We Thought We Could.......We Thought We Could

REPEAT

over and over again

..............

WE WILL GET TO OUR CABIN

The youth Group from our church

Central Church of Christ

headed out the day after Christmas for Gatlinburg.

I always go on trips with this wonderful group of young people

and

they really are a great group of kids.

Talented, smart, kind ,helpful, polite and good looking

and I am not kidding.

They always make me proud

and are very sweet to this old woman!

When we exited the interstate and turned onto the highway

to take us to Gatlinburg everything changed.

The road up until that point had been great.

We enjoyed the snow all around us while driving on completely dry roads.

It was a little shocking when the tires spun out the first time I tried to speed up a little.

We were staying in a cabin at

"The Preserve" in Wears Valley.

While we were shopping in Wal Mart

we tried calling the office of the cabins.

They were already gone

so...

we called the police

they said

you can't get up there.

We were shocked!

What were we going to do with 22 people!

We went across the road to TGI Friday's.

If we were going to be stranded in the vans we at least needed a full stomach!

The people at TGI Friday's were so helpful.

They did some calling for us and they also agreed that we couldn't get up the hill

so.....

they helped us find hotel rooms in Pigeon Forge.

The next morning we headed out for Gatlinburg so the kids could walk around

and we could eat lunch. We hoped that we would receive word that we could go to our cabin.

After lunch and after reading several posts on Facebook we finally got a live person

on top of the mountain at The Preserve. That was when we found out that the people in our cabin on the mountain were still in it because they couldn't get down the mountain.

We started looking for rooms again.

The place we had stayed the first night was booked but we did manage to get rooms at the Holiday Inn and we went to see The Dixie Stampede that night.

The next morning we got up early and took the kids to Ober Gatlinburg.

When we got back to the Holiday Inn (they were nice enough to give us a 2:00

check out) me and one of the college boys drove over to wears Valley to look for ourselves. We were feeling pretty good about things.....no snow on the road all the way to Wears Valley.....until we turned up the main road to The Preserve. We went up the first hill and then we saw all the tow trucks. We parked and walked up the hill to look. The tow truck guy said that we could go a little further but then it turned to ice. We turned back. I could see that I would be scared in my Yukon with just the luggage but the two vans with kids that their parents had trusted us to keep safe......wasn't gona happen. We called back and told them to start making plans...we wouldn't be going to The Preserve today. As we pulled up to the Holiday Inn a Search and Rescue Truck

pulled up and a family with their luggage got out. Something made me ask them where they were coming from. Guess where...the Preserve. We told them that was where we were supposed to be going. They said...DON'T GO! Then the lady driving the Search and Rescue truck told us that they were closing the road to The Preserve as soon as they got everybody off the mountain.

So

We loaded up our vans and came HOME!

We were supposed to cook and take supper to a mission in Knoxville

since we couldn't cook...no stove at Holiday Inn

and the roads wouldn't let us go the night we were scheduled to be there.

We stopped at the mission and left all our groceries that weren't perishable.

Oh Well

we are going tropical next Christmas!