Unintended Destination #6, Ogallala, Nebraska

We arrived in Ogallala, NE Tuesday evening October 27th. We had enough daylight to go on to Sidney but couldn't make Cheyenne and the word was snowstorm. The Sidney RV Park ahead at the Cabella Mother Store had already shut off their water for the season. Though we carry a lot of water, it is always easier to hook up to local water, and with a storm coming we didn't want to "dry camp" so we hunkered down in Ogallala. Stopping short was terifically smart of us (dumb luck). Little did we know we'd be there five nights.

Soon the storm hit eastern Wyoming and highway 80 was shut down for blowing snow and crash clearance. They had to clear 80 wrecks off the road. In the meantime trucks were parked anywhere they could along the highway. In Ogalalla we counted 150 trucks at one truck stop and about the same number at another with trucks parked anywhere they could all over town. It made one wonder how fuel, food and, ahem, bathrooms were holding up. I counted 9 FedEx trucks in the crowd and knew there were some folks wondering where their packages were. We were snug in our little house with electricity, water, television (our dish gave up when covered with snow, though the RV park gave us cable), WiFi, and plenty of propane. Many RV parks have a lending library so there was even a big choice of books for the snowbound. After a night of rocking and rolling in the high winds Thursday night, we woke up iced in with our door iced shut. This was October, for heaven's sake.

We tow a car so didn't have to hibernate and could explore around town. By Friday Wyoming had asked Nebraska to close I-80 from Ogallala west since there was no longer anyplace to park anything along the highway. Wyoming has an interesting setup for travelers crossing their high, windy highways. They have cameras at critical spots and one can view the highway on your computer. The tough, high area was from Cheyenne through Laramie and Rawlins and we could see the blowing snow in real time. When the highway did open Saturday, it was restricted to only heavy trucks (those with light loads were excluded) and 35 mph in some spots on ice with winds still gusting to 50 mph. Of course our coach is lighter than the big trucks making us a big sail and we can't handle that much wind. It was funny listening to the truckers on the CB radio as they lined up awaiting the open - which occurred at 10:30 AM Saturday. We could see them on the computer traveling bumper to bumper.

We cooled our heels Saturday and finally got on our way Sunday. We still had winds making our coach a handful, but not too much to be unsafe. Monday night we were home. Our trip's finale was a little more adventure than we needed, but being pilots we were patient understanding that there's always another day.

We arrived home November 2nd having departed Sept. 20th. We covered 7,443 total miles of beautiful country while seeing wonderful long-time and new friends. The motorhome performed like a champ with only two mechanical shortcomings, a headlamp out and a bent whip antenna. With an ambitious schedule we covered a lot of territory in a short time and recognize that we spent too much time driving and not enough relaxing - until Ogallala, that is. It was a great trip with a grand finale and now we think we might just stay home for a while.