Homeowners Doug Condon and Nina Richardson checked on Timmons to try and get her Toyota Rav4 into the driveway, but he was stuck. They invited her to wait for a tow truck at their home.
“I’m just very lucky my car crashed here,” Timmons told CNN. ‘It was in their flower bed. It was not in a ditch. It wasn’t on the side of the road … I was stuck somewhere safe and warm. ‘
The bad weather lasted much longer than they thought. Five days later, Timmons was still living with the couple.
Amid the stories of people struggling to survive, a few stories of hope showed that Texas hospitality is the real deal.
Timmons, who lives three hours away in Houston, said she travels to Austin weekly because the delivery market pays a little more there. The 32-year-old picked up one last delivery on Sunday when the snow picked up, assuming she would have time to get home.
Waiting for a tow truck that never came
She struggled to drive into the hilly neighborhood in the afternoon to deliver the groceries, which were a day late and included steaks for the couple’s scheduled Valentine’s Day dinner.
“I went down very slowly and remembered to tap my brakes,” Timmons said from her hostess’ home in Austin. “I tapped more aggressively and it just kept sliding. My heart just dropped as I just slid to their house and I just closed my eyes and prayed that I didn’t hit these people’s house, that I didn’t damage my car. I just knew. – was sure – if I hit their house, that was my tip. “
She texted the couple to let them know she was there with their groceries and that she was stuck.
Condon came out and they tried to get her car up the steep driveway. Timmons said she tried to wait in her car and the AAA called for a tug, but Condon invited her in.
In contactless deliveries, Timmons was used to sanitizing before and after taking the items off, in addition to wearing a mask and keeping her distance, she said.
“They invited me in and at that moment of course I felt very uncomfortable entering a stranger’s house. But they were super nice,” she said. “When they invited me, I sat with my mask in their kitchen for about two hours.”
She kept calling for tow truck updates and returned to her car to wait. A few hours later, the towing service said they would not be able to reach the area safely because of the storm, she said.
“Once we found out that AAA couldn’t make it and conditions worsened, it seemed silly to even suggest she go to a hotel,” Richardson said. “It didn’t even occur to us.”
Richardson and Condon had just received their first vaccine against Covid-19 as part of Phase 1B a week earlier. The couple said they wouldn’t leave Timmons out in the cold.
The day turned into night and soon dinner had started. It was Valentine’s Day, and the couple made steak with blue cheese, broccoli, and a salad. It was a much better meal than Timmons thought she would have that night, she said.
“That was definitely not how I expected my Valentine’s Day to turn out,” Timmons said, laughing. “We had a great dinner and I was sitting, I was hot, I got food and it was just great and I thought it was only going to be for one night, but here I am, day five.”
In the meantime, Timmons discovered that her Houston apartment had a power outage. If she had actually come home, it would have been common to live there without electricity.
They kept an eye on the weather every day, and Timmons and Condon tried to make progress with her car. They scooped small sections of the driveway and tried to bring it back up bit by bit.
“We used a broom and shovel to clear the driveway as best we could,” said Condon. ‘We thought we had enough room for it to get up. She got up halfway through and got stuck. ‘
She tried to leave, but the hosts insisted she stay
Whenever Timmons suggested moving into a hotel room, the couple worried about the situation she might find herself in.
“Our guest bedroom is better than the Hampton Inn,” Timmons said to her. “” When you leave, what are you going to eat? Are you sure you can make it all the way there? ‘ ‘
As the days passed, the group got cozy and it was as if Timmons were a guest staying in the couple’s guest room.
“We had an exciting week with amazing weather and a surprise guest, which turned out to be a very pleasant experience,” said Condon.
The couple’s dogs, Crosby and Haddie, soon began to sit on Timmons’ bed and snuggle up to her.
“She just became part of the family pretty quickly,” Richardson said.
Timmons helped the couple prepare meals. Someone cooked the pasta and someone else worked on the other parts of the meal, Richardson said.
Timmons made a coconut cake to thank the couple. “We were definitely the beneficiaries of her baking,” Condon said.
For Condon and Richardson, they hope others would have done the same for a stranger in need of help.
“We would hope that if our daughters were in a similar situation to Chelsea, there would be someone who would treat them the way we treated Chelsea,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve ever thought twice about it.”
The couple and Timmons said they intended to keep in touch. On Friday the weather picked up and Timmons got home safely to Houston on a sunny day with clear roads.
“I am so grateful that they were not only able but willing to admit a complete stranger in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of a storm… without hesitation,” Timmons said. “They just opened their doors, opened their house, and said, ‘Come in and relax.’ ”
“I’m so grateful and so happy to have ended up here from all the driveways in the world,” she said.