The Cox family made a rest stop on their drive down to Disney World. A 14-and-a-half hour stop in the middle of the expressway, with no restaurants or restrooms in sight, but plenty of snow, ice, and other vehicles also frozen in place on I-75 in Kentucky.
By the time they arrived at the happiest place on Earth, the Cox family had spent more than 36 hours in their vehicle, nearly doubling the amount of time it normally takes to drive from Brandon Township to Orlando, Fla., detained by a snowstorm that cared not for their plans.
‘It was ridiculous, I’m not traveling anymore,? said Jacki Cox, less than a week after returning to Michigan.
She laughs and adds she’s only joking, but launches into a tale that wasn’t funny at all when she was living it with her husband, Aaron, their two sons, Gavin, 9, and Asher, 7, and 17-month-old daughter Nora.
Jacki Cox began planning her family’s first trip to Disney World six months ago. She had been there before, but her husband and children had not and they were excited. Aaron Cox doesn’t like to fly, so they decided to drive their 2012 Chevy Traverse down to the Sunshine State. Although their initial route would have taken them farther east, weather forecasts showing Winter Storm Jonas barreling down on the East Coast bringing the possibility of more than two feet of snow persuaded them to stick to I-75, the road more traveled.
Their adventure was mapped out and the weather was clear when the family piled into their crossover SUV at about 6 a.m., Friday, Jan. 22, happily unaware of the change in itinerary awaiting them a little more than 8 hours down the road.
The weather deteriorated as they made their way south. Shortly before 2 p.m., they stopped for a bathroom break and gas in Kentucky and noticed vehicles getting stuck at an intersection, unable to get up a hill. The Coxes got back on I-75.
‘There wasn’t that much snow, I just thought, ‘They need to plow,?? recalled Jacki. ‘At about 2:25 p.m., we saw a lot of people getting off at an exit and thought, ‘What do they know that we don’t know?? Literally two minutes later, we came to a complete stop and didn’t move again for 14 hours.?
The Cox family was at mile marker 58 on I-75 near Mt. Vernon, Ky., with mountains on either side of an expressway laden with completely stopped semi-trucks and passenger vehicles? roughly 3,000 of them.
‘Basically what happened, that section of roadway, there are steep grades and we were hit first with half an inch of ice in that area, followed by 18 inches of snow,? said Amber Hale, information officer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. ‘At times, it was falling at a rate of 2-3 inches an hour. It was roughly about 10 a.m. Friday when we had the first blockage on 75, and on the grade, semi-trucks were having a hard time with hills. Our road crews actually started as soon as it started falling, they were out there working, but semis were jackknifing trying to navigate the incline, and we had to get a wrecker to them and we’d get one cleared, and then another happened, and it became a chain. The report we had from the Kentucky State Police said there was a back-up of 35 miles at one point, between Friday and Saturday.?
The back-up went from Mt. Vernon in Rockcastle County to London in Laurel County and in the midst of it was the Cox family, watching the snow fall as the minutes, and then the hours, ticked by.
‘There was snow, but it wasn’t extreme, we’re from Michigan, we figured we’d keep going,? said Jacki, who recalled getting stuck in a traffic jam three years ago for seven hours in Tennessee during the summer. ‘I thought this time it would just be a few minutes.?
It would be about 870 minutes. Fortunately, they had nearly a full tank of gas, having just filled up, and they were well-supplied with snacks and water for the road trip, even a half-gallon of milk for the baby.
Dinner would end up being cereal bars, peanut butter crackers, and chips. When nature called, the boys stepped outside of the car and took care of business. The baby was in diapers, so no problem there, but Jacki held on as long as she could.
‘At one point, I was like, I’ll take Nora’s diaper if I have to,? she said. ‘I was not going and peeing on I-75 in the light of day, I waited until dark.?
As the snow fell, most people kept to themselves in their cars. A trucker parked behind the Cox family, whom they likened to ‘Larry the Cable Guy,? checked on them several times and told them if they got cold they could join him in his truck. People walked past their vehicle to an exit that was about three miles away and then made the return trip with beverages.
