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http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-this-time-owner-pulled-dogs-through-blizzard-20110202,0,6623122.story?track=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook (via shareaholic)
When Jennifer Boznos and her canine companions left Chicago around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday for her home in Hampshire, she might have expected a longer-than-normal commute, given the blizzard warnings and dire forecasts.
She eventually made it home, 23 hours later, after spending a harrowing night huddled with her four dogs in her car, and hiking a mile and a half through waist-high snowdrifts before piling into the back of a pickup truck with her border collies for the final leg home.
%u201CI%u2019m out of my car, so nothing can be bad,%u201D Boznos said from her home early Wednesday evening.
She was in one of an estimated 60 vehicles that became stranded along a rural stretch of Illinois Route 47 in Kane County made so impassable that regular emergency vehicles and plows could not operate. Eventually, many of the motorists were rescued by snowmobilers.
Boznos, who owns a dog daycare and training business in Chicago called Call of the Wild School for Dogs, said she left the city about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and was within about seven miles of home when blizzard conditions stranded her vehicle and dozens of others.
In a howling snowstorm and with no real options, Boznos and her dogs hunkered down to await rescue.
%u201CI felt like the car was going to lift off, like the house in the Wizard of Oz,%u201D she said.
The snowmobilers, members of Hampshire club, showed up Tuesday night and began ferrying the motorists to a nearby gas station.
%u201CThose snowmobilers were cowboys of the highest order %u2013 they were incredible,%u201D she said.
But a snowmobile rescue wasn%u2019t an option for Boznos because of her dogs; the collies are part of her business and they travel with her each day, she said.
%u201CI wasn%u2019t going to leave the dogs because they would have died from the cold,%u201D Boznos said. %u201CAnd I knew that if I left the car, I didn%u2019t know when I would have gotten back there.%u201D
So she resigned herself to a cold night, periodically running her car to keep warm and charge her cell phone, and getting out to clear snow from the tailpipe. Boznos called media outlets, trying to glean information about her situation, and she spoke to friends. Her mother called and reminded Boznos that she had warned her against driving to the city Tuesday.
Through the course of the night, Boznos struck up a friendship with a woman, who along with her two children, was in a nearby stalled vehicle. Around midday Wednesday, the woman%u2019s husband hiked in the mile and a half from the Route 72 intersection with Route 47. Jointly, they made the decision to hike back out. Boznos said they walked in the snowmobile ruts to make the hike easier.
Reaching the husband%u2019s truck, Boznos and her dogs piled in the back for a chilly ride home.
%u201CI was a popsicle, but not as much of a popsicle if I had to spend another night in my car,%u201D she said.
When Jennifer Boznos and her canine companions left Chicago around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday for her home in Hampshire, she might have expected a longer-than-normal commute, given the blizzard warnings and dire forecasts.
She eventually made it home, 23 hours later, after spending a harrowing night huddled with her four dogs in her car, and hiking a mile and a half through waist-high snowdrifts before piling into the back of a pickup truck with her border collies for the final leg home.
%u201CI%u2019m out of my car, so nothing can be bad,%u201D Boznos said from her home early Wednesday evening.
She was in one of an estimated 60 vehicles that became stranded along a rural stretch of Illinois Route 47 in Kane County made so impassable that regular emergency vehicles and plows could not operate. Eventually, many of the motorists were rescued by snowmobilers.
Boznos, who owns a dog daycare and training business in Chicago called Call of the Wild School for Dogs, said she left the city about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and was within about seven miles of home when blizzard conditions stranded her vehicle and dozens of others.
In a howling snowstorm and with no real options, Boznos and her dogs hunkered down to await rescue.
%u201CI felt like the car was going to lift off, like the house in the Wizard of Oz,%u201D she said.
The snowmobilers, members of Hampshire club, showed up Tuesday night and began ferrying the motorists to a nearby gas station.
%u201CThose snowmobilers were cowboys of the highest order %u2013 they were incredible,%u201D she said.
But a snowmobile rescue wasn%u2019t an option for Boznos because of her dogs; the collies are part of her business and they travel with her each day, she said.
%u201CI wasn%u2019t going to leave the dogs because they would have died from the cold,%u201D Boznos said. %u201CAnd I knew that if I left the car, I didn%u2019t know when I would have gotten back there.%u201D
So she resigned herself to a cold night, periodically running her car to keep warm and charge her cell phone, and getting out to clear snow from the tailpipe. Boznos called media outlets, trying to glean information about her situation, and she spoke to friends. Her mother called and reminded Boznos that she had warned her against driving to the city Tuesday.
Through the course of the night, Boznos struck up a friendship with a woman, who along with her two children, was in a nearby stalled vehicle. Around midday Wednesday, the woman%u2019s husband hiked in the mile and a half from the Route 72 intersection with Route 47. Jointly, they made the decision to hike back out. Boznos said they walked in the snowmobile ruts to make the hike easier.
Reaching the husband%u2019s truck, Boznos and her dogs piled in the back for a chilly ride home.
%u201CI was a popsicle, but not as much of a popsicle if I had to spend another night in my car,%u201D she said.
