We got back to the hotel around 1230am. We both turned on our tv’s to CNN. Anderson was reporting that the miners were found alive. I couldn’t believe it. I was happy, but it just seemed too good to be true. I ran over to Kimberly’s room and she was watching too. I called Rich and asked him about it, he was inside the church and there was a lot of cheering in the background. There wasn’t much we could do and we knew we had to be up early so we went to sleep. I called for a wake up call and asked the hotel attendant if he had heard the good news, he said he had and that it was great news.
Around 330am the room phone rang. It was the hotel attendant. “Did you hear?” Hear what I asked. “Only one of them is alive.” I turned on the tv. It was crushing. I watched for a bit then tried to sleep. About a half hour later Rich called me. He had just gotten home from the celebration at the church and could not believe what he was seeing on television. I told him I was so sorry.
At 630am I got a call from Atlanta. We were to pack up and head to Morgantown where the lone survivor was taken. I called Kimberly and told her. I ran down to the hotel front office and got some breakfast and the local paper. The newstand was empty. I asked the front desk for a paper. They asked me not to let anyone see it. The sad, and unfortunately mistaken, headline read, “12 found alive.” They had pulled them all from the newstand.
We started making our way to Morgantown. As we’re zipping along north on Route 79, the car begins to make odd sounds. Then I heard something snap and smoke began to come out from under the hood. Then the steering wheel stiffens up. I pulled over. I called Atlanta and roadside service. Atlanta told us to get a car a soon as possible and head to Morgantown. I told them it would probably be about three hours before we would get a car from where we were. They told us to call a cab and get back to the church.
The next two days were full of liveshots, long hours and a many many phone calls to family members about the notes scribbled by a few of the miners as they were dying. I was able to download one of the notes on my blackberry. The writing was all over the paper. It appeared as though it had been written over several hours. It broke my heart to read, “It wasn’t bad, I just went to sleep.” I could only imagine who many times this piece of paper would be looked at by the family members for the rest of their lives.
