with snow covering the roof but because Howie kept opening the door on his side all night, the snow kept being pushed away.

As we looked all around what might have been our coffin, we noticed a farm not that far from where we were. We probably could have walked to it had we known it was there.

The driver had come from St. Croix Falls. He said all the electricity was out in most of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. The telephone lines were also out.  My heart sank when I heard the latter. I knew it would be a difficult phone call but I had to let Bette know I was alright and both Howie and I needed to call our parents. 

After stuffing some fresh clothes into Howie’s carry-on bag, plus picking up my purse, we drove in the cab of the snow plow to Ranger. I had to sit on Howie’s lap which I found uncomfortable, particularly since I may have wet myself during the night without knowing it.

We were about five miles from Ranger and it took forever to get there. We passed another snowplow going west. When we got to the small town there was not much there. They did not even have a motel but there were two restaurants, plus a gas station which is where we requested to be dropped off. With many thanks to the driver we were left to fend for ourselves.

While I went to the bathroom to clean up, Howie arranged for a wrecker to go get his car out of the ditch and prepare it for the road again.