A "STELLA" SNOWPOCALYPTIC RIDE THROUGH A FROZEN HELL !

[BASSQUATCH]

A "Stella" Blizzard Frozen Over Hell Ride!
March 14, 2017 marked the 5 year anniversary of my dads passing.  He was such a huge part of my life, ALWAYS there for me and my family! I have to think he was there for us in a big way on this 5 year anniversary day !!! 
We left Montana Sunday at about 3pm for our long ride home in our 2017 Dodge Caravan rental. We took a nice ride through Glacier National Park in Montana first then onward towards home. We knew there was a storm forecasted to hit Massachusetts on the day we were returning home, Estimated arrival home was Tuesday morning around 9am. We were making good time and having fun for a while. Then things went down hill pretty fast (No not us from the mountains lol)!!! We hit some snow in the Chicago area but not too bad, manageable. After that is when things got really bad! We managed to get through Illinois & Indiana with off an on snow. Once we hit Ohio, the nice ride from Montana turned apocalyptic to say the least! We were driving in near whiteout conditions doing about 30 mph ! This was when we also started to see what we didn't want to see, first car flipped over on its roof!  To think just how far we still had to go and seeing the conditions ahead of us was a little nerve racking ! Mile after mile we slowly made it towards Massachusetts, mile after mile things went from bad to omfg, mile after mile we saw more accidents, trucks off the road and flipped on their sides !!! I've NEVER in my 43 years seen driving conditions so bad! I just wanted to get home and not stop at another hotel, so we pushed onward! Once we hit the Erie Pennsylvania area, it was something straight out of a Hollywood snowpocalyps movie !!!!! We were driving since Sunday 3pm Montana, now its sometime Tuesday morning as we approached the NY border. I knew how far it was through NY before the last hurdle through mass! I will admit that I was a little worried we might not make it to mass but decided to push on and get us back, we were all just wanting to get home! We were finally heading down the NY thruway (route 90) as things went from snowpocalyptic to HOW THE ****censored word**** ARE WE GONNA MAKE IT HOME! One vehicle after another off the road in a snow pile!  Yes I was worried, no I didn't let the family know this though! I have a crap ton of winter driving experience and wasn't being foolish (well that's a matter of opinion ). We saw signs saying the thruway was closed to trailer trucks and one person at a service station said it was closing for all traffic! So we pushed onward down the barely plowed road smashing through 2 foot deep plow piles and trying to see the road, basically stay between the guardrails! Visibility was about 50-100 feet at best and less than 25 feet at times! The wind was so strong it pushed us back and forth like a toy! We saw one tractor trailer pushed 4'-6' to one side in the rear from a huge gust! At one fuel stop, the wind caught the door and pulled me out as I tried to hold it! The wind was howling so fiercely that it pretty much pinned me against the van door momentarily! We made it back onto the highway just trying to stay on the road and keep us rolling forward plowing through who knows how much snow! We stopped for gas again down the road and about 2" fell in literally 8-10 min, covering the windshield! How we made it up some of the hills through NY and the Berkshires is beyond me ( experience, luck, dad?)  My main goal was to get my family home safe and that's what I set my mind on, nothing is more important to me! We FINALLY arrived home at 7:30 Tuesday night! About 52 hours after leaving Montana! Totaling 2834 miles, half the ride with gorgeous views and half the ride through a view of a frozen hell! You ever watch that show on the weather channel "Highway thru Hell"?  Well that's a walk in the park on a winters day compared to the pure hellish ride we had to endure !
I don't know if dad helped us make it home safe on the anniversary of his death, but I think so. Well that's my story of the March 14th 2017 Blizzard after driving for 2 days straight from Montana. Here are some of the many shots from Montana,
I hope everyone enjoyed my snowpocalyps story, we certainly will NEVER forget. Thanks for reading it all, I know, long read, LONGER ride 😆

[bogtrotter]

Is that a brontosaurus in your last photo?

