Attack of the Suicidal Tumbleweed!!! AAAAAAH!!!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Doesn't the title of this blog sound like it could be a song from a Sufjan Stevens Wyoming album? (He hasn't written one yet, so maybe I could do it!)
I was cruising along I-80 in Wyoming with blue skies and warm sunshine for most of the day. The ground was covered with snow and the combination of sunshine and blasting winds polished the land until the entire place looked like an extra-terrestrial landscape of snow dunes covered with a smooth glaze of ice. It was quite magical!
One of the most surprising things about Wyoming is the tumbleweed. In fact, it far surpasses even the wildest caricatures: literally dozens of suicidal tumbleweeds dash across the interstate every mile, timing their crossings to coincide with the passing of the infrequent and unsuspecting vehicles. They usually heading directly for your front tires. Wyoming is mostly ranch land along I-80, resulting in barb wire fences that frame both sides of the road. So many tumbleweeds have lodged themselves in the fencing that it feels like driving down a corridor walled with tumbleweed drifts.
By 1pm the wind had picked up significantly, gusting up to 60 mph across the road and whipping rivers of snow across the road, trying its best to throw my little Sidekick off the road. At 3pm, on the wings of this terrifically fast cold front, a giant blizzard swooped in and literally blacked out the sky and whited out the entire field of vision. A state trooper zoomed ahead of me and closed the freeway, forcing everyone to exit and turn around. On the advice of some seasoned truckers, I turned around and headed a few miles back to a small town I had passed with a few motels. Unfortunately the driving was too treacherous to take any pictures, but I did get some shots of my first experience in a cheap motel. "Best Motel" of Rawlins, WY, to be exact. Yikes.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 8:01 PM
Good luck and God speed and such truck on your adventure.
;o)