Kyle and Ashley Johnson are one of those “opposites attract” kind of couples. She’s a Tennessee mountain girl with a penchant for “screamo” music, raised to buckle down for winter with extra canned goods and a rifle on hand. Kyle, on the other hand, is a polite South Carolina guy with a classic country playlist, whose idea for a first date involved “an extended cup of tea.”
They married in 2019, and their tastes moved closer together over time. What differences remained worked for them. At least until September 2024, when the remnants of Hurricane Helene came barreling toward their home in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
They hadn’t argued much before. But all of a sudden, they were on opposite sides of a high-stakes decision: Should they leave or should they stay?
“He’s like, ‘I’m going to pack everything up and get it up the mountain. We’re going to go up the mountain,’” Ashley said. “And I’m just sitting there going, ‘No, I’m going to stay right here in my house.’”
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