[lenz]

gotta love road trips.. nice pictures
burp

[Ice max]

Good to hear you and the family got home safe. Nice pics as always.

[Ole Polanski]

WOW.....   My condolences to your Dad's 5th!  Glad you and yours are home safe!   O.P.   

[BASSQUATCH]

Is that a brontosaurus in your last photo?

lol yes there was some sort of dinosaur statue in the distance. This was somewhere in Montana.

[BASSQUATCH]

WOW.....   My condolences to your Dad's 5th!  Glad you and yours are home safe!   O.P.   

Thank you very much!

[BASSQUATCH]

Good to hear you and the family got home safe. Nice pics as always.

gotta love road trips.. nice pictures
burp

Thanks guys, I got my love of fishing and taking photos from my dad. I hope to continue helping and sharing the way he always did.

[BASSQUATCH]

We fell in love with Montana and now we are seriously thinking about relocating to either Kalispell, Whitefish or somewhere in between. Mass will always be home but Montana is where I'd like to live out the second half of my life . I'll be 44 in August and found out the hard way just how short life can be!  Brother 38, Dad 67,  Mom 65, brother in law 36,  all passed away in a 6 year period!
So I think its time for a change, a big change.

[THE JIGGER]

Is that a brontosaurus in your last photo?

I thought the same thing.
Keith
OMG you out did yourself. These photos are outstanding.
I hope you had a wonderful trip.
I know your dad was with you every minute of the trip.

[missoulafish]

driven all those roads many times...great pics:)

[short circuit]

We fell in love with Montana and now we are seriously thinking about relocating to either Kalispell, Whitefish or somewhere in between. Mass will always be home but Montana is where I'd like to live out the second half of my life . I'll be 44 in August and found out the hard way just how short life can be!  Brother 38, Dad 67,  Mom 65, brother in law 36,  all passed away in a 6 year period!
So I think its time for a change, a big change.

Seeing the ages of the passing of three of your closest blood relatives, I agree that if you feel that strongly about a change of residence you really need to considerate it. I wish you good luck with your decision.

[BaitBucket]

Heard on the news that 4 people died in that storm because their cars went off the road and they either went unnoticed or people couldnt get to them.

Glad to hear you made it back ok

[wbfishboy]

great pics, looks like a nice place to set up a new life for a fisherman

[BASSQUATCH]

Heard on the news that 4 people died in that storm because their cars went off the road and they either went unnoticed or people couldnt get to them.

Glad to hear you made it back ok

Ya I'm surprised it wasn't more!  Heard 16 total died from that storm, one way or another.

[Spoondangler]

glad you got home safe!

[Rangerboats391]

glad to see you made it back! in a minivan, sounds scary. nice pic's as always

[BogMan]

No Chicago>> Ohio pics?? Then again there is nothing good about that area specially in white out conditions. Glad you made it home safe.

[mikeupton]

Those are great pics.  It really is nice out there.  Back in 1977, just my dad and I set up camp and basically lived in Yellowstone for the entire Summer.  One of our "Day" trips was up to Glacier National.  20 years later when he retired from Coca Cola, he bought a big piece of land on the western slope of Desert Mountain, and moved to Coram, MT.  Right there at the gates to the park.  Sadly, even a little ironic, my dad passed away on the 14th last week, while you were heading through there to get home.  He/We always loved that part of the country.  Much different then here in MA...
Thanks for sharing the pics.

[BASSQUATCH]

Those are great pics.  It really is nice out there.  Back in 1977, just my dad and I set up camp and basically lived in Yellowstone for the entire Summer.  One of our "Day" trips was up to Glacier National.  20 years later when he retired from Coca Cola, he bought a big piece of land on the western slope of Desert Mountain, and moved to Coram, MT.  Right there at the gates to the park.  Sadly, even a little ironic, my dad passed away on the 14th last week, while you were heading through there to get home.  He/We always loved that part of the country.  Much different then here in MA...
Thanks for sharing the pics.

