The Trip North. A Nebraska Blizzard.

At the end of April, we planted all recent Tribulations squarely in the rearview mirror and pointed all four (hominid and canine) noses north. Finally, we were on the road again!

Many of my readers are already aware that this author grew up at between 6,000 and 8,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies. This accident of nurture leads me to be, perhaps, more aware than those accustomed to more southerly climes, and/or lower altitudes, of the vagaries and vicissitudes of spring weather. Nonetheless, I was destined to be surprised...

As is by now our custom when we head north, we drove the first day from D-FW to Perry, Oklahoma, where my Dad lives, and stayed the night at the Sooners' Corners Motel/RV Park/Truck Stop/Diesel Repair Shop. This little slice of heaven consists of an eight-room flophouse, a greasy spoon diner, a rusty corrugated building where loud engines roar 24 hours a day, and a cow pasture with nominally-sufficient RV hookups attached to the fence posts. It is, in any event, the only overnight RV facility within 40 miles of Dad's house, so we tolerate it when we are there.

Had a good supper with Dad and Stepmom (Thanks Patsy!), got back to the rig at about 9:30 and went to bed; we wanted to be on the road early. I had seen the weather forecast on TV, and it suggested that we COULD be in for a rough ride the next day; a front was coming in from the West Coast, and cold air fom Canada was expected to caggravate matters, mostly with wind and cold rain. Our house pulls fairly well in windy conditions, and rain is just, well, wet. But put both together, especially if the wind is across the highway, and it gets rather more complicated.

The wind blew like hell all night, encouraging anyone sleeping in a trailer to dream intermittently of schooners and the Spanish Main, and not making for a terribly restful slumber... In any event, we got up early and checked the weather again. It was starting to look rather grim. Our proposed route took us through relatively mild altitudes and climates through Kansas and Nebraska, not terribly worrisome at this time of year, but then you gotta turn west toward Wyoming and begin trending uphill as the Rockies grow nearer. That was my main concern; I did NOT wanna get caught in the proverbial trousers-at-ankles posture at a mile high. Been there, done that, don't wanna do it with 40 feet of trailer hangin' on my rear end. So we decided that we would watch the radar (we LOVE the Sprint Mobile Network we subscribe to for our Internet; high-speed Web while doin' 70 down the Interstate is REALLY good stuff) and try to get as far as Cheyenne that night. That would place us in good position for a 'final assault' on Billings the next day. 'The best-laid plans of men and mice...'

We fought an incessant northwest headwind (and, incidentally, achieved a rip-roaring 7.5 MPG) across Kansas, and charged into Nebraska with bright eyes and bushy tails. Made a hard left at York, NE and headed west on I-80 at about noon. Cheyenne was still possible by dark, and the outside temp per the Ford's thermometer was still indicating about 70 degrees, but the western sky was lookin' kinda gray. The Sirius now said snow was falling in both Grand Rapids SD and Casper, and we were getting a little nervy, bay-beee (with apologies to Austin Powers).

North Platte, Nebraska: weather deteriorating rapidly. The wind, about 20MPH in our faces all day, picked up to about 35, and the outside temperature dropped more than 30 degrees within about 15 miles of travel. Weather.com and the radio were now saying that blizzard conditions had moved into central Wyoming, and I-25 north of Cheyenne was closed because of blowing snow. We needed a place to stop, like, RIGHT NOW. Intrepid Navigator Allison hopped back on the Web and found a place called the Country View Campground in Ogalalla that, when called, said they had availability for that night, but that we had better get there right away 'cause the snow had already begun.

Another 30 miles, windy and cold, raining just a bit now, and the occasional snowflake just to remind us that we were about three weeks too early at this latitude. We pulled in to the park just as visibility contracted to about 100 yards. As we started to unhitch, the wind chill was about 10 degrees, snowin' and blowin', hands frozen and travel plans evaporating before our very eyes. Radio now said ten inches of snow were likely, and from our vantage point above and directly south of I-80 we had a clear view of a Nebraska State Trooper lowering the gates at the freeway entrance ramps, effectively closing the Interstate to further travel west.

Country View Campground, Ogalalla NE, From Their Web Site:


Contrast: The Country View Campground We Saw:

Below you can view a video of what it looked like that evening, taken before I got disgusted and stopped taking pictures of any kind. It's 5:30, about 20 degrees, and this is about the last time we could really go outside for the next 30 hours.

Video Of The Campground That Night:


NEXT: An unwanted day off. The great Slip-N-Slide. The fortuitous Cabela's. Wyoming into Montana. The Seventh Ranch CG at the Little Bighorn.

Stay tuned.