SNOWED OUT (click here to see the pictures!)
We just returned from the longest road trip our our lives! (Well, OK. It was shorter than our cross-country trip, but it felt REALLY long!) On Wednesday, we headed up to Reno for a night away.
When we got up in the morning, we heard it was probably going to be snowing so Kevin went out to change the oil in his truck and get it ready for the long drive. After fighting with the oil and realizing he had the wrong filter, Kevin finally finished and we packed the car and left. About one mile down the road, the truck started having engine trouble, so we turned back and switched everything to the van. The only problem was that the night before, Kevin hit a curb with the front tire while turning around in a parking lot, leaving a nasty tear on the sidewall of the tire that needed be be repaired before a long trip. We headed out a second time, stopping at the tire shop to get the tire replaced, and then at the auto parts store where we bought chains. After spending $100, we finally got started.
The trip over Hwy 80 was great until we hit traffic a few miles outside of Auborn. The traffic lasted all the way up the pass until we reached the chain instalation area. We sat for hours (and many more miles), but finally reached the chain area at last. Once we were chained-up, we crawled through the snowy roads all the way up the mountian and down the other side. By now it had gotten very dark.
After seven long hours of driving, we finally arrived at the El Dorado casino where we had reservations for the night. Because Wednesday was too late for Christmas travelers and too early for New Year's partiers, the rooms were really cheap. In fact, for the same price of a normal hotel room in any other town, we were able to afford the luxery spa suite! (Click here to see a 360 degree picture of the room. Click "Tower King Spa Suite, Virtual Tour".) The room was so great! We really enjoyed ourselves, but kept thinking of our upcoming drive home as we sat in the tub and watched the snow fall all around us.
The next day, we headed out early, hoping to make it over the pass in daylight, but when we approached the state line, traffic stopped. We couldn't get any traffic updates on the radio, so we sat for hours, inching forward every few minutes. When we finally made it to the front of the line, we realized that the highway patrol was turning everyone around because it was snowing so hard. Frustrated, we turned back and got off the freeway at the next closest exit, which just happened to be the Boomtown casino. Along with tons of other weary travelers, we soon realized that the road would be closed all through the night and that the hotel didn't have any more rooms available. To pass the time (since it was only 4:00 in the afternoon), we read books, played nickle slot-machines, wandered around the casino and took advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffet. For almost two hours, we leisurly sat at our table, eating as slow as we could. Luckily, the waitresses didn't mind since they were all snowed in as well. Finally at 10:00, we headed out to our car and tried to get a few hours of sleep.
At 5:00 the next morning, when we realized we couldn't sleep any more, we got dressed for the day and then had to lean out the window and shovel snow just so we could open the car door. Durinng the night, the storm had dumped about four feet of snow on our car! In fact, we hadn't seen the falling snow let up for 34 hours!
We finally got our break when we were in the casino eating breakfast and someone said that the road had opened. We quickly ate a few more bites and then headed straight for the car. It took a good deal of shoveling but we eventually got the car dug out from the snow bank that had been created from the plows during the night and were some of the first ones on the road. Although we had to sit in some more traffic before reaching the chains check-point, we didn't mind because of the beautiful scenery we were surrounded with. To our surprise, the snow had suddenly stopped and the sun came out (this was so amazing because all the weather reports said there wouldn't be any breaks for the next week!).
Once we got through the check-point, everyone stated flying down the snow-covered highways. Although we played it safe and went slow, we still made great time over the summit and finally made it home, more than 24 hours after leaving Reno! The only complaint we had on the way home was that we didn't have our ski equipment since there was up to 8 feet of fresh snow on the ski runs.