The snow is now falling at 5:15 in the a.m., just as was promised it would. Looks like a pretty decent chance of it all morning long before giving way to just plenty of wind in the afternoon. The calendar does say that it's the 23rd day of November and even though that seems way too early to have snow by my way of thinking, it is what it is. When the plains of Kansas were covered by it last week, it seemed odd that we would still be dry in this valley. Today we shall join them with some precipitation here along the Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. It was only a matter of time.
Seems so strange to believe that it has been nearly two years now since I made my first visit to see what life was like here in this place called "Montrose" and to visit this guy named "Mike" who just the same as me, went to the same high school back in south-central Kansas. Nearly 4 decades seems like a bit of a long time to have a reunion but it was what it was. When I finally made it here in the early morning hours of that Saturday morning in January of 2013, I did so by coming over the pass on Monarch Mountain. I'll never forget driving over the summit of that big mountain in the dark of the 5:30 a.m. hour. With absolutely no idea in the world of what I was doing or where I was really at, I just kept driving west. For the entire journey from Salida on the Atlantic side of the Continental Divide, to the summit and down to the bottom of the mountain on the Pacific side of the Great Divide, I was virtually the only one on the highway. No wait, I stand corrected on that one. There was a snow plow on the top warming up its engine and getting ready to clear the way for crazy drivers who just had to cross it that day. If I had been a kid back home in Kansas and tried a foolish stunt such as doing this all alone in the dead of winter, I'd have been grounded by my folks for a long time. Maybe even forever. I made it and lived to tell the story.
There is a lot to be learned about driving out here in the Great American West and some of the knowledge I had to attain the "hard way". I had never given a thought, not even one, to the idea of avalanches or rock slides. Both are possibilities here, very real chances for travelers who find themselves in circumstances beyond their control. I remember listening to the weather on TV that first weekend I came out here and when the meteorologist from the Grand Junction station started talking about something called an "avalanche warning" for the high country, I had to ask Mike if I had heard that right. He said "yes" that they do happen from time to time. The trip back to Kansas was an eye-opener for me that weekend as I traveled back in the daylight and saw just what it was that I had crossed over in the pitch black of the night. As I stopped for just a second to capture this image at the top of the mountain, I shook my head in wonder as to how I made it over in the first place.
In all of the travels back and forth over the course of the past two years, I have thankfully only had trouble twice. In February of 2013 I came out here for a visit and when the weather guys up in Grand Junction announced that a winter storm warning would be in effect during the weekend, I decided quite foolishly to make a break for it and head back early. I only got 28 miles up the road. Didn't even make it to Gunnison. Shoot, I only made it to the "igloo" before getting stuck in the snow. And by the way, just saying the word "stuck" really doesn't do the situation enough justice. I was buried up to the bottom of the car doors and there I sat waiting for what it seemed to be a long, long time. Fortunately some guys came along who helped me to get out and I decided then and there that rather than continue on for nearly 600 more miles that I would head back to Mike's house and wait it out. That was the smartest thing I did that day.
Last spring in March I headed back to Kansas to take care of a few things back there and to visit family and friends in Reno County. No problem going over the pass this time, in fact no snow to really be seen anywhere. I got as far as LaJunta before deciding to stop for the night and when I awoke in the morning about 3 a.m. my motel room was very dark and cold. A winter storm was starting to blow through and the entire town was without power. I took out and kept on heading east but before I had even gone 10 miles, I knew that I'd probably regret my decision to leave before sun up. Between LaJunta and Lamar, on the wide open and treeless plains of eastern Colorado and a distance of about 60 miles, I encountered one of the worst ground blizzards that I have ever seen. Time and time again I wished that I would have just waited but when you are that far into it, the only thing to do was to just keep going and hope for the best. There was no way to tell what side of the road you were driving on and in the early morning darkness about the only landscape you could recognize were the snow covered fields. That was about it.
It's definitely the time for all of us to start making sure that we have emergency supplies in our cars as we travel back and forth between work and home, or anywhere else for that matter, in the months ahead. Blankets, water, nonperishable food supplies, a full tank of gas and a charged up cell phone are a good start to being prepared for winter driving and the accompanying challenges that it might bring. One popular online site that I looked at also includes things such as shovels, emergency flares, road sand/salt, flashlights with extra batteries, waterproof matches and a can to melt snow in for drinking water. Each of us, whether we live in Colorado or Kansas, or anywhere else on this earth that sees their fair share of winter weather conditions, need to be ready in the event that something goes wrong and we are stranded along the road. Even if it's for only a short time, the wait for help to arrive can seem like hours or even days. Friends, I kinda like having you all around in this life of ours. Please be safe, prepared and drive careful always but especially in the winter time.
The day is starting to break and the peppering down of snow that came at 5:30 stopped shortly after it began. The weather report is saying we are in a winter weather advisory for a big chunk of the day so we'll see what happens. Back in Wichita, Kansas right now the temperature is a balmy 55 degrees, 23 degrees warmer than we are here. Our friends and family back there have as a great a chance for rain as we do for snow this day. For all of the times that any of us have faced conditions of drought, we should always be giving thanks for the moisture in whatever form it manages to come down.
The warm days of summertime are just a distant memory now and the wait will be long before they return once again. The old stately Cottonwood tree just beside the clothesline is the last one to want to give up its leaves. They have turned to brown but refuse to drop down just yet from their branches. But even Cottonwood trees have to accept what wintertime brings and soon it will be barren just like all of the others. We hung out the laundry yesterday morning for the last time this season and when the clothes were gathered in for folding up, the clothespins that held them securely to the line were put into an old coffee can to be stored away. For a non-lover of winter like me, springtime seems like years and years away. Even at its worst, winter cannot hang on forever. It only believes that it can.
Have a great day out there dear family and friends! To our dear family and friends back in "Somewhere over the rainbow", just 27 sleeps more and we shall see one another again.
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