On Sunday, January 24, 2010 Wendy and I got up at 6:00 a.m. to hit the day hard. Today was a "moving day," since we would be checking out of The Bentley Hotel in NYC and checking back in to the Ramada Inn in Rochelle Park, NJ. In between those events, we would spend the day in Stone Ridge, NY with our friends the Hallenbecks! Whew...
We have always enjoyed Jamie Hallenbeck's ministry when visiting their church - he has a thoughtful, well-prepared delivery that makes him easy to listen to, and he always has good things to say. In addition to good services, we are always treated very well when it comes to meals; this day was no exception. Sunday dinner consisted of ham, potatoes, fruit salad, corn, and green beans. Dessert was spectacular, with dirt cake and ice cream cake. We celebrated Brandon's birthday while we were there as well.
The previous week when we were returning to our NJ hotel, little did we know what the following seven days would bring. Our stress level, in many ways, was lower - the weather seemed to want to make up for that. You see, during the afternoon and through the evening service, there had been some wintry precipitation. It was really just a light quantity of snow, and didn't seem troublesome as we left the church that evening. However, after leaving Stone Ridge to head for New Paltz, the first few miles involve climbing Mohonk Mountain on winding, steep, narrow roads. As we began to climb those curvy hills with our Mercury Grand Marquis, a rear-wheel-drive car with tires that needed to be replaced, it was clear that traction was limited. We met a few cars proceeding down the mountain, and they were flashing their lights at us. We thought that perhaps they were just warning us of the road conditions, and perhaps they were. On one stretch that was relatively straight for a little while, but also a steady incline, we slowed to a crawl and then finally came to a complete stop! The car would not move forward at all, and it even began sliding backward a bit, turning sideways as it did so. It was a very strange feeling to be partly sideways, at an angle, across both lanes of this narrow road, not knowing what to do! In front of us was the edge of the road with a guardrail, then a steep drop; behind us was a ditch in which we'd certainly get stuck. I was going to get out of the car to push, but Wendy was afraid I wouldn't have traction to push effectively, or even to stand, so I stayed in the car. I put it in reverse and managed to edge backward a couple of feet, while still sliding in other directions without control. Then I turned the tires to the right and tried to move the car forward a bit. I kept doing this over and over and over, and did seem to be making progress at turning the car slightly. I honestly I have no idea how long it took to turn around, or how many "points" there were in my turn (it CERTAINLY wasn't a three-point-turn!), but eventually, I convinced the car to point DOWN the hill again. Obviously, there was no other traffic; we hadn't seen more cars after the two or three vehicles that were coming down flashing their lights at us. Perhaps they had been unable to crest the mountain as well, and were trying to communicate that through their lights using Morse code! I waited a couple of minutes as we both let our hearts slow, then I began to let the car creep down the hill, keeping the shifter in first to ensure that the car wouldn't pick up speed, though I certainly wouldn't be able to control it if it began to slide. We did slip a little from time to time, but we ultimately managed to get back down to the elevation at which the road wasn't glare ice! Once we did, the road to Kingston (US 209) was nicely clear, and then in Kingston we got back on I-87 to head south again. It took us quite a bit longer than we had planned to get back "home" that night, but we were very glad to have made it safely, even if later than we preferred.
Once we got to the hotel and checked in, we brought in a few things, had a snack (Kathy had given us some dirt cake to take with us), and went to bed. Tomorrow was the big day - embryo transfer!
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