JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – What was supposed to be a two-hour drive from South Carolina to Johnson City, Tennessee, for his daughter’s wedding turned into seven hours by car and another five and a half hours on foot for David Jones.
After being diverted multiple times on Interstate 26, when he finally crossed the state line into Tennessee around 2 A.M., a state trooper told Jones that was the end of the road. Interstate and even more minor roads were impassible. But this dad would not take no for an answer.
I said, “You have to understand. My daughter’s getting married at 11:00 this morning, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle,” Jones told NewsNation affiliate WJHL.
Helene devastates Southeast, with nearly 100 dead across 6 states Jones, who has run marathons in the past, estimated it was less than 30 miles away, so he decided to walk. But it was much more difficult than he could have imagined, as he found himself in total darkness with only his cell phone light to guide him through mounds of debris.
“It just… it’s awful,” Jones explained. “And I can tell you a lot about the mud and the debris fields where I have to climb six, seven-foot-tall piles of debris of old fences and huge trees and it was just a tangled mess and dead-end roads and all kinds of things.”
Although indeed precarious, the trek nearly became deadly at one point when he encountered crews clearing the road with a backhoe. Admittedly, Jones wasn’t expected to be there, so the operator didn’t see him, and he was nearly hit. He became entrapped in the mud.
“I was up to my knees in mud and couldn’t move,” Jones recalls. “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.”
Miraculously, Jones says he was able to free himself in time, albeit without one shoe that he had to retrieve afterward, and he continued on his way.
He was able to cross the river over the Jackson Love highway bridge. He walked through the town of Erwin and Jones eventually got back on Interstate 26 still on foot.
To avoid being hit by cars Jones carried a reflective stake.
A motorist, who Jones actually knew from a previous job, drove Jones the last eight miles of his journey.
54 people rescued from roof of TN hospital He made it to his daughter Elizabeth’s wedding on time. She had no idea what her dad had gone through to be able to walk her down the aisle until the reception.
“That’s so emotionally moving [to know] that my dad loves me that much, that he’ll come and go through all of that to get to my wedding and be there on time,” Elizabeth Marquez told WJHL.
After the wedding, Jones presented his daughter and her new husband with a token from his incredible journey—his reflective stake.
“I brought the reflector to the reception, and I presented it to Elizabeth, my daughter, and Daniel just for them to remember, to be a protector and a good reflection of each other and a reflection of God,” said an emotional Jones.
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Jones said he’s no hero, “it’s what any dad would do,” he said.
Elizabeth disagrees and says she’s “just so thankful he made it.”
“I woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning just wide awake, just spent that whole morning praising God that my dad made it and that my dad’s alive,” Marquez said.
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