Jolene was on her way back home after another two weeks working at her company's Kamloops location. She'd been spending two weeks there and one week home in Calgary for 15 weeks now. "This has got to end soon" she thought as she finished up putting gas in her Jeep Grand Cherokee. As she made her way back onto the highway, she saw a pick up truck marked "Pilot vehicle" drive past her. "Could it be Jeff?" she wondered.
About a month prior, as she had been driving towards Kamloops, she had been caught in a major delay due to a big accident that had closed the highway and had met Jeff, a pilot vehicle driver that had also been caught in the same delay. They had passed some of the time chatting and Jeff had left quite the impression on Jolene. She'd enjoyed talking with him and had found him quite easy on the eyes. Since then, she'd always paid attention to vehicles around her on the roads, hoping to see him again and regretting not exchanging contact information with him back then.
As she followed two vehicles behind, she watched for opportunities to pass them and get up close to this pilot vehicle, hoping it was him, wondering how she'd get him to stop and chat. Eventually, one of the vehicles passed him and the other took an exit which left Jolene right behind the pilot vehicle. She tried to get glimpses of its driver to confirm it was was Jeff or not but couldn't be sure. As they entered a mountain pass, they were stuck behind two semis that simply couldn't go fast. Jolene was impressed by the room the driver ahead, possibly Jeff, was leaving them and made sure she didn't follow too close either. Then, in her rear view mirror, she saw a car passing one of the vehicles in the long line of cars behind her. The driver was taking wild chances and passing in areas that he shouldn't have been passing in.
All of a sudden, there he was, passing in a curve despite the fact there were vehicles oncoming. Jolene had to slam on the brakes to allow him to slide into the lane in front of her. She quickly looked at the license plate and, like she often did, she formed a word with the letters on the plate. "Mike April 22" for the license plate MIE422. She shook her head at how closely this guy was following the pilot vehicle. Despite the close call just moments before, he did the same to the pilot vehicle, passing him recklessly. "Is this guy nuts?" Jolene wondered.
Then, he got out to pass the semi.
"Holy shit, he is nuts!"
Jolene instinctively slowed down, even though there was already lots of space between her and the vehicle ahead. They were approaching a narrow bridge and Jolene was really worried about this careless driver. And then it happened so fast, Jolene barely had time to think. The semi, seeing how the car wouldn't make it, veered to the right, hit the end of a guard rail and bounced back across the road, narrowly missing the oncoming car the crazy driver had swerved to avoid and then slamming head on into another semi, one pulling a trailer full of liquid. To avoid both, the pilot car slammed on the brakes and veered to the right. He cleared the guard rail and went into the ditch, eventually crashing into a big boulder.
Jolene stopped her Jeep on the side of the road, a few hundred yards away from both accidents as did the vehicles behind her. She quickly shut down the engine, got out and grabbed a bag from the back and headed towards the pilot vehicle, yelling at others to go help the drivers of the semis.
Jolene put on a pair of gloves as she ran to the pilot vehicle and saw that all the airbags had deployed. She got to the vehicle just as the driver's door opened.
"Jeff! It is you!"
The man in the vehicle slowly turned his head and looked at her.
"Jo?"
"Don't move. Let me check you out first."
"I'm fine. What are the odds, eh?"
"Jeff, you and I both know there's no such thing as fine when you crash like that. Besides, you're bleeding. Let me look at you."
"Minor cuts from the windshield glass, that's all. I knew I was going to crash so I braced myself. I'm fine, I tell you."
With that, he tried to undo the seat belt. He found that it was stuck. He turned around and said "Jo, would you grab that blue bag from the back?"
"No need, I have everything I need right here in my own bag."
Instead of reaching for the scissors, Jolene grabbed gauze and started wiping away the blood from Jeff's forehead. As he tried to protest, Jolene shushed him. "Just let me do this."
Jolene quickly cleaned him up and saw that he'd been right about the cuts being superficial and applied a few pieces of tape to keep them clean and closed. She then took her scissors and cut the seat belt and freed him.
Jeff got out of the vehicle and pulled her into a hug. "Nice to see you again Jo." Then, he said "Let's go help those poor drivers."
At that very moment, they heard and felt an explosion. Quickly, Jeff pulled up his jacket and covered both their heads. Burning bits and pieces from the explosion fell around them. After a few moments, he turned around and said "Oh boy, there won't be much helping these two now."
Then, they heard a rumble. "What's that?" Jolene asked.
Jeff looked up and then turned her around and pointed to the mountain behind. "Avalanche"
"Are we at risk here? Should we go duck?"
"No, it's too far to reach us."
Jeff put his arm around Jolene and held her close as they watched the powerful avalanche make its way down the mountainside. It lasted less than two minutes and created a big cloud of snow that took a few more minutes to settle down. Then, Jeff said
"A lot of people need our help over there. We can't do anything for the truck drivers but we can go help dig these people out. Let's grab these shovels from the back of my truck and go."
Both Jolene and Jeff grabbed shovels and made their way to the pile of snow and started digging. They worked tirelessly to help dig out motorists caught in the avalanche, joined by dozens of others. It was three hours later that they finally stopped and headed back towards their vehicles. They spoke to an officer that had come over the avalanche and learned that the highway would be closed at least overnight while crews worked to clear the avalanche and the accident. The officer asked them for their statements and both the officer and Jeff were surprised and impressed when Jolene provided the license plate number of the car that had caused it all. The officer thanked them for their cooperation and help.
They were then given the option of walking over the avalanche path and getting on a bus towards the previous town but like a lot of other people, both of them opted to stay with their vehicles, Jeff stating that his company would require him to not abandon his vehicle and Jolene saying she'd stay also.
As they walked towards their vehicles, Jeff said "We worked really well together."
"Yes, we did."
"Think you can put up with me for a while longer?"
Jolene smiled and said "I think so. It's not like that truck of yours will protect you from the cold now."
"I have an emergency kit that includes a sleeping bag, and a camping stove and stuff."
"Great! I have a sleeping bag too! And I have food and water and we can make room in the back of my Jeep to comfortably sleep."
They grabbed the supplies from Jeff's truck and moved stuff around in Jolene's Jeep and started making something to eat. They watched as the semi continued to burn in the background, providing light as the night fell upon them. Part of what they'd been told was that firefighters on the other side of the accident had opted to let the semi burn itself out of its load of fuel and protect the bridge instead so all their water was aimed at the bridge.
