For Michelle McLain, Wednesday, Aug. 1, was an ordinary day.

The only break from routine was that she stayed a little later than usual at her job in the mortgage industry. She was taking the next day off, so she wanted to tie up a few loose ends.

She left her office and headed home to Stacy, where she lives with her husband, Shawn, and their two daschunds, Dora and Timmy.

McLain, Miss Dassel 1984, typically traveled 35E on her daily commute, but that night opted to take 35W instead thinking the traffic might not be so bad.

McLain didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. She was more interested in her and her husband’s plans for the next day — a birthday celebration at a water park.

She reached for her cell phone and called her husband to ask his opinion on what they should buy for a gift. She was northbound, approaching the 35W bridge.

It started to move

“Driving home, I was thinking about normal stuff,” she remembered. “I had just hung up from my husband when it (the bridge) started to move. It wasn’t fun. I thought I’d drive off and they’d just close it down. I never expected it to collapse.”

The bridge collapse came in two waves, McLain recalled. “There was the initial earthquake-type wave and then the second wave. I have never been that scared in my life. It was violent.”

As McLain’s world hung in balance, she called out to God.

“With everything inside of me, every ounce of my being, I just yelled ‘God, get me out of here. Help!’”

Read more about McLain's story in the Jan. 3 Independent Review on newsstands or available online in the E-edition.

If you go...
What: Michele McLain will share her inspiring story of the 35W bridge collapse
When: 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6
Where: Evangelical Covenant Church, 301 Lake St., Dassel
Admission: Free
Call: the church office at (320) 275-3315

Source: Kay Johnson, Hutchinson Leader