Looking at how many pictures I took on the trip, I'm going to have to break them up into groups. First will be the shots from the road, and honestly, they mostly all look alike. It was hard to mix them up, when most of them were taken from the passenger seat in the RV on the same interstate highway. All the same, I'll describe them as they appear, in the order they were taken.
Day One:
It seemed so innocuous. Yes, it was windy, but it was bright and snow-free when we set out across Larimer county on the way to Wyoming. I had been warned that the front of the RV leaked a little, but I didn't fully anticipate how breezy it was going to be inside the vehicle. It wasn't until the end of day one or early day two that it was explained why there was so much air coming in... the shroud around the defrost vent was shredded. More on this in a photo below.
As we crossed into Wyoming, there was a wee bit more snow on the side of the road. I tried not to get too much of the windshield wipers and what-not in my pictures, but there were a few goofs.
"Snow," it says. Yeah. It was on the way. This was in Wyoming.
No matter what I tried, I couldn't get a good focus on these warning signs. The set before said wind gusts up to 65+ mph. This one was a gentler 55+. Within an hour, winds were calmer, but we learned that I-80 was closed behind us to "light high-profile vehicles." If we hadn't left as early as we did, we might have been severely delayed.
The sun helped keep us from shivering too much, but it was pretty chilly by this point. The 30 year old heater wasn't able to keep up with the volume of cold air blowing in.
I tried several times to get a good picture of this cloud formation, which was probably entirely made of blowing snow from the high winds, on this snowy mountain.
Sorry, the windshield was filthy, but by this point I was giggling over a tanker truck with "the best coffee on the interstate" on the back of it. "Gee," I said, "I thought they brewed it fresh..."
The first layer of breeze control: one of the blankets I made to give away. It helped a little. More layers helped more. I really hoped that we didn't need the defrost function.
We made it to Utah with clear skies. It didn't last.
I'm having trouble figuring out the timeline here. This photo above is dark, yet it appears with an earlier timestamp than the one below. Did the following one just get a longer exposure?
I want you to imagine being on a windy, snowy road in a 30 foot RV with summer tires, with a snow-covered side window tipped downward in the wind so it's nearly useless, when some of these semis come up behind to pass, and the bow wave hits. Suffice it to say I'm glad this trip is over now.
We crested the hill leading out of Utah, and saw the bright lights of where all those folks go to gamble on the horizon. I think it was just past this city where we found a rest area to sleep. It was freaky cold, and had been for hours at that point. We were wearing all of our sweaters and coats and gloves and hats since early afternoon. I can't imagine what it would have been like if we hadn't brought the heavy blankets for the sleeping area, once we found out the propane heater wasn't igniting. Sleeping in a hat is not fun.
This seems like a good place to stop for now. Nevada and California tomorrow. Red Cross camp the next night.
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