It got worse
Well ... that sucked stupendous amounts of ass. I had no inkling when I made my last post that the worst was yet to come.
We left Vegas early yesterday morning, with the intention of getting home within the day--a long trip, but we were prepared. We made amazing time, too ... until we ran into snow in the Rockies. We didn't expect this, I guess because we'd been in the desert all week, after a month of temps in the 60s-70s in Colorado. Anyway, we've been driving in Colorado snow all our lives, including in the mountains, where it does snow quite a bit more and harder than on the plains, but even if it's slow going, we've always made it before.
Then they closed the first of two mountain passes between us and home. The very nice sheriff (who stood in the middle of the highway talking to every single car individually, to give them advice on how to get where they're going--I've never seen that before) advised us and everyone else also headed to Denver to take 24 to 91 and meet back up with the highway farther along. It was slow, dangerous going, but at least everyone was headed the same way on 24 ... then we got to 91, and I really don't want to talk much about that now, but many times during that endless horrendous drive in extremely poor visibility in driving snow while the windshield wipers caked with ice until I had only a tiny clear spot to peer through to try to see where I was going, I wondered if I'd live to see another day.
Somehow we made it back to the interstate having taken the roads he suggested, which landed us between the two passes ... only to discover they'd closed the other pass, too. There was no way home at that point. After consulting with a couple of hotels in these ski resort towns along the interstate (to give you an idea of the prices they were charging, they offered a room with "a murphy bed and a pull-out couch" for a low-low $400. !!! !! !!!!!), I ACTUALLY MANAGED TO FIND THE KEY my sister gave me for the cabin she owns up there several miles off the interstate, we actually managed to find said cabin, the key actually worked (I've never tried it until last night), and at last we were safe in a warm, comfortable place after having spent the previous FIVE FULL HOURS white-knuckle driving, this after ten hours of normal driving. It was horrible. I have a little of the drive on video, which I will try to put together for you.
I have more to tell about what I was referring to in my previous post, but I had to get all that out first. So much to decompress from from that trip. Before we left, both of us had the feeling we'd return as different people, and that came to pass. As we came into town, we couldn't bring ourselves to feel sure we'd really make it home any time soon until we were actually in the door. In normal driving, the place where we were stranded is only about an hour and a half away, so close and yet so far. We're home now. It seems like a miracle that we actually made it.
We left Vegas early yesterday morning, with the intention of getting home within the day--a long trip, but we were prepared. We made amazing time, too ... until we ran into snow in the Rockies. We didn't expect this, I guess because we'd been in the desert all week, after a month of temps in the 60s-70s in Colorado. Anyway, we've been driving in Colorado snow all our lives, including in the mountains, where it does snow quite a bit more and harder than on the plains, but even if it's slow going, we've always made it before.
Then they closed the first of two mountain passes between us and home. The very nice sheriff (who stood in the middle of the highway talking to every single car individually, to give them advice on how to get where they're going--I've never seen that before) advised us and everyone else also headed to Denver to take 24 to 91 and meet back up with the highway farther along. It was slow, dangerous going, but at least everyone was headed the same way on 24 ... then we got to 91, and I really don't want to talk much about that now, but many times during that endless horrendous drive in extremely poor visibility in driving snow while the windshield wipers caked with ice until I had only a tiny clear spot to peer through to try to see where I was going, I wondered if I'd live to see another day.
Somehow we made it back to the interstate having taken the roads he suggested, which landed us between the two passes ... only to discover they'd closed the other pass, too. There was no way home at that point. After consulting with a couple of hotels in these ski resort towns along the interstate (to give you an idea of the prices they were charging, they offered a room with "a murphy bed and a pull-out couch" for a low-low $400. !!! !! !!!!!), I ACTUALLY MANAGED TO FIND THE KEY my sister gave me for the cabin she owns up there several miles off the interstate, we actually managed to find said cabin, the key actually worked (I've never tried it until last night), and at last we were safe in a warm, comfortable place after having spent the previous FIVE FULL HOURS white-knuckle driving, this after ten hours of normal driving. It was horrible. I have a little of the drive on video, which I will try to put together for you.
I have more to tell about what I was referring to in my previous post, but I had to get all that out first. So much to decompress from from that trip. Before we left, both of us had the feeling we'd return as different people, and that came to pass. As we came into town, we couldn't bring ourselves to feel sure we'd really make it home any time soon until we were actually in the door. In normal driving, the place where we were stranded is only about an hour and a half away, so close and yet so far. We're home now. It seems like a miracle that we actually made it.