The Coxes stayed put, letting the boys outside the vehicle occasionally to run off energy, but the weather kept them inside the majority of the time. They had iPods and Kindles and smartphones, even a tablet-like device for the baby, but stress levels, particularly in their youngest son, quickly rose.
‘Asher was really worked up, he kept saying, ‘We’re going to be here forever,?? said Jacki. ‘He finally fell asleep. The baby was fine. She was crawling all over the car and fell asleep on my lap.?
Aaron found a number for the Kentucky State Police. The first time they called, not much information was given. The next time, they were told the truckers couldn’t make the hills and they were trying to get the roads cleared. Jacki’s frustration grew as she told him she had three children in the car that were hungry. She was told they were doing the best they could.
Hale said the emergency operation center out of Frankfort, Ky. had closed the section of I-75 where traffic was backed up and routed traffic off, but had to work inward to free the trapped vehicles, sending crews from neighboring counties, the National Guard, the state police and emergency management personnel.
Hale said while the state doesn’t see snow often, the 10-county district she covers has 80 pieces of snow-clearing equipment. Last year, there were two snow events in which areas of the state had up to 24 inches, but didn’t have the ice beforehand like with this most recent storm. Last year’s storms didn’t come until well into February.
‘We haven’t seen anything like this and haven’t had a snowfall and ice like this in quite sometime,? said Hale, adding there were no reported injuries from the back-up, nor major property damage. ‘It’s tough. We have turnover and some guys who have never dealt with this. Get south of us and some don’t have plows, but we have the equipment and train and prepare for the worst… We were out there prior to any of them getting stuck, but it was just so fast and hard to keep up and there was so much traffic out there.?
At around 1 a.m., a mini-drama played out in the Traverse as the Cox family struggled to find Gavin’s new glasses which he had misplaced. They were finally located under a seat. Jacki says she will be putting together a vehicle emergency kit that will include flashlights and toilet paper.
The family dozed off again and at about 3:50 a.m., Jacki woke to her husband rubbing her shoulder and pointing to a man approaching vehicles. When the man reached the Traverse, he told Jacki and Aaron that when the vehicle in front of them moved, they were to follow it off the next exit. Twenty minutes later, they were finally off the expressway and facing one gas station with cars and people everywhere.
They didn’t know where they were supposed to park and when they were informed by the gas station attendant that I-75 was going to be closed down in that area for two days, the Coxes decided they weren’t parking at all.
‘We said, heck no? we didn’t want to be stuck in Mt. Vernon, we got on a side road and kept going,? said Jacki.
That road was US-25, which runs parallel to I-75 and about 45 minutes later, they came to a gas station where the clerk told them I-75 was open at that point. They got back on for a harrowing ride on the snow-laden highway.
‘The kids were excited to be moving, but didn’t say much because my husband was stressed,? said Jacki. ‘Traffic wasn’t super heavy, but the road was horrible. I was going to have an anxiety attack, my breathing was heavy, there was so much snow and i thought we were going to skate off the mountain. I was praying, ‘Let us make it to Tennessee.??
They finally did, stopping at a McDonald’s at around 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 23. It was still snowing lightly by the time they crossed into Georgia. At around 6 p.m., they finally arrived in Umatilla, Fla. where Aaron’s father spends winters, about an hour from Orlando.
‘My moment of relief was when we got to Umatilla and I had something to eat and had a shower? that was the best,? said Jacki. ‘I felt so gross and dirty.?
The next day, they would travel on to Disney and while they didn’t forget their ordeal, they were ready to put it in the rearview and they did, enjoying a fabulous, especially long-awaited, vacation, visiting Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
When they got into their Traverse for the return trip home on Jan. 28, their only regret was that they had not had enough time at Disney.
‘It was worth it, but I swear, I’m traumatized every time I see brake lights now,? said Jacki. ‘We’re talking about going back to Disney in a few years. Maybe we’ll fly.?