The following true story derived from in-person, phone conversations, and text messages over the last two years with Oquawka native Jim Thye. It is presented here, just shy of it's two-year anniversary, with Jim's permission.
The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By: Jeff Tee For The Quill
The following true story derived from in-person, phone conversations, and text messages over the last two years with Oquawka native Jim Thye. It is presented here, just shy of it's two-year anniversary, with Jim's permission.
On February 23, 2019, Oquawka native James "Jim" Thye left his campground in Rock Falls, IA and drove to Mason City, IA to get some supplies. Light snow was falling and a major storm was forecast to start in a few hours, giving him plenty of time to make the short trip before it began. As he was headed back to his campground after getting the supplies he needed in Mason City, it became apparent that the 15-minute drive was going to take a little longer. He had no way of knowing then that it would take 20 hours. It started at around 6:30pm, about 3 miles out of Mason City, when he rolled up on a truck that was stuck in a snow drift on the side of the road He stopped to help the two men and after about an hour and a half of digging, pushing, and pulling, they were back on their way. The snowfall had become heavier during the struggle and Jim was glad to be on his way. Then, as he was about to leave the scene, he realized his dog "Happy", a Yellow Lab who goes everywhere with him, had rolled down the window and jumped out.
Jim looked for Happy for some 20 minutes, while the impending storm was gaining strength. The ditches were so full of snow from a previous storm that Jim had to help Happy get through it and back in the truck. Jim's clothes were wet, he was cold, tired, and ready to get back to his camper. It was now 8:30pm and the blizzard was in full force.
Now full dark and white out conditions, Jim made his way a couple miles down the highway when suddenly, out of the blinding snow appeared two more trucks that had lost control and were sitting in his lane facing him. He swerved, barely missing the trucks but ending up stuck in the ditch. Just then, another car slid by, nearly hitting his truck and landed in the ditch just ahead of him.
Jim got out of his truck to help the two trucks he nearly crashed in to. He could barely see from the blinding snow as he ran around the other side of his truck, trying to get out of the blistering wind, to get his coveralls on. By now, it was snowing so hard and the wind was blowing so bad, making it so cold that he had to jump back into the truck to warm up before grabbing his boots out of the tool box. While running back to get in the driver's door, out of nowhere he saw a dog standing there that he didn't recognize. The Golden Retriever mix was staring at Jim, seeming to ask if he was going to let him in the truck and out of the cold Jim let the dog in the truck to get warm and after getting warm himself, he jumped out of the truck and ran back around to get his boots on. He had to repeat this process a few more times before he was finally dressed and ready to help the men. It's now 9:30pm.
The first stuck truck is a Dodge from Louisiana carrying three men, a woman, and a child. Jim and the driver of the second truck began to dig the first truck out, doing what they could to shield themselves from the wind and blowing snow. Jumping in and out of the warm trucks to get warm, as needed.
After almost two hours of working against blinding and blowing snow, the truck gets free. Tires spinning desperately, it gets up on the road. It loses traction, and slides sideways, one tire catching a snow drift on the other side of the road. The snow pulls the truck further in. The truck slides down into the snow filled ditch on the other side of the road, now stuck worse than it was before. 11:30pm now.
Defeated and not sure what to do next, the men get into the respective warm trucks and wait.
Two sheriff's cars pulled up around 12:30am, now February 24th, and load up five adults (one of which was pregnant) and a baby from the stuck trucks and three more adults and a child from the stuck car. There was no room for Jim, but he assured the officers that he would be fine. At this point, the roads were officially closed and the snow plows had been pulled off. The deputies told James the plows should be coming back on duty at 7am and he could catch a ride then.
Jim settled in for the night. He was in the front seat and Happy and what he could only describe as the worst smelling farm dog he had ever come across was in the back. Not the way he thought his night would go but he was thankful his truck was loaded with extra gas and supplies for an upcoming trip to St. Louis.
He let his truck idle in order to stay warm but around 3:30am it started to stall out. The engine, coughing then hiccupping, died. He was in and out of the truck, desperate to keep the heat going and trying to figure out what the problem was. The gusting winds forced snow to pile between the door and the truck causing it to not shut. Frantically digging, fighting the wind and bitter cold, he finally got the door dug out but his clothes were soaked, again.
He changed his clothes a third time. He didn't have much left. He put on two pairs of socks wrapped in plastic bags, Carhartt long underwear, work pants, a thin hoodie, and a beanie cap.
With his truck completely stalled out, he was freezing, desperate, and in danger of hypothermia setting in fast. He had to do something or he would surely freeze to death. He came up with an idea to put diesel fuel in an unused oil filter that he had in his truck tool box, tear a piece of clothing in to a strip to use for a wick, and light it like a candle to create some heat inside the cab of the truck.
He called the sheriff's office and told them his truck wasn't running. All they could say was they knew where he was and hopefully the plow would be dispatched early but be prepared to wait until 9am. It's now 4:30am.
