Owners Doug Condon and Nina Richardson checked Timmons to try to help her place her Toyota Rav4 in the driveway, but it was stuck. They invited her to wait for a tow truck inside her home.
“I am extremely happy that this is where my car crashed,” Timmons told CNN. “It was on their flower bed. It wasn’t in a ditch. It wasn’t on the side of the road … I was stuck in a safe, warm place.”
Bad weather persisted for much longer than any of them thought. Five days later, Timmons still lived with the couple.
Among the stories of people struggling to survive, some stories of hope have shown that Texas hospitality is the real deal.
Timmons, who lives three hours away in Houston, said he makes weekly trips to Austin because the delivery market there pays a little more. The 32-year-old woman received a last delivery on Sunday when the snow increased, thinking she would have time to return home.
Waiting for a tow truck that never came
She struggled to drive into the mountainous neighborhood at noon to deliver groceries, which were already a day late and included steaks for the couple’s planned Valentine’s Day dinner.
“I was going down very slowly, remembering to hit the brake,” said Timmons from his hosts’ home in Austin. “I hit it more aggressively and it still kept sliding. My heart just dropped when I slid straight into their house and closed my eyes and prayed I wouldn’t hit these people’s homes, not to damage my car. I just knew – definitely knew – if I hit their house, that would be my tip. “
She texted the couple to let them know that she was there with her purchases and that she was under arrest.
Condon got out and they tried to get his car up the steep driveway. Timmons said that she tried to wait in her car and call AAA for a tow, but Condon invited her in.
With contactless deliveries, Timmons used to sanitize before and after leaving items, as well as wearing a mask and keeping distance, she said.
“They invited me in and, of course, at that point, I was feeling very strange when entering a stranger’s house. But they were super kind, ”she said. “When I was asked to come in, I sat with my mask on in the kitchen for about two hours.”
She kept calling tow truck updates and went back to the car to wait. A few hours later, the towing service said it would not be able to reach the area safely due to the storm, she said.
“As soon as we found out that AAA couldn’t come and conditions were getting worse, it seemed silly to even imagine that she was going to a hotel,” said Richardson. “It didn’t even occur to us.”
Richardson and Condon had just received their first Covid-19 vaccine a week earlier, as part of phase 1B. The couple said they would not let Timmons sit there in the cold.
The day turned into night and soon dinner arrived. It was Valentine’s Day and the couple made steak with grated cheese, broccoli and salad. It was a much better meal than Timmons imagined she would receive that night, she said.
“This was definitely not how I expected my Valentine’s Day to be,” said Timmons with a laugh. “We had a great dinner and I sat down, it was warm, it was fed and it was amazing and I thought it would be just for one night, but here I am, day five.”
In the meantime, Timmons learned that, in his Houston apartment, the light was out. If she had actually come home, it would have been simply to live there without power.
Every day, they monitored the weather and Timmons and Condon tried to make progress in their car. They dug up small parts of the garage and tried to retreat, little by little.
“We were using a broom and a shovel to clean the driveway as best we could,” said Condon. “We think we had cleaned up enough so that she could get up. She got up halfway and was stuck.”
She tried to leave, but the hosts insisted that she stay
Every time Timmons suggested going out to get a hotel room somewhere, the couple worried about the situation she was in.
“‘Our guest room is better than the Hampton Inn,'” Timmons told the couple. “‘If you leave, what are you going to eat? Are you sure you can get there?'”
As the days passed, the group became friends and it was as if Timmons was a guest in the couple’s guest room.
“We had an exciting week with crazy 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 cuddle up to her.
“She just became part of the family very quickly,” said Richardson.
Timmons helped the couple prepare meals. Someone cooked the pasta and someone else took care of other parts of the meal, Richardson said.
Timmons made a coconut cake to thank the couple. “We were definitely the beneficiaries of his cooking,” said Condon.
For Condon and Richardson, they hope others have done the same for a stranger who needs help.
“We hope that if our daughters were in a similar situation to Chelsea, there would be someone who would treat them as we treat Chelsea,” he said. “I don’t think we ever think twice about it.”
The couple and Timmons said they plan to keep in touch. On Friday, the weather improved and Timmons safely returned home to Houston on a sunny day with clear roads.
“I am very grateful that they not only succeeded, but were also willing to allow a complete stranger to enter their home in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a storm … without hesitation,” said Timmons. “They just opened their doors, opened their houses and said, ‘Come in and relax.'”
“I am very grateful for them and very happy that this is where I ended up off all the garage roads in the world,” she said.