Day Fifty-Six...

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…I woke up feeling dehydrated so I downed a bottle of water…then another. By 9:00 I’d had two bottles and started a third when we left the campground. The trusty cooler was packed with more and I’d restocked the refrigerator. All set.

Today we drove through Wyoming…lots of grazing land…lots. Lots of cows and sheep and horses…lots. Rest areas on Hwy 18…not lots…one…better use it whether you think you need it or not.

Way up ahead of us we could dark clouds and that gray curtain of rain. We were in a nice sunny stretch and hoped we wouldn’t have to drive through it. As I gazed off in the distance I saw a bolt of lightning shoot down in the middle of that curtain. A couple minutes later I saw another. Wherever that was, they were having an awesome storm! I tried to get a picture, but my lightning detector is in the shop so I was always just a tad late. I gave up and sat back to enjoy the show.

We were making good time driving to Colorado so Mike made the executive decision to drive straight through. It would be a long day, but not a whole lot longer than some of the others. Several states we’ve driven through have Welcome Centers within a few miles of the state line. Wyoming was no different, except they also had a Welcome Center a few miles before the Colorado border…so would that be a See Ya Later Center? Not too far past the Welcome/Good Riddance Center it started sprinkling…finally, some not hot weather. The sprinkling became rain…the rain became a downpour…the downpour became torrential…so bad the wipers could hardly keep up. The highway became a river and the speed limit became more like that of going through town. Several drivers decided to pull off to the shoulder and wait it out…smart people. 3 or 4 motorcyclists found an overpass to hang out under…smart bikers. We were following behind a semi…he didn’t pull over…we didn’t pull over…but, following in his tracks, we didn’t have to deal with as much water because he’d already sprayed it to either side, and driving 30 mph made it easier. It wasn’t long before we were on the other side of the rain squall, safe and sound, alive and in one piece. The carpet in the trailer was only a little damp…we can deal with that.

I get it about flash floods and massive, rain-induced, 50-car pile-ups. It’s wasn’t pretty.

Even with all that, we arrived at the campground by 7:00 and were set for the next several days by 7:45. At 8:00 I told Mike we should go surprise my sister and brother-in-law. They wouldn’t be expecting us until tomorrow. He denied my request. fine.

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