Dad crosses 30 miles of hurricane debris to daughter’s wedding

David Jones, a 64-year-old business performance coach and two-time marathon runner, found himself in total darkness Friday night with only the flashlight from his cellphone guiding his way as he walked, crawled and climbed over remnants from Hurricane Helene -- fallen trees, towering piles of debris and large sections of washed-out highways -- in order to make it to his daughter's Saturday morning wedding.

Jones told WJHL that what should have been a 2-hour drive from South Carolina to Johnson City, TN took 7-hours by car and 5.5 hours on foot; the second leg of his journey starting at 2am after a State Trooper stopped him to say that all the major and minor roads leading to Johnson City were completely impassable.

"You have to understand," Jones replied to the trooper as he laced up his sneakers, "my daughter’s getting married at 11:00 this morning, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle.”

Jones said he prayed a lot on his almost 30-mile trek that at one point became especially perilous when he found himself stuck knee-deep in mud as a fork-lift operator who couldn't see or hear him was clearing fallen trees nearby. Jones actually had to duck several times as the forklift swung close to his head. Fortunately, he finally managed to free himself, crawling out of the mud and losing one sneaker briefly, which he desperately dug around to retrieve.

"I knew I couldn't make it the rest of the way without shoes," he explained to People Magazine.

Several miles from Johnson City, in the early hours of Saturday morning, a former colleague spotted Jones walking along the highway and gave him a ride to his home where there was no electricity, but they did have running water. Jones quickly took a cold shower, put on a borrowed suit, and made it to the church on time.

After walking his daughter Elizabeth Marquez down the aisle, he presented her and her new husband with the red reflective road stake that he carried to keep him from getting hit by cars throughout the night. He encouraged them to let it be a reminder to "be a good protector to one another and to always be a reflection of God" in each other's lives.