While we finally made it to Utah, it sure proved to be an eventful and certainly “memorable” trip. Our Christmas vacation road trip began early Friday morning with our van covered by a nice Omaha ice storm that coated our van with over an inch of ice. After more than an hour of chipping away at the ice, and cracking the windshield of the van, we were finally able to get started for our trip to Grandma & Grandpa Wright’s house.
The drive across Nebraska went very well and we really were making great time. Yet, as soon as we reached the Wyoming border the sky turned dark and, for all practical purposes, it was all downhill from there. It was about 5:30 at night (dark) when the first snow began to fall. Within just a few minutes, the wind was whipping a rather steady snow around to the point where driving became rather difficult. Then the strangest thing happened – the road disappeared. We happened to drive right into a complete and utter whiteout. I honestly could not see the road or my surroundings. The ONLY way that I knew I was still on the road was by driving – at 5 MPH – on the bump strip that runs along the side of the road. Relying on the bump strip and the reflective road markers, we were able to creep along for a good 20 minutes before the road began to reappear. While not a fun experience for Stacy and I, the boys (thankfully) were able to sleep through most of it.
Because of the time that we lost stuck in the whiteout, we (thanks to Grandma & Grandpa) were able to spend the night in Rawlins, Wyoming. It felt great to get a good nights rest and we woke up to clear (though cold) skies. We once again made good time on the road, and despite the extreme cold (we hit 40 below a few times), soon found ourselves in Western Wyoming. That is when the snow started up again.
About 65 miles East of the Utah border, the authorities shut down I-80 due to a combination of weather and accidents. Thankfully we were able to get off the road and found a nice hotel/restaurant to kill a few hours in. It was nice to stretch our legs and get a little food. While the accident was finally cleared the weather did not improve all that much. We crept along for the next few hours until we crossed into Utah and the roads (and weather) immediately cleared. While the drive was not very fun and my opinion of Wyoming in the winter is not very high at the moment, we thankfully arrived safely and without too much concern. Now we get to enjoy the Christmas season.
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