Thursday and Friday of last week, and all the week before, were warm and sunny here in Denver. The wife was in town for some Doctor's appointments and I didn't really pay that much attention to the weather reports. I knew that we were getting a small cold snap on Thursday, with scattered snow flurries, and another was due on Saturday. But Friday and Sunday were supposed to have been in the 50's, seasonable in these parts.
The plan was to leave Friday afternoon, after the last Dr. appointment and drive up to the new place in Torrington to work on the yard and sprinkler system. Then on Saturday, when it was supposed to be cold again, we'd do the inside projects, then we'd have sunny and warm on Sunday for her to drive back to Rawlins, and me to head back to Aurora.
That was the plan anyway, and it looked good on paper.
In the Military, we had a saying that goes, 'The best plan in the world usually goes out the window when the first shot goes cracking past your head.' The same holds true for plans around the Rockies. The mountains really mess with the weather guessers, any you'd think that by now, I'd know this.
Well, on Friday, the wife's Dr.'s appointment led to a second appointment later in the day, and a couple of additional errands to run. So it was after 6 that afternoon by the time we struck North for Torrington. As I-25 is usually a mess this time on Fridays, we took the Eastern route up Hwy-85.
It was dark and spitting snow by the time we got to Greeley CO, about half way to Cheyenne, and Cheyenne is just over half way to Torrington. The wife, in trail in her car, calls me on the cell and says she's nervous about the snow. No worries say's I, the road aint even wet, just spitting some snow at us. 5 miles further we enter Ault CO and the road is wet and it's snowing harder. 4 miles further and we pass through Nunn CO and it's starting to stick to the roads. She calls again and say's she's really starting to worry. No problem we slow it down to just 40mph, then down to 30, and by the time we get to Carr, about 15 miles further, we're in a whiteout and we're down to just 15mph.
An hour later, about 8:30, we crawl our way into Cheyenne to find all the rest of the roads and interstates closed. After checking 3 hotels we finally get a warm place to stay that even accepts pets. It was an older hotel that looked a little run down, but the rooms were clean, warm and the staff was great.
The next morning I awoke to this:
The local news said they got 17" and it was still coming down. It was noon by the time hwy 85 to Torrington opened, and by the time we got half way there, the roads were clear and the sun was coming out.
We got to the house to find that there was about 5" on the ground, and as I'd known, the heat was not on in the house. To make matters worse, I'd left an upstairs window open the last time we were there, last month.
Luckily, no frozen pipes and the heater kicked right on and got us warmed up.
After blowing out the sprinkler lines and repairing one that was broken, and making sure all the storm windows were closed and the glass was back in the storm door, we struck out to Scott's Bluff NE, just about 30 miles away, for a shopping trip about 7 that night. Once again, it was spitting snow, and by the time we got to Scott's Bluff it was a good flurry. We got the goods we were looking for in pretty short order and by the time we were headed back it was just starting to stick. It took almost an hour to make the 30 mile run back to the house and once there we hunkered down for the night.
It snowed heavily all night and better that halfway through the day on Sunday. By the end, we had a good 10" on the ground.
Here's a couple of shots of the pond.
Well, that's life in the Rockies. Today was bright and sunny and the temp was warm enough you didn't even need a coat. I'll probably be cutting the grass and hand watering on my next trip up there.
_________________
Frank
WWACOAUX#1
"I love the smell of Sawdust in the morning, it smells like, victory."
WWA'ers I've met: Popeye, Ed Avery, Stephen Wolf, Rockfish, Rodedon
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