The Emerald Virus by Patrick Shea

Author:Patrick Shea [Shea, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-05-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty Four: The Blizzard of 14

Monday: From Pine Ridge to Yellowstone

Noah had been on the road all day and was starting to worry about the weather. The farther west he drove the more threatening the sky became. He had decided early in the day to take Sam’s advice and use the west entrance to the park, even though it meant adding a couple of hours to the drive. With any snow on the ground the mountain passes he would face by using the east or north entrances would be impossible. He had no interest at all in navigating those narrow roads without being able to see surface pavement.

By the time he reached Bozeman he left the Interstate and followed highway 191 to 84 to 287 and went south through Ennis, Montana, a town he really liked. He had stayed and fished here with a friend years ago and still had good memories of the town. At Ennis it started snowing and within ten minutes it was snowing heavily.

He called Sam to tell her about the snow and to check on conditions in the park. She said it had been snowing in the park for about an hour. She promised to keep the road in the park clear by using the snow plow she and Ben had already used once.

She asked him what route he was taking and he told her he had just left Ennis and would follow 287 north of Hebgen Lake and then south to West Yellowstone. It was a road he had traveled before and he thought it would be the least risky route. Sam agreed with him and told him she would meet him at the park. She also told him she had overestimated the distance form West Yellowstone to the main lodge. She originally thought it would be about twenty five miles but it turned out to be only about fifteen miles or so.

He told Sam if things went okay he should be in West Yellowstone in maybe an hour or a little more.

Fifteen minutes later he realized how wrong he was. He stopped and spent thirty minutes fighting with the rear chains. He finally got them on and called Sam to let her know. But, there was no cell service available on this stretch of road so he reminded himself to try every ten minutes or so. It was getting close to dusk now and he was down to about fifteen miles an hour.

The wipers were working on high and could hardly stay up with the task of keeping the front windshield clear. Noah finally had to stop and get a broom out of one of the closets to sweep the entire windshield, as well as the headlights. He knew he would have to do this over and over but he wanted good vision. He knew if he went off the road he would be in serious trouble.

He had no idea how long it would snow. It was really weird not having access to weather forecasts.

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