SPRINGTIME IN WYOMING!!!

The weather guessers on all of the TV stations and radio all say spring showed up on March 20 but it is a little bit different here in Laramie and the Wyoming region according to how I see it..

Blizzard warnings and Hazardous weather warning along with special weather statements abound on the NOAA weather pages from Cheyenne to Green River Wy everytime I look when I am about to traverse the 'hill' to go to work... Whether it Coincidence or just plain ole bad luck I'm not sure but I sure hope summer gets here and we can look past 2009 and start to think about 2010!!

The last 2 trips on the railroad have been really trying with the weather and what they have forecasted ( which has fallen short of the amount of snowfall we received and the wind is far exceding what they have call for also) so it hasn't been a pleasant drive to work or home to say the least!!

I had planned on spending the night with my brother Boyd last trip as they said we were gonna get a big old bad storm but alas the road was posted on the web site as " no unneccesary travel" !!! Whatever that means 'but to us locals (a little bit of icy spots but nothing unnavigatable in a 4 wheel) must mean a whole lot more to the WYDOT to keep the semi's parked and away for the roadways.. It was about an hour drive in 4 wheel drive (as the rearend of the pickup wanted to lead when it was in 2 wheel drive) at 45-50 mph which was good enough for us natives to get home after dark anyways..

Then came tonight with the 'new' storm that only called for scattered flurries and a little bit of wind!! Oh Boy the snow turned in to a whiteout with 55+ mile per hour wind out of the north north west which caused a few 'stack trains' with a blowover speed or 55 mph to hole up at Granite westbound and at Laramie eastbound on the railroad.. But with no rails to guide those crazy truck drivers over the 'hill' it made a mess!!

Little did I know when I left the city of Cheyenne up the slow and mellow Happy Jack road did I know that at Curt Gowdy State Park they would close the road along with I-80 in both directions just in front of me no more that 2-3 minutes before I reached that point only 15 miles from home after a rather long and trying trip (albeit a daylight run) on the railroad!!

After consulting with the gray bearded snowplow driver who said it was the "patrol" not the "maintance" department that shut down the road did I turn around and head back to Cheyenne and go South to the Owl Canyon Road off of I-25 over to old highway 287 for a rather long drive home on dry and favorable roads all the way to Laramie!!

It was a little tense as the fuel gauge was getting rather close to the 'E' mark so I was glad there wasn't any delay getting to Safeways to fuel up the diesel!! People have said it is rather nasty to run out of fuel in a diesel truck trying to get it restarted and I am happy to say I haven't had that problem to contend with and I hope I never ever have too either!!

But 2 hours and 20 minutes later after 'tieing up on the Railroad" I arrived home!! My Wife was in the bathtub when I got home so I stoked up the wood stove as the windchill was hovering around O degrees and poured myself a strong drink and was thankful that I only have 3 more winters to go!!

4 years 5 months and 4 days to go till I don't have to worry about the weather and the commute!! But Hey after 35 years who is counting any way!!!


Come on summer!!