When I was in the fourth grade (December 1977), Dad decided to go to the Denver Stock Show for the horse pulling contest. It was the first time that we went to Denver for pulling matches. Dad decided to take me and Cade with him. We took two teams (Flax/Fred and Days/Doll). We left home around 2 or 3 in the afternoon for the 8-hour drive to Denver. We were driving the old GMC 1.5-ton stock truck.
After we got on the road, I fell asleep on the seat. When I woke up, I looked out the windshield and could see nothing except a big white wall of blowing snow. We were driving very slowly down the highway. I asked Dad how he could see the road, he showed me how to watch for the reflectors on the marker posts along the highway. He was zig-zagging along the road so that the truck lights would show the marker post on the left side of the road. Then he would turn back to the right until we could see the reflector on the right side of the road. We crept along the road back and forth watching the marker posts.
After what seemed like forever, we arrived in Rawlins. Dad stopped to gas up the truck. It was super windy in Rawlins. I opened the truck door and got out. When I let go of the truck door, the wind blew me across the parking lot up against the service station building. The ground was so slippery and the wind was so strong, I could not stop myself.
When Dad went in to pay for the gas, the station attendant asked how we got to Rawlins. Dad said we came across I-80 from Evanston. The man said, "That road is closed." To which Dad replied, "It damn well should be closed."
Apparently, we got out of Evanston before the road closed. The storm had diminished some after we got to Rawlins, so we kept going.
I remember driving past Sinclair and Dad showing the lights from the refinery to me and Cade. I have always held an affinity for Sinclair gas stations and the green dinosaur 🦕 since that night.
Our next stop was at the "Tree in the Rock" monument in Buford, Wyoming. I thought this was the coolest story when Dad told us how the train fireman would throw a bucket of water at the tree when the train went past.
We finally made it to Denver and the Coliseum at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. Our 8-hour drive turned into a 12- to 13-hour drive. After we put the horses in the stalls, Dad decided that he would reshoe the horses instead of going to the hotel.
We finally went to breakfast around 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. and then to the hotel.
Two other memories I have from this trip.
On the way home, we stopped at the rest stop on top of Sherman Hill to see the Lincoln memorial. While Cade and I were walking from the truck to the rest stop building, Cade's hat blew off. We had to chase it across the entire parking lot before we caught it.
Also, the roof of the little hayshed caved in while we were in Denver on this trip.
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