Winter is Coming

As of right now Denver, Colorado is sitting at 77F with clear sunny skies. But all of that is about to change.

Obviously I’ve been keeping an eye on the weather, as it will have a significant impact on the overall trip. A couple of weeks ago I started checking out NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center maps. Things were looking quite good right up until several days ago. Below average precip and above average temps were the forecast. But alas, now things have flipped 180 and the forecast is for wet and cold. Wet means clouds, and cold means snow! Clouds in the mountains means low visibility. A big goal of my road trip is to get some good pictures of the mountains. If they’re all clouded in, then it won’t make for very interesting photos.

It’s no biggie. It won’t ruin the trip. Besides April can still be considered winter in the Rockies. There doesn’t appear to be any chances of severe weather or heavy rains so I’m optimistic there will be plenty of good photo opportunities.

In any case, I’m officially on vacation as of now! I have some packing to do, but I’m not taking much. I have a full tank of gas already and still need to check all the fluids and do a good visual check of the car. Everything should be good for the upcoming trip. I haven’t noticed any issues with the car, and I know it’ll be a reliable road trip companion. I have also tested mobile posting from the wordpress app and from the mobile browser and it seems to work well.

I’m still quite uncertain about the exact route. It will depend on the weather and time. I’m toying with the idea of driving through the Bonneville Salt Flats on I-80. That would take me quite far west, more than I had planned, but it looks like an interesting and scenic drive, and likely one I may never do again! Also I’m trying to decide which interstate to take back east. I don’t think I’ll figure that out until I’m well into the road trip.

Tomorrow is the day this journey begins. I plan to get everything ready tonight, and focus on getting a good night sleep. This will be an endurance challenge and I need rest. The next two days I need at least 12 hours of driving each to get to accomplish my mission of reaching Denver in 2 days.