Stuck in the snow

Dear Friends, family and kind people who are taking the time to read my story:

I have some good news and some bad news.  First the good news, I’m fine.  I’m warm and not injured and so are my two babies (dogs).  Now the bad news.  I got stuck in the snow Tuesday night(2/19), near the Grand Canyon and due to weather conditions I won’t be able to get a tow truck to dig me out until after it stops snowing Friday afternoon, which means help will arrive Saturday morning(2/23).  Due to the fact that I was planning on camping in my truck and I am now having to pay for a hotel room for three nights, plus a tow-truck(which was quoted as a minimum of $800 because it’s so far down an unpaved road) I’m way over budget for my trip and I can really use your help getting home.  Here is my story.

I left from Torrance, CA on Monday afternoon with my two dogs, Iris and Nova, headed for the Grand Canyon.
We spent the night in Vegas with a friend and continued our journey the next day on Tuesday.  Tuesday night around 7 PM (yes I was driving later than I had planned) we reached our destination.  We had made it to the Best Western hotel near the Grand Canyon.  I had already mapped it out and I knew that there was a service road directly across from the Best Western and I had planned on turning on that road to camp in my car for the night (something I do often). 

As I turned down the road I noticed that there was tire groves on the road and snow was starting to pile up on both sides of the road.  I just wanted to find a place to turn around and park.  As I drove a little further the snow became higher and higher.  I was freaking out at this point as you can imagine and I kept telling myself “if I go just a little further there has to be some place I could turn around”.  The snow was too high on both sides so there was no way I could turn around anywhere and I was forced to keep moving forward.  Eventually my car bottomed out in the snow and I was completely stuck.  By that time I was literally 20 miles down that service road with no cell service. Let me tell you, I was scared but there was nothing I could do.

I decided to sleep there for the night.  I turned on my hazard lights so if anybody came down the road in the dark they wouldn’t rear-end me.  When I woke up the next morning my battery was dead (from running the hazard lights all night) and any hope of getting unstuck had completely dissolved.  I had to make the difficult choice to leave my precious babies in the car and hike back the twenty miles up the service road to the hotel.  As I was walking I kept seeing large animal paw prints and I was worried that I might not make it back and that my dogs would be stranded in the car forever.  Luckily I made it back to the hotel just before dusk.  The service road had been blocked off after I had entered it, which explains why nobody found me during the night.  

I called AAA but was disheartened when they told me they don’t tow cars from service roads.  I was in a bit of a panic at this point because I needed to get back to my babies.  Luckily a nice man by the name of Jesus and his daughter, who both work at the hotel offered to give me a hand.  They drove me back to my car and after trying to help me dig out they too became stuck.  (I know!  It just wasn’t my day).  We ended up having to call the local authorities and they came out to rescue us and the dogs and we all made it back safe around midnight.  (Seriously the longest, scariest day of my life). 

So here I am stranded at the Best Western, Grand Canyon hotel.  I have yet to see the Grand Canyon.  My car is buried in snow by now and I’m quickly running out of funds.  If you can help a girl who is out on her luck I would greatly appreciate it.  Thank you for taking the time to read my story and Grandma please don’t worry, I’m in good hands.