2 RV's to Draper UT

... spending the night in Cheyenne WY

Shut down because of weather ... again.

Breakfast was grab and leave. No eating in the breakfast area, but most of the food was the usual, minus the hot food. So for me it was yogurt and juice.

We pull out at 7:30 AM, right at sun up.

1st stop is at the rest area near Grand Island.

2nd stop is in Cozad at Burger King for food. No indoor seating so we stand and eat outside in the 20 degree weather. It doesn't take long.

3rd stop is in Ogallala for fuel at Walmart. Gas is cheaper at Big Dog but we have never fueled there. Gas was also cheaper at Casey's and I almost went there until I realized it is a different grade.

We have seen a few transporters today. Mostly my company. Surprising that we saw close to a 100 transporters pulling travel trailers. Today we only saw a couple of travel trailers.

From my company, we saw another RV a couple of times, a semi tractor, and a semi hauling a bus.

4th stop is at the rest area near Sidney.

When we get to the state line, we see a half dozen tree trucks. I was hoping they would not get to the POE ahead of us. They don't.

5th stop is near Burns at the POE / Port of Entry for permits. While we are there, I look at their weather report. Road is wet to Laramie. BB looks at the weather and road reports. The road is wet AND slippery. And she looks at the motel in Laramie to make sure they have rooms but doesn't make a reservation. ??? Usually we do make a reservation from our last stop before we shut down.

As we are sitting there at the POE I see some of the tree trucks pull through the POE. Then one gets flagged in. Later I realize that I should not have seen the tree trucks going through the POE. EVERYONE has to stop and go inside. They didn't. I am guessing that is why the one got pulled in. Later I see one on the freeway heading back to the POE, but no way of knowing it was the same one.

As soon as we start to pull out, it starts to snow. As soon as we are fully back on the highway, BB starts to blink her headlights at me so I pull off at the next exit a mile down the road. She looks at the weather again, it looks like the weather may move off. But we decide to stop in Cheyenne five miles down the road.

The snow picks up and I end up driving well under the speed limit the rest of the way. As we are pulling from I-80 onto I-25 before the motel, there are three cars in the ditch.

Within the hour, I-80 is closed. 300 of the 350 miles from Cheyenne to UT are now closed in at least one direction. Some places it is closed in both directions. The forecast had been for storms tomorrow near Rawlins, not all of WY.

6th and final stop was the Quality Inn in Cheyenne. We looked at the Comfort Inn but it was over $100 tonight.

As soon as we checked in, we order food from The Philly Shop. Last time we drove an RV to pick up our order. With todays roads, we ordered delivery. They said it would take an hour, so we had time to walk across the street to the Flying J to get pop ... and change for a tip.

As soon as we are back in the room, the delivery is there. And I can put the tip on the charge even though they had taken my payment over the phone.

Philly's were as good as last time.

We are glad we got off the road when we did. It likely would have taken hours to get to the next town, Laramie, where everyone would have to exit the freeway because it is closed. And by then the hotels would be full. It pays to be cautious.

We checked into the motel at about 3:15 local time. They closed I-80 at 4:26. So whatever happened to close the road would have happened while we were on it. That stretch takes an hour to drive in good weather. At 45 mph it would take at least two hours. And if you are at a dead stop for an hour or two ???

The road closed at 4:30, at 8:30, we can still see traffic stopped on the freeway via the traffic cams. They have been there four hours and are still

Now we will wait until daylight. And for the roads to open. We have four days to play with before it effects our appointments

Load board - SAT

US - 215

IA - 103

MN -0-

WI - 5

As of 9 PM, the estimated time to re-open I-80 is now at 12 noon tomorrow and the traffic camera's now show an empty road.