Thursday, March 1, 2007

The Servant

The Servant

We had blizzard like conditions today in Omaha. We sent Benjamin to go out into the snow to see if he could find the newspaper for us. The kid gave it his best shot, but came back empty handed.

Then we sent Georgia out. She has the body type and the brute strength to get the paper, but got too distracted. Note: She is usually a black dog.

It took me about 90 minutes to shovel about half of our driveway. The other half will have to wait until tomorrow. We can't get our cars out until the driveway is scooped as some of the drifts are two to three feet high. So I couldn't get to the gym to run on the treadmill today. Not a problem...
I took off from our house at 173rd and Harrison about 4:15. I left Harrison Woods, crossed Harrison, and ran north through Mission Park. I crossed Q going north through Hawthorne to F Street. I helped three motorists get unstuck. I took F Street to the east to Lake Zorinsky (probably about 174th Street) then took F Street west to 222nd Street. F Street was strangely isolated, but the road was in pretty good shape. Entrances to subdivisions were totally drifted over. No way in or out. The northwest wind was a bit much at this point. Thirty mile per hour winds were hammering my face with little ice pellets. Amber wanted me to take a cell phone, so I fielded five calls when I was running. Here was one of the conversations.
CF: Mikey.
MW: Hey Craig. Man I could have swore I just saw you running at 192nd and F.
CF: Yeah. That was me.
MW: Where are you now?
CF: Ummm...194th and F.
MW: You're crazy. OK, gotta focus on the road. Later dude.
CF: Bye.
I made it out to 222nd Street. Didn't see a single car between 204th and 222nd -- either way -- about 3 miles total. It was very peaceful, especially coming back with the wind at my back.
The tranquility ended when I got back into Omaha. I helped a few more stranded cars. I run into this 4 wheel drive truck who was stuck at 192nd and Q. He had a baby in the backseat, so he needed to get out. I wasn't able to do it by myself. This guy, about 20 years old, pulled up behind him to help. It turns out the 20 year old was just driving around helping people who were stuck. We got the chains hooked up between the vehicles and a few minutes later we were all three on our way: the guy and the baby were on their way home, the 20 year old was on to help his next person, and I had about two and a half miles left.
What a great guy. Driving a truck around helping people who need helped. The kid is a true servant.
13.5 miles, 6 stranded motorists unstuck, and 5 phone calls taken.

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