Dad treks 27 miles on Helene-flooded roads to get to daughter's wedding

David Jones was on his way to Johnson City, Tennessee, for his daughter’s wedding when traffic came to a screeching halt on Interstate 26.

The reality hit him that he might not make it to his daughter’s big day.

The highway was closed after Hurricane Helene’s record storm surge caused widespread destruction across the Southeast. Jones asked a nearby state trooper if there was an alternate route to get to the city.

“Nobody is getting to Johnson City,” the officer told him around 2 a.m. on Sept. 28.

Roads were closed, bridges had collapsed and debris was littered everywhere.

But Jones, 64, was not deterred. “My daughter is getting married at 11 o’clock, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle,” he told the state trooper.

Jones had left his new home in Boiling Springs, South Carolina, around 7 p.m. on Sept. 27, for what is normally about a two-hour drive to Johnson City. 

“We’ve had hurricanes reach up through here before but by the time they get this far inland, they’re generally just rain events,” he said. “We really didn’t heed the warnings like we should have. ... I had no idea what lay ahead.”

About 30 minutes into the drive, there was a major traffic problem. Jones was routed off the interstate several times, and got back on when it opened.

“There was closed road after closed road after closed road,” he said. “What would have been an hour and a half drive was seven hours.”

He was routed off the highway for a final time at Exit 43 in Erwin, Tenn., which is where he asked the state trooper for directions. The officer told him back roads were washed out and that there was simply no way of getting there.

So Jones parked his car at the bottom of the exit ramp, grabbed his backpack, shaving kit, underwear, socks and a Windbreaker — and started walking. He was about 27 miles away.

“Off I went, with my cellphone light guiding the way,” he said, adding that he did not have cell service for the journey but knew the way.

“I’ve run marathons. I can do this. I’m going to be there if at all humanly possible,” he told himself. “It wasn’t a question of if, it was a question of getting through it and when.”

Time was ticking, though. And the roads were full of hazards. He reached a massive pile of debris — about seven feet high — and when he tried to go around it, he stepped in thick mud that swallowed both his feet and legs up to his knees.

He managed to work his way free, and dig out a shoe he lost in the process.

Jones caught a ride for a couple miles from a state trooper to Erwin, where he refueled with an energy drink and power bar he bought at a convenience store.

About 16 miles away from his destination, Jones stepped onto a two-lane highway that leads directly to Johnson City. He picked up a reflective driveway marker he found on the side of the road and held it during his walk so motorists could see him on the narrow highway.

After another eight miles or so of walking, a white pickup truck pulled over, and the man inside offered Jones a ride. In what seemed like a miracle, the man was a former co-worker, a welcome coincidence in a city of about 72,500 people.

“We had a great time catching up,” during the final eight-mile stretch, Jones said. The man dropped Jones off at his home in Johnson City, which he still owns, around 7:30 a.m. He had walked about 17 miles, and hitched a ride for the other 10.

He took a short nap, washed up and put on an old suit and shoes he had at the house. Then he made his way to his daughter’s wedding.

When he walked his eldest of three daughters, Elizabeth Marquez, down the aisle that day, she had no idea about the turbulent voyage her father took to make it there. Power was out at the church, so they used candles to light up the space during the ceremony.

During the reception, Jones decided to mention his trek in his toast, and present Marquez, 33, and her husband, Daniel Marquez, with the driveway marker he felt protected him during his journey.

“I want this to be a remembrance for you to always be a protector of each other,” he said in his toast.

Marquez was floored by what her father had endured — but not shocked by his resolve to be there. “It was very on-brand for my dad," she said. "He would do whatever it takes, no matter what.”

“Especially knowing how much devastation there is, it’s wonderful to know that there is this much love in the world, and we experienced it this weekend with our wedding,” added Marquez, who, like her father, is an engineer. “I’ve always looked up to him, and he’s been my rock and my role model.”