November 2, 2009 - After a day at a Juvenile Justice conference and visiting a number of friends there, I raced from Austin (within the speed limit for those wondering) to get to Seattle to meet a friend for my birthday on Friday (B day was Halloween) and ended up getting caught in Cheyenne, Wyoming in the worst blizzard in 13 years. The roads closed, I found myself in the Laredo Hotel (at least I think that was the name). If I can I'll post a photo from the outside of the room. Snow drifts blocked the hotel room door and, when I opened it, the snow stayed in a berm about a foot high which I stepped over to get my luggage into the room. After killing a cockroach, I settled on to the bed and began to search for alternate routes out of Cheyenne. But the roads I 80 and I 25 - were both closed. A friend suggested I look at some of the smaller routes, so the next morning I tried heading out US 85. No one on the road, huge blowing drifts and white out conditions made for a great chapter in the adventure book! Using back roads I got to 85 (the freeway access was closed) and managed to get around the north end of the storm before roads were closed that far up (Douglas, WY) and had clear blue skies through Montana and clear sailing to Seattle. On time for a Fridayarrival, I headed to downtown and three days to relax for my birthday. Saturday was a day spa and massage where I managed to burn my arm in the sauna and throw my back out on the massage table, but always looking for that silver lining, I noted that the burn was in the shape of a heart - boding well for the coming years! OK, not really. It was a burn. I spent Halloween at Kell's drinking Guinness, watching strange costumes fill the place up and having a great conversation! After that, it was wine tasting North of Seattle with my brother Paul driving, then finally settling in to rest and a World Series game that night. Through all of this I ended up discovering that the insurance company has elected to repair my car, so now I need to figure out how to get to Cache Creek when it is done. And, when will that be? Ahh, that remains as the unanswered question.