October Snowstorm Detours Vacation Plans

It was Monday, Oct. 31.

We should have been crawling out of bed into a nice, warm suite about 50 miles away. But, we awoke to a cold house in Upper Milford Township and the third day without power.

The Oct. 29 snowstorm altered our vacation plans. Instead of packing and loading up the car on Sunday, we surveyed the damage to our trees and shoveled over 15 inches of the white stuff.

There was no word when power would return—PPL was overwhelmed with calls. So we stayed home hoping for information (or to have the power on) by the next day.

Monday morning my husband and I began our vacation by going to to wash our hair and brew some coffee—they regained electric sometime Sunday night. 

We then proceeded to visit a friend in the village (Old Zionsville) who had phone service and access to the Internet. Our cell phone had 15 minutes left, and we were hoping to locate a generator.

My husband located a place that had 15 generators left. Off he went to get one!  It was a 20 minute drive. But when he arrived, they were all sold—all 15 gone in 20 minutes!

Now we had a problem. We had a freezer full of a side of beef. I got through to PPL—power was not expected until 11 p.m. Nov. 3, and it was only 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 31. 

Off to the local butcher from whom we purchased the side to ask if we can keep it there til power was restored. Normally, not a problem, he said. But his freezer was full. He suggested we try the icehouse in East Greenville, but they couldn’t help either.

On the way home from the icehouse, we decided to drive through Powder Valley…and the car broke down. So as we waited 90 minutes for a tow from AAA, we thought about the past few days.

We are supposed to be on vacation. What a start! Is there a reason it seems we are being detained? Is God keeping us here for some reason? I thought, if the power is restored after the car is towed, I know something is keeping us here.

Sure enough, upon reaching the garage, my mother called to say their electric came back on and we could borrow their generator! So we picked it up and brought the freezers back down to operating temperature.

While the generator was running, we started to pack up and load the car.  We needed to start this vacation!

On the way to our destination, we realized that we probably would have broken down somewhere on the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike, and may have had to walk quite a distance to get help.

We discovered, upon arrival at our destination, that we were lucky we didn’t try to make the trip Sunday. The roads were all closed in the area until sometime Monday.

Our sons called later saying the power was restored by Wednesday.

Divine intervention? Or coincidence?