In the early days of marital bliss the survey company I worked for offered me a substantial raise, per diem and a company Bronco if I’d go help out on a contract in Cody WY. Wife and I were young, adventurous and naive. I prefer naive to recklessly stupid. I said yes. Left Traverse City MI and headed west.

We got to Rapid City and looked at maps to get to Cody. Larger highways looped around but we spotted a smaller road straight through the Big Horns. How bad could it be? We headed west up into the Big Horns in our Datsun 710 wagon with dog and everything we owned. It grew dark.

Near the summit we encountered hard snow on the paved road. We had lived in Michigan so I knew the drill. Get out, put on chains. Drive on. Soon we saw two headlights up ahead. Vertical. Not good. Got to the vehicle on its side in the road. 4wd Bronco on its side. Hmmm. Yep, Texas plates. Nobody home, went on.

Got to a ski lodge, no room at the inn. Keep going. Now mostly down hill towards a town called Tensleep. Sounds promising as we are both tired. What’s a “runaway truck lane”? Saw a truck upslope buried to its axles in sand and snow. Uhoh. Got to Tensleep about midnight. Nobody home.

We made it to Cody with a sobering lesson in planning.