Unrelenting Wind

Day 11 Photo Album

September 13, 2009

The day began calm and much warmer. I guess this is the nature of Wyoming: the wind sleeps at night and gets up late. By 10:30 it was blowing so hard I had to hold the wheel very tight.

At my first stop of the day, about an hour from Laramie, the woman at the counter of the gas station said they get their worst winds after the hurricane season and that in the winter the average wind speed is 60 mph. They hibernate.

For most of the day I saw the same sign every 5 miles: STRONG WINDS POSSIBLE NEXT 5 MILES. Just to remind you why you are struggling with your vehicle.

The landscape is harsh and as there is nothing to see blowing, like grass or trees, you have no visual sense of the wind. The harshness penetrates and is as relentless as the wind. Mesas and buttes flank the highway and the towns are few and far between. Even the rest stops are weary.

The highway has taken a beating and for several miles it was a two lane, merging the divided traffic where they are working on rebuilding it. As the majority of vehicles on the road are trucks and RV’s, I was a little fly in the midst of them.

Towards the end of my day, as I approached Lyman, things began to get a little more interesting with rock formations. Here in Lyman they have forced some green out of the earth in the form of trees and grasses for horses to pasture in. But the wind was whipping around until 6 or so, then it just stopped.

I’ve settled into another KOA Kamp Kabin as there seems to be a storm approaching. It was the most tiring day of driving I’ve had so far.

Tomorrow I’ll push all the way across Utah and into the upper corner of Nevada, probably Elko. Then on to Reno the next day to visit family.