James worked to plan a surprise that happened to be the same weekend as when Hurricane Helene hit the mountains. The day we left there was strong wind gusts, so we waited for it to slow down before we left Columbia, SC to Pigeon Forge, TN. We initially noticed fallen trees in the middle of the highway but with the winds so strong we didnt think too much of it. It slowed us down but nothing too concerning and we were already a few hours in thinking it would only be a few more. We soon realized there was no service and no power at any exit for hours. After barely making it to the gas station, we waited 45 minutes in a line off the highway to thankfully fill our tank. We were stuck outside of Asheville waiting for the highway floodwaters to go down, we drove for hours to multiple dead ends of downed trees, powerlines, the road missing, and even a semi-truck stuck sideways. Once back on the road we ended up getting stuck at I-40, which we then found out was washed away and got directions from an officer to drive around the destruction on to TN. What is usually around a 4-hour drive ended up being 18 hours. With no power and nowhere to stop we pushed through together. Though James initial plan did not work out as he thought, it ended up being a beautiful sunny day and an incredible view for a great surprise.