How not to Start a Trip

My trip to Colorado started a little earlier than planned. I decided to leave on Thursday to avoid the snow that was coming that night. I also decided instead of driving down myself I would catch a ride with my parents because I was still feeling sick. My stomach was not feeling the greatest and I didn't have much desire to eat. The trip was going alright till about Rock Springs. At this point my stomach would began to hurt and I began to need to make frequent unpleasant stops at restrooms. The need for frequent restroom breaks would only stop when the crackers and cereal went through my system. Also at the same time that I was making frequent stops at restrooms the wind began to pick up. This would cause some serious blowing of snow onto the interstate. At times there was gusts of winds that caused the road literally to disappear for several seconds and you would only hope that the road would repair and it hadn't didn't disappeared for good.

Well we reached Laramie where we were going to take 287 a shortcut to Fort Collins. As we turned off the interstate, we drove by a sign that was blinking meaning that 287 was closed. Well we thought this is alright we will just take Interstate 80 to Cheyenne and then head down to Fort Collins. Only to find there was a gate across the interstate marking that it was closed. All the local radio road report channel said the roads were closed due to "Severe Winter Weather". We decided to go back to a truck stop to find out more information. As we were driving back we saw that the way we had come was closed because a truck was blocking both lanes. So all roads out of Laramie were closed. The people at the truck station didn't have any more information. So we resigned that we had to get a hotel in Laramie for the night. The funny thing about the road being closed is earlier my Dad had said he had never had a road close on him because the weather was bad, well this was no longer true. We found out the next day the road was closed because of 100 MPH winds and drifting snow.


Day 2

The next day we headed to Fort Collins. I was feeling a little better. So when I got Fort Collins I had a small snack. I didn't eat much because I didn't want to repeat the experience I had yesterday. Then we met my sister, Abra at her dorms. She wanted to go eat at the Dorms for the last time. It was fairly nice cafeteria but I just had fries as I was leery of eating anything. Then we began to walk over for my Sister's Honor Award Ceremony. As we were walking we heard my mom scream. Only to look behind us to find her on the ground in pain. And water was dropping onto her from on overhang and freezing on the sidewalk. She couldn't get up and so we pulled her away from the dripping water. We would find she had slipped on where the water was refreezing on the ice. My sister went to get the car as my Dad and me tried to get her up. She was in a lot of pain and we almost had to call the ambulance. But finally we were able to help her up. Then by the time she got up my sister had come back with the vehicle and get it about 10 feet from her. My mom took excruciating painful steps to the car. Then we took her to the hospital.

After getting to the emergency room, me and my sister left my Mom and Dad because we had to do several errands. My sister had to finish moving out of her dorm by
10 PM that night and drop off the rental car she had been using to do student teaching at 6 PM that night. There was a fair amount to move. And being sick and having not eaten much in the last few days this would not be easy. We started by moving 3 heavy boxes(i.e Textbooks) from a storage unit which was on the opposite side of the building from the car. This about killed me and if I had thought about it a bit more we would have moved the car closer. Then after catching my breath I would help move her bike and all her stuff in the Dorm. In all it would take about an 1 hour for me and my sister to move everything to the cars. And her rental car was full and part of my parents car was full. Then we had to take her stuff to different place such as friends' houses, the hotel, and a storage unit in Fort Collins. Then we returned the rental. Then went to her dorm and get a few miscellaneous items and clean her dorm before checking out.

At the same time we were doing all this we were getting updates about Craig's plane trip from Cleveland to Denver. His plane was being delayed and would learn that he would miss connecting flight so he would not be coming in at 10 PM that night. He wouldn't arrive at the airport till 11:30 tomorrow and unfortunately miss my Sisters graduation at 12:30. In fact due to mechanical problems on his plane he didn't arrive till 1 PM.

After all this it was 6 PM, we finally got a call from my Dad that my Mom had fractured couple of bones in her leg and may have tore several ligaments in the area around her knee. She would have to ware a cast and come back to the Doctor for a diagnosis to check, if she would need surgery.

After picking up my Mom from the hospital we would go back to the hotel about 7 PM. Then would order Chinese Cary Out. I was looking forward to eating and I was thinking I might be over my sickness only for it to come back just before eating Chinese food. So I would not be eating much again.

Well this ends the beginning of the start of my families vacation. I hope the worse is over and the rest of the trip will go the best it can.