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By Buzz Trexler
The Ripshin Scribe
As I was preparing to finish up the Fall-Winter Edition of the newly named Back o' Ripshin Ridgerunner, something happened: There was an early snow at Ripshin.
It wasn't much of a snow -- maybe an inch-and-a-half to two inches -- but it was snow, nonetheless. And whenever there is snow, my mind goes back to stories of past winters at Ripshin -- the most infamous winter in my family's memory being that of 1978-79.
Not that I personally experienced the Ripshin snows, mind you: I was safely ensconced in Johnson City, where I was attending college. I do remember snow causing me to miss a number of classes; however, to say I "missed them" isn't quite accurate. When you are 23 years old and in college, snow was just one more excuse not to go to class.
The ones who truly experienced that harrowing winter on Ripshin: my mother and stepfather, Nora and Bill Thompson.
First Snow Hits
- January 3: 5 a.m., 5 below; 6 p.m., 10 degrees;
- January 4: 5 a.m., 8 degrees; "warmed up some during the day"; 6 p.m., 16 degrees;
- January 5: 6 a.m., 22 degrees; "calling for snow tonight -- started snowing during day -- we probably had about 2-3 (inches) when we got home. 6 p.m., 26 degrees."
- January 6: "Saturday, 6:30 p.m., 30 degrees. Everything is very white and still. Lake is covered with ice (probably not very thick) and snow and it's beautiful, but weatherman is calling for rain -- hope not -- it's too pretty!"
- February 6: "Snowed again. We had pretty rough time getting in Tuesday night."
- February 7: "About 6 inches more of snow. Didn't even bother to go to work -- took a day of vacation."
The Thompsons had been living full time at Ripshin since 1976, so winter snows were nothing new and, at times, something to look forward to; however, this particular series of snows brought some incredible challenges. Thankfully, my mother habitually journaled, using steno pads, calendars, whatever she could find to keep a running account of life at Ripshin. So, we have a record of what she referred to as "the worst winter (as for the snow) we've had up here ..."
On Dec. 9, 1978, my mom records her first temperature reading of the day at 7 a.m., a mild 56 degrees that plunges to 18 by 8 p.m. In between, a "very light snow" makes its presence known at 2:30 p.m. "1st of season," she writes. "So pretty."
The next day, she notes it's 10 degrees at 7:30 a.m., "snowing lightly, but cold!" The high that day: 17 degrees. The frigid morning temperatures remained over the the couple of days, eventually rising to 34 degrees at 7 a.m. Dec. 16, bringing with it rain.
Her journal notes no real weather events until January 2, 1979, when she writes that family friends from Virginia left after a New Year's visit, missing a projected snow event, which was obviously a disappointment: "M, D, & B left this morning -- calling for snow -- wouldn't you know it! It did snow -- not much, about an inch -- but really cold -- Lake is frozen -- 6 p.m. - 8 degrees." From that point, winter truly begins to set in for a four-day visit:
Another cold front moved in over the next couple of days, bringing with it frigid temperatures: 4 degrees at 7 a.m., Jan. 9, warming up to 16 degrees at 6 p.m. That bitingly cold weather gave way to warmer days -- high of 48 on Jan. 13 -- with rain, changing to wind-blown snow around 8:30 a.m., Jan. 14. Mom writes it was 18 degrees at 1 p.m, and it "snowed all day, but wind was blowing so hard, we didn't get much accumulation, just a couple of inches. By dark it was 8 degrees and still snowing."
It was also 8 degrees the next day, Jan. 15, and she notes that "old RC (their Ram Charger) wouldn't start. Nels Morgan came over and helped Bill work on her until around 2;30 and finally gave up. Bill says valves are frozen. They even built a fire near her and hooked up a fan to blow the heat. Maybe that will work eventually." She ends with, "Sorry -- didn't work!" Bud Rambo came up from Johnson City on Jan. 16 and towed the vehicle back to his shop. The culprit: the timing belt.
Snow returned on Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 21, and left about 3 inches, but rain washed it away the next day.
'They Were Right'
On Jan. 24, Bill's 49th birthday, snow arrived again and Mom notes the next day, Jan. 25, "Beautiful outside -- we must have about 5 or 6 inches -- some drifts about 3 ft."
Two days later, Jan. 27, she writes, "Started snowing around 6:30 -- calling for 1-2 inches. Bet this is our big one this year!" Still, on Jan. 28, she admits to being fooled: "Nope! Wasn't such a biggie -- about 5 or 6 inches -- very pretty." There was a one-day break, when forecasters said snow was coming Jan. 30, and on that day:
"They were right -- the sky opened up tonight -- about 12 to 16 inches up here. Looks like something out of a winter wonderland." She explains that my sister, Sheree, and her family were traveling there from Richmond, Virginia. "Bill bought two sets of chains -- one for us -- one for Billy (my brother-in-law). Hoping Billy could make it up Tiger Creek and park at Nels. He did make it, but I was a wreck watching him drive in front of us. ...
"Sheree and Billy made a huge snowman, Wendy and Johnny had fun in sleds -- all in all, it was great ..."
The family left on Feb. 4. It was "very cold," Mom writes, adding that it "Snowed again last night, about 4 more inches."
And then, the fun part of that winter was over:
February 8-9: "Miserable going in and out. This is the worst winter (as for the snow) we've had up here. Driving conditions terrible. Snow has been so wet and slippery.
