Cheyenne, Wyoming

Sunday is a quiet day in Laramie, so I started out early with good coffee at the Coal Creek Coffee place in Laramie's historic downtown. After that, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. When life is moving at a slower, less stressful pace, (like a dying turtle) the minutes seem to last longer and there are so many more hours in a day. Laramie could market itself as a town where time is as vast as the valley it inhabits. Or maybe it's not just the reduction in stress, but a touch of boredom mixed in too. Hotel rooms are boring, and not conducive to working even when it's writing disguised as work. I've written, but mostly in coffee places and while sitting at a couple of parks.

I wanted to check out the Happy Jack Road that runs from the summit in the Medicine Bow National Forest, to Cheyenne. It turned out to be a beautiful area. I could see the fabulous rock formations of Vedauwoo, the plains to the southeast, pinon pines and vast meadows. The Curt Dowdy State Park looked like a great place to camp.

It didn't take too long to get to Cheyenne. There are several nice parks with lakes in the town and the downtown has some new construction going on. My overall impression of Cheyenne is that it's much nicer than I previously thought. Not that anyone in Cheyenne ever cared what I believed.

I can't complain about the weather even though the renowned Wyoming wind hit 45 mph gusts today, which ain't nothing for Wyoming wind. However, I'm heading for home tomorrow and there are clouds building up in the north. Rumors of snow are being whispered, but none of the weather people seem to agree on their guessing about tomorrow's atmospheric mood up here. I've had my share of weather surprises in this state so I'm feeling a bit paranoid.

Speaking of weather, it was 16 years ago today that Colorado was hit by the blizzard of 1997. It was a bad one.

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Wyoming

Going Laissez-faire in Laramie

It started in August around the time of my birthday. Steve arranged for me to have five days for a do-it-yourself writing retreat. Things kept happening that prevented me from taking the Thursday through Monday allotment of time that would mean I could go and do.... anything the hell I want! Woo Hoo! 

Sorry about that. Free time makes me giddy.

The retreat became now or never as the summer whittled away to nothing. This weekend was the only possible weekend left, so I decided to go for it. My budget has dwindled in inverse proportion to the distance my cat puts between herself and the bright light at the end of the tunnel. Stuff happens.

So I'm here in Laramie, Wyoming.

Trying to write.

Seriously. I am.

Good-bye Longmont

Hello Laramie. 

(Does this remind anyone of The Shining?)

The Wind Blew Us Home

We woke up at 4:00 this morning and hit the road at 5:00. The road looked good at first but we were soon hit by blizzard conditions. The wind was still gusting 50+ MPH and the roadsigns were impossible to read because the snow was sticking to them. We never drove through anything Steve couldn't handle, but I was always scared because I kept wondering what next? After we descended to a  lower elevation, I could see stars to the south of us. The sun was coming up as we closed in on Laramie.

We needed to gas up the truck and to eat breakfast so we took the main exit in Laramie. Actually we had no choice since the interstate was closed to the east. There were hundreds upon hundreds of tractor trailers lined up along the freeway. Off ramps and on ramps were full of truckers waiting for the road to open. Hotel parking lots were crammed-packed. A lot of the cars were encrusted with ice. After eating breakfast, we decided to take 287 down toward Ft. Collins. There was plenty of wind and some ice on the road but the sun came out and the views were great.

The wind is still blowing hard and cold here in Longmont, but the sun is out and flowers are starting to bloom. I'm doing a lot of laundry and will make my favorite easy dinner (chicken) tonight. The trip was almost 3,000 miles total. All is well on the home front.

I'll try to load my photos onto the computer tomorrow. I know I have a lot of deleting to do.