Friday, January 25, 2008

Adventures in Roadtripping, Vol. 5 - Heading Home

We woke up on Thursday morning to find it snowing - and to a phone call from Melissa's dad telling us we should get on the road.

It didn't look bad from the hotel window, but we fired up Google Earth and could see the storm was big and moving down from Montana. We got packed up, got everything ready to go, and I started moving bags out to the car. That's when I saw what we couldn't see from the hotel window - It had already dropped 1.5-2 inches of snow.

While Melissa got Carolyn and the bags ready, I made the trips out to the car, brushing off the powder and loading up the back. We checked out of the hotel, and headed over to Melissa's folks to repack the car and load the pups in.

Arriving in their neighborhood we could see that the snow was getting heavier. Plows hadn't gotten out yet, and any tracks in the snow were quickly filled up. We pulled the Hummer into their garage, where her dad David had turned on a heater, and started the process of final packing. The jigsaw puzzle of bags and blankets was fit together, and we loaded Carolyn and the dogs in to start the trip home. We said our goodbyes and pulled out.

The road was fine at first, but blowing and drifting snow got heavier. The snowfall itself wasn't bad, but the wind was driving the snow strongly. The patterns of blowing snow across the road were almost hypnotic, and gave the illusion of traveling across a stream. Melissa drove all the way to Casper, and a little farther. The weather seemed to be clearing up, and Melissa's hip was hurting a bit, so we stopped at a rest area to switch.

I've driven in some pretty nasty snow before, which was a good thing, because we were about to hit some ugly stuff.

Just outside of Rawlins, we hit some strong winds and heavy blowing snow. Click the play button in the middle of the video to the left to see what it was like. The truck in front of us would completely disappear, then reappear, even when it was only three car lengths ahead of us. We were travelling at about 25 mph.

Temperature outside was 0 degrees and the wind was about 20-25 mph, so it made for a very cold very unfriendly arrival in Rawlins. We stopped at the local Taco Bell to gas up and get some grub, but even the dogs had no real desire to get out. They jumped out, did their business and high-tailed it back into the car.

Once we left Rawlins, the road improved dramatically. Sure, there was still blowing snow, but the wind lessened and the snow got lighter. We were 15-20 minutes away from Evanston, WY, where we planned on staying the night, we Carolyn announced that she needed to go potty. The wind is still blowing, it's still colder than a witch's you-know-what, but she can't hold it.

We pulled off the highway at the next exit, found a wide spot in the road, and Melissa proceeded to help Carolyn pull down her pants for her first experience in dropping trou for an emergency potty stop.

Carolyn had picked up the phrase "freezing my butt off". Here, she put it to practice. It was blowing and cold, and her naked bottom was out there. Not even the dogs wanted out.

We made our way into Evanston, and stayed at a hotel that Melissa was familiar with and that would not involve dodging the anti-pet commandos. We grabbed a bit to eat, and settled in for the night with a light snow falling outside.

The next morning, Melissa called her mom. Looks like we left at just the right time, as they had received about 2 feet of snow in the past 24 hours, and had closed the roads after we left. Has we stayed until Friday as planned, we likely would not have been able to leave until Saturday. We loaded up, grabbed a quick breakfast, and headed out.

On the way up, Melissa had mentioned about the Olympic ski jumps at Park City, and we decided to shoot by there on the way home. As we pulled onto the road for the Olympic Park, I noticed a sign that let us know that the World Junior Luge Championships were in progress. This is a sport that has always fascinated me, and this was an opportunity to see something few people get to see.

We pulled up to the park headquarters and museum, and Melissa let the dogs out to run while I got some information. While we may have dodged the pet militia in Evanston, the leader of the stormtroopers must have moved to Park City. This guy came out of the building very forcefully alerting Melissa that pets were NOT ALLOWED on the property. Melissa wrangled them back in, and we gathered Carolyn and headed out to the luge track.

The luge track is the same as the bobsled run, with different starting points. These are juniors which mean teens who are flying down the ice track at about 50-70 mph at about 1-2 inches off the ice. These guys whiz by you in the blink of an eye. I was able to catch one guy zipping by with my digital camera (just click the play button in the middle of the video)

After watching a few lugers make their run, we headed back to the museum. The luge competition would be on break for 1/2 an hour, and the dogs were still in the car.

The museum had some great exhibits. Upstairs, the exhibits were specifically related to the Olympics. Carolyn was especially interested in the headdresses and costumes that were worn during the opening ceremonies.

In one case was a display of the different medals awarded. They really are beautiful, and you don't get to see them up close like this very often.

Downstairs, the museum had exhibits on skiing, with explanations of why the powder in UT is so light and great for skiing. There were a couple of displays we all played with, like the ski jump simulator and the simulated downhill ski run. There was one that really had the potential to get your adrenaline flowing - the avalanche simulator. You stood in front of a display with the image of a canyon, and when you pressed a button, you saw what happened when an avalanche came roaring down. Even though you knew it was a simulation, it still got your heart to race a bit.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, just a simple run down I-15. As we got further south, we had to keep stripping layers off, with the temperature at the start of the day at 15 degrees, and by mid-afternoon, in the 50s. Carolyn watched her videos, Melissa and I talked, and we made our way home.

All in all, this was a great trip, and Melissa's folks are good, kind people. With any luck, we'll be able to make the trip again in the summer, and see what the area looks like in warm weather.

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