Wow, so sorry to hear that! The 14th is not a good day for me. I guess it's not good for you as well now. That must have been a fantastic summer spent camping! We will be looking to move out there before next winter, that's our plan anyways.

[SpitzoMT]

Great story & glad you all made it home safely !!

Great pics too. The large stack located middle far left in picture #13 is where I live. My house is roughly 1 mile west of that stack.

[BASSQUATCH]

Great story & glad you all made it home safely !!

Great pics too. The large stack located middle far left in picture #13 is where I live. My house is roughly 1 mile west of that stack.

Thanks, that's cool that you recognize your area so well.  I'm gonna get lost a few times lol. GPS will be my best friend out there when we move.

[BASSQUATCH]

 Your opinion is your opinion and you know what they say about opinions!  We were visiting sick relatives where time wasn't on our side! We aren't wealthy people and already spent more money than we could afford ! There was only enough money for the allotted time! We didn't expect the storm to turn into such a bad storm, we heard Noreaster a couple days earlier while 2500 miles away. It wasn't until we were half way home that we saw it was upgraded to a blizzard! I'm glad that you have all the answers and money to just stop and wait it out! We DID NOT and our options were to push on or sleep in the van on the side of the road somewhere! To me that would be "stupid ", kind of like your post! You don't know me, you don't know my driving experience! In fact, what I did was our only option! To get home or sit in a blizzard on the side of the road, Hmmm easy choice! We debated stopping at another hotel and ultimately decided if we did, we wouldn't have enough money left for fuel! We were gone 12 days already and the money was almost gone!  I'll be so happy when I put this state in my rear view mirror for good !  Believe me, I won't miss much here, especially on IS Massachusetts, but I'll be sure to post some great Montana fish just for you.

[lowaccord66]

Nice post Keith.  Another memory for you for sure.  You all made it back safely thats all that matters.  Real men only judge their own actions and decisions not the actions and decisions of others.   You need not defend ypur decisions and its no ones business as to why you made them.  Shame on anyone that would call someone out for doing something for their family.  I cant imagine anyone saying such a thing to you face to face. 

[BASSQUATCH]

Nice post Keith.  Another memory for you for sure.  You all made it back safely thats all that matters.  Real men only judge their own actions and decisions not the actions and decisions of others.   You need not defend ypur decisions and its no ones business as to why you made them.  Shame on anyone that would call someone out for doing something for their family.  I cant imagine anyone saying such a thing to you face to face.

Thanks Jon, I welcome anyone to call me stupid to my face!

[missoulafish]

" Let the world thing your a fool don't open your mouth and prove it. "

ironic....

[BASSQUATCH]

Grown man crying this is panty shanty
Don't post if you don't like responds
Bye bye bye

"grown man crying " maybe you should look back at your crying post about others complaining! Seems that you were the one crying!  I certainly didn't see any crying in my post! I do think you need some tissues though! Maybe some stones too!

[BASSQUATCH]

ironic....

Bahahahaa, and to think that I actually told him to pm me in one of his posts and I'd share my go too ponds that he could catch 6 & 7 pound bass regularly!  I'm REALLY happy he didn't pm me! He's not worth my info!  Its ok though, I still help those worth helping.

[moosehunter]

they are all your ponds, huh

[troutncrappie]

Bahahahaa, and to think that I actually told him to pm me in one of his posts and I'd share my go too ponds that he could catch 6 & 7 pound bass regularly!  I'm REALLY happy he didn't pm me! He's not worth my info!  Its ok though, I still help those worth helping.

Keith I would be willing to share  or trade some spots with you, I know a good amount of Berkshire waters with 5-7 lbers( if you don't already know them lol ). Let me know if you want to share... if not tight lines.... good luck in spring! cant wait for the frog action!!!!