Driving across Wyoming on Christmas Day

It started out as a bona fide stupid and crazy idea. We drove from Lander to Cheyenne on Christmas Day. It is a 348-mile trip.

But the young man working the Christmas Day shift at the Fast Lane at the corner in Shoshoni made my day by saying “God Bless You and Merry Christmas,” as we bought some coffees.

Then there was the young gal named Marissa who helped me air up my tires at a convenience store in Wheatland. 

I could not think of a worse thing to happen on this day than to have a flat tire along that vast empty stretch on Interstate 25 from Douglas south to Wheatland. 

When the low tire pressure indicator popped up on my dash board as we headed down the road, it scared me to death. We were dealing with terrific winds and, now what to do? We could turn around and go back to Douglas but was anyone open there? Ahead about 50 miles was Wheatland, one of my favorite towns. Old friend Chuck Brown, who lives there, might save our bacon if we had a flat, so I decided to just keep on going. 

The car was performing very well so I decided to just fill up my tires. One was slightly low. Marissa had rescued me. I forgot her last name but she has sisters named LeTecia and Elecia, she told me.

She had been out delivering hot meals to some old folks who were stranded at home alone. What a great thing to do. She was truly one of Santa’s helpers on this most noble day of the year. Thanks again Marissa. I gave her a nice tip but later wished I gave her more. 

So how did we get into this dilemma in the first place? Driving across the vast state of Wyoming on Christmas Day is not a good idea – everybody knows that, but here were Nancy and Bill motoring along.

We were originally planning on heading out on Dec. 26 on our journey but one look at the projected weather patterns and road conditions for Dec. 26, well, it made the decision an easy one – we would have to pack up and head out on Christmas Day.

Luckily, our in-town kids, Shelli Johnson and her family, also had plans to leave town and came to the same conclusion. Thus, we had a wonderful Christmas eve celebration with them. Nancy and I thought we would poke around on Dec. 25 and gradually do our packing and get the house closed up.

Alas, after looking at the forecast for Casper, Rawlins, Laramie, and Cheyenne on Dec. 26, it became obvious we needed to leave on Christmas Day. 

Once I made that fateful decision, we immediately turned into Warp Drive.

One of my biggest concerns was what to do with our 11 ducks?

We originally had 21 of them, but owls and foxes had been having a field day at our place. The Sniffin Lunch Counter is open.

Eleven of our original ducks were a tiny variety of Mallard and the owls love to swoop down and snatch them and haul them away. The other ducks are too fat for that but these little ones are just vulnerable. There is no way we can protect them. Eight of them have disappeared. 

Earlier I had bought some squirrel proof plastic tubs as places to store duck feed. The squirrels quickly ate through the lids, rendering them worthless. Who do I call to complain?

This time we bought a big metal tub and I hope the squirrels will break their teeth trying to get into this place. We lined up my grandsons to feed the ducks while we are away and the neighboring Susanka family to help out, too.

Back on the road: Outside of the wind, the roads were dry. Just Wheatland to Cheyenne had black ice and fresh snow. This made my decision look all the better.

The Cheyenne Red Lion is a big hotel, formerly a Holiday Inn. Thanks to some last minute help from General Manager Jennifer Walker, we were able to get a last minute reservation.  There were few hot meals to be found but we had luckily cleaned out our refrigerator so we had a cooler full of food. 

It was good to be in Cheyenne and to have those long miles in our real view mirror. But traveling on Christmas Day? Not sure I will do that again for a long, long time.