Coming home~ Part 1

With a big change ahead of ourJohn and I and our little family headed back to Utah to pack our stuff up, remodel our kitchen, rent out our home, and head back to Oregon. We had made plans to drive my brothers van since our CX-7 wouldn't be able to pull the trailer that was loaded with all our cabinets and counter top parts. We spent three days waiting for different parts to arrive for the cabinets. They finally arrived 4 days later than our expected departure date, which landed us right in the middle of a winter snow storm as we left for our very long 17hr trip home.


We checked the weather several times to make sure that we wouldn't hit the worst of it on our route through northern California. We decided to cut our trip in half and stay the night in a town just off I-5 called Weed, CA. On our way out of Oregon we stopped by Tiana's parents house to pick up chains for the van just in case . We thought it best to be prepared for the unexpected , and we were right. On our way through a town Called Yreka, just outside of Weed, we hit a snow storm. The interstate iced up, and the traffic control put out a chain advisory for all vehicles that were not 4wheel or all wheel drive, or for cars pulling trailers. NICE Right?! We unfortunately were both. We decide we were sooo close, and when I say close I mean like 5 miles from our final stop for the night, that we didn't want to stop and put our chains on. Instead we decide to pace ourselves, and drive slowly through the storm till we reached out exit. As we got 3miles ahead suddenly traffic control had chain patrol forcing people that needed chains off the freeway. Each car was checked, and told if they could continue or not. We tried to convince them to just let us go the rest of the 2miles we had left, but we were told very bluntly to either get off and put our chains on or sit and wait it out. Well, we saw no sense in fighting the situation so we got off to put our chains on the driving wheels of the van. As we made it down the ramp along with all the other cars they had crammed under the under pass, a man that had a sign set up that read "Chain Man" came walking up to our window. I thought to myself "of course they would have someone helping put your chains on," but I was not prepared for the scam this one had for us. As we rolled down our window to ask where we needed to park, he quickly asked before we could say a word "do you have chains for that trailer?" We looked at each other thinking "why would we need chains on our trailer?" The man continues, "cuz they won't let you back on without your trailer having chains." WOW, pretty much was our response, and then we realized we only had one pair. That was the exact response the "Chain man" was looking for. The next words out of his mouth came faster than the first piece of information he shared. "Well, we sell trailer chains for $80." What?!!!!! We were astonished. That was definitely a rip-off. John and I had put aside two months earlier $150 for the gas home. I was reeling from the shock of what a perfect situation it was for these men here in an emergency type storm, and half the old cars and trucks getting off were not prepared for this storm. We on the other hand thought we were prepared, but clearly were not. John and I groaned and mumbled about what a rip off this was, but found that if chains are required for trailers, then they could come in handy for the ride home in the morning. We had a blast putting them on (NOT!) for our 2 mile venture to the exit where our hotel was waiting. Once we got off the freeway we saw all the snow piled high on the streets. The parking lot of our hotel was deep and slick with icy snow. We figured that having the chains on to start off our next traveling day wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of that little scenic tour we took, but here is a picture of the town we stayed in.