"When we came home Friday night (February 9), we noticed someone had just about gone over the side at bottom of Kay Bachman's [now, Jim Shorter's cabin] Hill. The road looked like a bulldozer had torn it up. Bill had to put chains on to get up the hill. Called Nels when we got home; found out it was Billy Morgan trying to get to Huffman's [now Keith Bowers' place]. He had not left enough heat on and his pipes had frozen, causing water to come thru the walls. Billy was going to work on house. Billy couldn't make it up Bachman Hill; coming back down, he couldn't keep his truck in the tracks and almost went over bank. Walked out and got Nels. Took Nels two and a half hours to get Billy out. That's how road got so torn up. Nels told Bill he couldn't figure out how we had been getting in and out. I can't either.
"Bill and I decided to start parking the RC [Ram Charger] at the Hintons' [now Brent and Coral Jeffries's place] and walking that far morning and night. Besides being safer, the exercise would be very good for us. So we did Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday [February 5-7]. (I would get out and walk over certain places -- my nerves not too good.) Well, Thursday (the weather warmed up during night) we walked to Hintons, and when we pulled RC out onto road, she started sliding -- I told Bill to drive, I would walk to gate. I did and was glad. Bill made it to Caudill Hill [now it would be Dawson Hill, the first cabin owner at the gate] and old RC just didn't want to go -- went in ditch. Bill got her out and put chains on again (it was pure slush and ice). Well, we made it out. ..."
Afterward, they decided to park the vehicle at Stacey Morgan's house (now her daughter Tommie's house, the white one near the dam) that night. "We walked in; wasn't too bad (staying in RC's tracks), took us about 40 minutes. Friday morning we left about 6:25 and got to Stacey's about 7:10. Not too bad for 2 miles. Friday night was a different story: 22 degrees.
"It turned cold during the day. When we got home that night, a freezing rain was falling. We parked at Stacey's, got out and could barely stand up -- everything was a sheet of ice."
Laundry Saves the Day
In February 1979, I was without a car and without a washer and dryer. I lived in a yellow house on University Parkway. The Friday routine for my mom and Bill was to stop by my house and pick up a duffle bag of clothes. She would drop them off washed on Monday morning. Yes, I know: It was a bit lame of me. Still, it was a bit of saving grace in this story.
"We had the little green sled," Mom writes about coming home that Friday. "I had brought Buzz's clothes home to wash -- in his duffle bag -- I just put our bottle of scotch down in between clothes. Also had two small bags of groceries and a big flashlight. We put all of this on the little sled and carefully made our way to the gate (went across the dam, not as slippery that way).
When Bill got to the gate, he was changing the rope on the sled from one to the other when the sled got away from him and took off like a bat out of hell down the hill. It was pure ice and that thing was going like crazy.
"Bill got over to the side of the road where there was something other than pure ice and went running after it. I could barely stand up, so I didn't try to run. We thought it probably went to the right and down into Caudill's yard, but when we got there we couldn't find it. We knew it had to be somewhere around there -- couldn't have gone up to the next hill. Bill finally found it (all this time I was moaning, 'My scotch, my eggs!). It had gone off the side and down to the creek -- the bag of clothes had kept the sled from going into the creek, but both bags of groceries and flash light were in the creek. Bill patiently picked up wet groceries (only 2 eggs were broken), shook the water out of the flashlight, put it all back on the sled and pulled it back onto the road.
"It was almost dark and what a walk that was -- trying to dodge the ice, stepping in frozen snow to keep from falling down. I was carrying the light and from staring at that light on the snow, I thought I was going crazy by the time we got home. Each hill I came to, I thought, "I just can't make it" -- all the while knowing I had to. My body felt like it was 90 degrees inside my coat, although it was only 22 degrees outside. We finally got home --- took one and a half hours -- and it's something I don't want to do again.
"I will have to say the little episode at the beginning with the sled was hilarious! If anyone had seen us looking for that sled, they would have cracked up.
"Saturday , my body felt like it had no feeling. By Sunday, I felt OK -- until I looked outside: You guessed it -- snow coming down like crazy. Before it stopped around 2 p.m., we had 12 to 16 inches of fresh snow. Unbelievable!
"Bill and I went out late Sunday night just to see if I would be able to walk in it Monday morning -- Forget it! By the time we got to Melba's place (now Sam Ogburn's), my legs felt like lead."
On Monday, February 19 -- the next week! -- Bill retrieved the vehicle and made it to their place with chains on the front and decided to try and drive to Johnson City and purchase chains for the back tires. "We made it, going very slowly," she writes. "I did get out at Chapman Hill (preferred to walk down that one). Took two steps and fell flat on my butt, but I got up and walked down it anyway."
Roaring Creek Road was a challenge, even with chains on all four wheels and the Ram Charger being a four-wheel drive vehicle. By that Friday, life seemed to return to a normal state of winter.
"Friday evening, we didn't put chains on. It had melted considerably and we made it OK by going slowly."
The following Saturday, rain came on top of a little bit of snow that had been "waiting around for more," as my mom is fond of saying. On Sunday, rain continued to pour. "Lake is really rising," she writes. "Bill is going to open siphon -- afraid of flooding. Most of lake is still frozen. Calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight -- BOO! I'm sick of it now -- mostly because the road has been so bad. Maybe they will be wrong.
Feb. 26: "They weren't wrong! Started snowing during the night -- we got 5 to 6 inches. Very pretty -- the kind that hangs on everything. We didn't need chains to get out though -- guess because all of the other snow had gone (and the ice).
Feb. 27-March 2: "Kept warming up all week. By Friday (March 2), almost all snow had gone. Sure is a pretty sight -- that naked ground!"
The next two weeks saw snow falling on three different days, the last being March 11.
By the Ides of March, there was "no more snow."
Mom writes, "3-17 -- During past week (14th we think) Parker Sutherland's boys caught two rainbows: 1 sixteen-inch rainbow (female) full of roe up near Old Faithful and one 13.5-inch rainbow near the dam."
Spring had come, and the Winter of '79 was done.
Awesome article. Thank you.
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