IT'S NOT ONLY A JOB, IT'S AN ADVENTURE

This is our second time this year going through Wyoming on Interstate 80 in the winter. I didn’t like it any better than the first time, or for that matter, than last winter, when we had white out conditions and they proceeded to close the Interstate behind us as we made our way through. I guess our first indication of trouble was when we pulled into Salt Lake City for the night on Friday, and I pulled up Wyoming DOT web site and it showed Interstate 80 closed. When we awoke, I checked again, and it showed open, but it would not stay that way for long.

With hot coffee in our travel mugs, off we went towards Wyoming. Hmmmm, so far, so good. The roads were clear of ice and snow and the drive was nice, that is, until we started hearing chatter on the CB. What we heard was not good, and especially this time of year. A 3 fatality accident that had closed down the west bound lanes. I got on the DOT website and confirmed that information, but since we were going east bound we thought we’d be okay.

We knew we had a fuel stop in Rawlins, and as luck would have it, that was where they closed the interstate. We barely could make it into the fuel island with the multitude of cars and trucks parked in every available space there was. After fueling up, we had no option but to sit and wait in line with everyone else that wanted to leave. The wait time did have its humorous moments as there is never a lack of truck drivers who like to get on the radio and comment on everything. But after almost two hours of that , they had pretty much run out of material and even the person posing as a lot lizard gave up.

We saw movement up ahead and the slow procession of trying to make it out of the parking lot, along with 100 other drivers, went rather orderly with the help of a State Trooper directing traffic. On the Interstate, the back up on the westbound side went for over 10 miles, as we trudged along on the eastbound side looking at spin out and accidents that littered the shoulders of the roadway. Thankfully we only had to go another 100 miles before we stopped for the night in Laramie, WY.

In the morning darkness, we left Laramie and headed towards Nebraska. The wind gusts were at 65mph, and the blowing snow made it hard to see the roadway. We pulled in Cheyenne for fuel and as we left, we heard that again, Interstate 80 was being closed in both directions. Seems we once again made it through before the closures. Yes, truck driving is not only a job, but can be quite an adventure, especially in Wyoming in the winter.