"We didn't think that it would do that much damage in that area," Vargas said.
When Helene started to knock down trees all around them, they knew they wouldn't be able to drive home. They decided they needed to get off the mountain, and would do it on foot.
"We were walking through the mud from the sinkholes, from the landslides falling off the mountains and climbing over trees and rinsing our feet off in the river," Vargas said. "Every now and then, a car would come by and give us a ride as far as they could drive. But of course, they could only go so far because the roads were blocked off."
Vargas said their legs were locking up, but they were determined to keep going. Everyone they ran into offered to help.
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"It was, it was a beautiful thing. You had people pulling out their chainsaws, pulling out their tractors and, you know, coming together to help get the trees out of the road. So that was a blessing," he said.
The brothers ended up walking 13 miles through thick mud, down steep mountainsides and over washed-out roads.
"The only thing that was on my mind was just getting back to my wife," Vargas told ABC11.
His wife drove up from Georgia when she heard they were stranded. She spent the night in her car outside nearby hotels because there weren't any rooms available. When the roads were blocked, she decided to walk several miles to try to meet them.
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"She's so humble, so sweet, and she's a rider, she's a soldier, she'd do anything, anything for her husband," he said.
They ultimately made it to each other and then headed back home. As Vargas reflected on the overall journey, he said his faith is now stronger than ever.
"I'm just a man, but He can do what I can't. He gave us the strength and the wisdom to get through it," Vargas said.