1980 mt. st. helen's eruption. i was living in washington and had been paying attention to the reports of an imminent eruption. i was in the process of moving out of the area to one of the coastal islands. it felt like a race against time. the truck had been loaded up the night before so the only things that were left in the house were our sleeping bags, small bag with clothes, and a coffee pot with mugs. i got up and started to make coffee when there was this deep rumbling vibration and then three loud 'booms' as if there was a cannon being shot. i turned on the radio in the truck and it was reported that the volcano had just erupted. i ran back into the house yelling for everyone to get up, grab their stuff and get into the truck and car. i don't think i ever moved that fast without coffee in my life. we managed to stay ahead of the ash fallout as we weren't too close to the mountain. once we got to the coast and checked into a hotel we watched t.v. and saw the place we had left. it was surreal seeing everything coated with ash. while we were never in real physical danger in regards to being in the path of the slide we knew that if we had delayed our departure there would have been a good chance for the vehicles to have issues due to ash. so, while it wasn't an exact 'survival' situation it was one that i won't forget.