Laramie. We just want to go home :)
Mark gets a day and a half off work after a long string of 6 days every week, and once, even a 7 day workweek. Great, the area was blanketed with clouds and badly needed rain was falling - with incoming April snows predicted as well. This called for a car, rather than camp or bike, trip. We started out north of Fort Collins, taking back roads towards the Red Feather Lakes area. The scrubby plains gradually became the Cherokee State Wildlife area containing a huge moose habitat, turned into full-on mountains and back down to plains again. We were close to the border of Wyoming! We took a pretty red gravel road leading to Laramie. Little did we know that we were to become PRISONERS of the town!!! After passing through a wonderful variety of terrains (and enjoying the sights of many birds and animals of those areas) we arrived in Laramie and headed for an early dinner. The clients within the Cowboy Grill were laughing about the big invisible snows that had never shown up. We exited the restaurant to ... SNOW ... by golly!
An hour later, snow constantly falling now, we finally had found the Road and Recreation Atlas of Wyoming that we wanted and headed back to the highway to take more back roads home. A long string of cars were backed up behind large semi's stuck on a hill on one of the few main roads out of town. The back road idea did not look promising. We headed for a longer route leading to Interstate 25. Not far out of town that road was gated and had been shut down to through traffic!! We learned by phone that by then our original exit from Wyoming was also barred! WE COULDN'T GET OUT OF TOWN!!! Every road out of Laramie Wyoming was locked down or deep in snow!! Luckily we were able to get a room at a nice hotel and spent a relaxing night cuddled up watching movies.
Next morning we heard the plows were OUT. GOOD! Not good. Our road was BEING being cleared but would be closed indefinitely. Even heavier snow was to fall later in the day. Grr, we were no longer laughing at the predictions. We had a scant 7 hours to get back to Denver in time for Mark's work. After buying food and water, we turned to the long route attempted the previous day. We were encouraged, the road had been plowed and was not THAT bad. OH NO, we passed a road closed flashing light sign. Confusing and very frustrating!!! To my great surprise, when we reached the gate, indeed closed, Mark kept driving and went around it!! After about 10 miles or so of slushy but passable road, I agreed we would make a break for it!! Two closed highways and 75 careful miles later, we emerged intact onto legal roads heading in the right direction, whew! We wouldn't have recommended the drive for all cars, but our 4 wheel drive Outback with good tires, and Mark's skillful handling of the car, did the trick. During the stealth drive we had passed 3 or 4 plows and were VERY grateful that we were not reported for violating the closure. We did in the end reach Denver and HOME in time for Mark's deadline. Our sweet (snowy) house was a warm and welcome sight.
The following photos show the areas and creatures that we saw before THE BIG ONE!!!
Read MoreAn hour later, snow constantly falling now, we finally had found the Road and Recreation Atlas of Wyoming that we wanted and headed back to the highway to take more back roads home. A long string of cars were backed up behind large semi's stuck on a hill on one of the few main roads out of town. The back road idea did not look promising. We headed for a longer route leading to Interstate 25. Not far out of town that road was gated and had been shut down to through traffic!! We learned by phone that by then our original exit from Wyoming was also barred! WE COULDN'T GET OUT OF TOWN!!! Every road out of Laramie Wyoming was locked down or deep in snow!! Luckily we were able to get a room at a nice hotel and spent a relaxing night cuddled up watching movies.
Next morning we heard the plows were OUT. GOOD! Not good. Our road was BEING being cleared but would be closed indefinitely. Even heavier snow was to fall later in the day. Grr, we were no longer laughing at the predictions. We had a scant 7 hours to get back to Denver in time for Mark's work. After buying food and water, we turned to the long route attempted the previous day. We were encouraged, the road had been plowed and was not THAT bad. OH NO, we passed a road closed flashing light sign. Confusing and very frustrating!!! To my great surprise, when we reached the gate, indeed closed, Mark kept driving and went around it!! After about 10 miles or so of slushy but passable road, I agreed we would make a break for it!! Two closed highways and 75 careful miles later, we emerged intact onto legal roads heading in the right direction, whew! We wouldn't have recommended the drive for all cars, but our 4 wheel drive Outback with good tires, and Mark's skillful handling of the car, did the trick. During the stealth drive we had passed 3 or 4 plows and were VERY grateful that we were not reported for violating the closure. We did in the end reach Denver and HOME in time for Mark's deadline. Our sweet (snowy) house was a warm and welcome sight.
The following photos show the areas and creatures that we saw before THE BIG ONE!!!
