"Talk to Bob Ministries" - The man who talked with God!
The night of the Hot Nite, trapped between two slides.
Two days later, after the cleanup.
August 11th, 2018 between 16:30 and 20:50. Arrived 16:30, big slides hit 16:50. Machines arrived 19:45. Got the word no one going ahead 20:48. Temperature dropped from 30 to 11 degrees Celsius. First part of conversation lost due to my tardiness in recording, as apparently my phone only keeps a maximum of 500 messages, lol. What's missing is my arrival at the area and texting Mom to call the Powers That Be that there was a slide approximately 10 kms east of Cache Creek on Hwy 1. At that time there was only a small one that did not totally reach across the road and could be traversed by going to the left shoulder . I stopped a few hundred feet past this point and put on my four way flashers to warn people as the sky had gone very dark and the slide was hard to see in the rain. Needless to say, things got a whole lot worse. I was thinking of retreating to the other side of this small one so people could better see me. If i had done so, i probably would have been hit by the hugh slide which covered the road five feet in places and was over 300 feet long. There were other slides that night west and south of Cache Creek. If i had not stopped, i would have been stuck in Cache Creek for at least the night and part of the next day, spoiling my plans to visit my cabin on the Shushwap to repair any problems that had cropped up since last summer, not to mention the experiences of the event. Sad to say, a woman was killed west of Cache Creek when a slide took her and her car as her husband was trying to lower the top on their convertible. How quickly it can all end. Thanks for listening, bob.
PS - The poles are 200 ft apart and there are 12 poles encompassing the total slide area. Also, one of the participants in the Hot Nite almost didn't come because he had heard there were going to be Thunderstorms in the afternoon, with hail. It was sunny and hot until around 2 pm, when the clouds started to roll in. On my way out of town, it was raining so hard, the car's tires actually hydroplaned with so much water on the road. It had slowed down by the time i reached the small slide, but the sky had become much darker. Even during this time, i could smell the smoke from the forest fires.
18:36 Mom: No wind. Then quite the rumble here (Edmonton)
18:36 Mom: Must have been close
18:36 Dad: Man, it was dark before the Storm, lite now
18:37 Dad: A nor easter
18:43 Dad: If it's like this in Kamster, the beer gardens are kaput. This doesn't compute
18:53 Dad: Wow, it's a good thing the slide in front of me didn't hit anyone, it's full of trees
18:54 Dad: And a motorcycle went by five minutes before
18:57 Dad: Got some pics. (smiley) Yes from inside the car
19:04 Dad: Could clear off, see blue sky to the south
19:08 Dad: There is seven of us trapped between the two slides, cool
19:08 Mom: Oh ya so cool
19:09 Dad: Can't buy this kind of entertainment
19:11 Dad: People must be taking hwy 8, a long detour, if it's not blocked too
19:13 Dad: Gonna be dark in two hours
19:19 Dad: Cache Creek is gunna be busy
19:27 Dad: They will have to get the traffic control people out too
19:28 Dad: Can't work without them
19:29 Mom: Oh what a mess
19:31 Dad: Gotta move back, the big boss is worried about my location, sheesh (Was told by the first two guys on the scene to move ahead as they were worried about a bank coming down, approximately an hour before. Raining hard and extremely windy, say 30 to 50 mph, at that time)
19:31 Dad: Couple of hours he says
19:34 Dad: He thought we would be going back, but now figures we will go ahead
19:37 Dad: Figured i had lots of time to get to Herbie's, har de har har
19:38 Mom: What a night
19:40 Dad: Against their orders
19:40 Dad: Some guy just cut in front of me, lol
19:44 Dad: Wind died down, rain easing off
19:46 Dad: Backhoe working behind us
19:48 Dad: 11 deg
20:32 Mom: Now what
20:34 Dad: Done behind, moving ahead
20:35 Dad: It's a track hoe
20:42 Dad: And a pay loader
20:44 Mom: Still stuck there?
20:45 Dad: Four guys went back
20:48 Dad: Apparently the road is washed out ahead, have to go back.The machines are going black
20:48 Mom: Tommy worried about u
20:48 Dad: back
20:49 Dad: I'm out ta here. Triple O's
22:14 Mom: Back in kam?
22:16 Dad: Yes, finished supper, heading out for the night
22:16 Mom: Where
22:16 Dad: Usual place
22:17 Mom: Ok nite
22:17 Dad: Nite (smiley)
Aug 12, 07:40 Mom: Tree still up but chair knocked over...cool today
07:45 Dad: Okay, 13. Headed for the lake. Road still blocked, me thinks.
10:18 Mom: Need a pick me up. OFF to the Bay
10:19 Dad: Okay, met the new neighbour, need to touch up a bit, Windows.
10:21 Dad: Can't see Cooper Island, smoke. Apparently got the storm here.
Smoke from the forest fires limiting vision on the Ferry trip back from Vancouver Island.