The oil filter/candle worked. A little. The stray dog, who Jim now referred to as "Stink", and Happy, still in the back seat. James sat in the passenger seat because wind was blowing under the driver's door where ice had piled up. The candle sat on the floor board. Very cold but surviving at this point.
Jim shared what little food he had with the dogs. Would Stinky have survived this weather had he not walked up to Jim's stuck truck? It seemed unlikely. Jim thought of his son and was determined to get himself and the two dogs through this night.
Suddenly, there was black smoke rolling up from under the seat. The cab of the truck was on fire! He had used wet and frozen clothes to try to seal up the wind coming through the driver's door and the diesel fumes had ignited into a flash fire. Jim grabbed his frozen coveralls and beat at the flames but it was out of control. He jumped out of the truck, feet still wrapped in plastic, grabbed handfuls of snow and flung it into the truck. It was too late.
He opened the rear door and the dogs bailed out. He grabbed two round point shovels from the back of his truck. Everything moved at the speed of light but time slowed to a crawl. He ran through knee high snow drifts across the road, icy wind tearing at his exposed skin, to the abandoned stuck pick-up truck. Doors locked.
He was freezing. Wet. Not enough clothes. Desperate. He swung both shovels at the driver’s back-door window of the truck. It didn't break. He swung again. Harder. Nothing. Freezing. Fingers numb. He swung again. The window held strong. He looked at the driver's window and swung the shovels with everything he had. The window shattered. Jim dove in headfirst.
His clothes were frozen solid. He had only been out in the sub-zero temps and blistering winds for approximately two minutes. He slid over to the passenger seat and started to take off his wet clothes and boots. He yelled for the dogs. Stinky struggled to jump through the window four times before he finally made it. Happy stood there, confused. James desperately yelled for him and he finally made it through the window on his third try.
Jim put one dog on his feet and folded his hands under the other, trying to get some warmth. He had to get the window sealed up so he moved the dogs out of the way just long enough to wedge the floor mat into the opening Then he had to get the dogs back on him to warm him up. The window still wasn't sealed so he grabbed the visor, ripped it off its hinge and moved it into the opening. Then he found a large box in the back floorboard of the truck. He cut the cardboard and fit it in to the opening. He had to have the dogs warm him several times between cutting pieces of card board until the opening was finally closed. He then realized the box contained a compressed folded up mattress. He positioned the mattress from the driver's side rear floorboard, up to the roof and back down to the passenger's side floorboard creating a sort of tent to help hold in his and the dog’s body heat. He curled up under the dogs, exhausted and cold, and fell asleep. It's 5:15am.
He woke up, barely coherent, to a snowplow driver tapping on the passenger window. James started screaming and tapping on the window in the same spot as the driver but they were now in a ground blizzard. High velocity, straight-line winds blowing snow and bitter cold. The truck was almost completely drifted in, and covered with snow. The driver couldn’t hear him. James scraped ice off the window just in time to see the driver walk away.
Had he dreamt the whole thing? He dozed back off. It's approximately 10am.
He woke up around 2pm and found a to go box of shrimp and noodles in the abandoned truck that he shared with the dogs. He humored himself, thinking at least he got his favorite shrimp meal if it was going to be his last. He wondered if he would make it through another night. He knew the forecast was calling for below zero temps again with high winds. Out loud he said what he thought might be his last prayer.
3pm. Jim sees something outside the truck. The truck is drifted in so bad that there is almost no visibility. It's a John Deere tractor. He had barely caught a glimpse of it as it passed. Jim blasted the horn and tried the emergency lights. The farmer didn't hear him and the lights were buried under snow.
But the farmer saw something. Movement in the truck. Not Jim. He was in the front seat. Stinky was moving around in the back seat. It must have been what the man had seen.
The farmer came back to investigate.
All or nothing now. Live or die. Jim threw himself out of the carboarded driver's window to get the farmer's attention. The farmer ran around to the less drifted passenger side and pulled on the frozen door while Jim kicked at it. The door opened just enough. The farmer dragged Jim out and helped him up into the heated cab of the tractor.
Farmer Tim, as James came to know him, took him back to his heated shop and wrapped his feet in used oil rags and gave him some hot coffee. Farmer Tim then went back for Stinky and Happy.
Jim's sister, Angie, got him a jacuzzi room at a hotel in Mason City where he spent a week resting and getting his core temp back to normal. By the end of the week he physically felt better but the emotional scars remain.
Jim would later verify that the snow plow driver that came along around 10am was, in fact, real and not a dream. The man couldn't hear or see anything and simply didn’t think anyone was in the truck and continued on his way.
Farmer Tim told Jim that Stinky's real name was Itchy. Jim credits Itchy, the old farm dog who stunk to high heaven and appeared out of nowhere, along with Happy for helping save his life.