David Jones set out from South Carolina to Tennessee for his daughter's wedding not fully realizing the devastation Hurricane Helene had wrought, and after multiple diversions on Interstate 26 due to the powerful storm, a state trooper stopped him around 2am Saturday to tell him he could go no further: The roads were impassable. With the wedding scheduled for just nine hours later, Jones, a former marathon runner, set out on foot to walk the final 30 miles or so, per WJHL. He wasn't prepared for the wreckage he encountered along the way as he traversed washed-out roads flooded with debris and downed trees, USA Today reports. But ultimately, he made it in time to walk his daughter down the aisle, and she didn't realize the journey he'd undertaken until the reception.
As a memento, Jones gave the newlyweds the red reflective stake he'd carried with him after nearly getting hit by a car along the way. At another point, a backhoe operator working to clear a road didn't see Jones and almost hit him, causing him to get stuck in mud. "I was up to my knees in mud and couldn't move," Jones says. "And he doesn't see me. Of course, his cab is facing the other way. Most of the time, he's swinging this thing around, and I'm ducking. Really, I'm thinking this could be it. There was a lot of prayer at that point." Eventually, he was picked up by a motorist and driven the rest of the way to his old house in Tennessee, where he was able to shower and change before the wedding. In all, he estimates he walked 17 miles of the 27-mile trek from the exit where he left his car, People reports. (More Hurricane Helene stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
