Home after a month away!

We were driving the last stretch home to Asheville when it started sleeting in Knoxville.  We had heard from Mat's family that there was a winter storm advisory going on that day, but we weren't worried as we'd done lots of winter driving out West.  As we got about 10 or so miles from the turn-off for Johnson City traffic slowed to a crawl and then stopped.  We forgot about the "other driver aspect".  So we spent 4 hours going 7 miles to get off at an exit.  We passed by many cars that had slid off the road and weaved through jack-knifed trailers to make it at least to a gas station to get an update on the road conditions and found that they had closed I-26.  (We were only 1 and half hours or less from Asheville.)

So we went to some hotels and found out the ones that allowed for pets were full.  We went to the only restaurant at that exit, had some dinner and then slept in the parking lot with a nice street light in our window.  Luckily, we had our down sleeping bags to cozy up in while sitting up in our seats.  We were packed so full that we couldn't recline.  Maddy was a trooper though and just slept.  We woke up in the morning and headed to Mat's parents house because most of Asheville was without power.  We spent the night there enjoying the heat from the fireplace and then went to check on our house the next day.  And lo and behold, the power had just come back on.  Yay!  So we were able to unpack and be home finally.

Going for a walk in the snow out at Mat's parents house.  They were without power for over a week!

Home sweet home.  Now we have to wait for it to warm up and melt all the snow off in the mountains to go ride.