We had few Korean friends in my house last Christmas to get a lunch together. Husbands complained about the big snow in Colorado because they could not play golf. Well, they seemd inactive without the golf. Anyway, what they came up with after 5 minutes cigarette break was the traveling to Las Vegas a week from the Christmas. "What, Las Vegas again?" Did I yell this at them? No. I just kept this in my mind because all members but us have never been there before. I did not want to spoil the pleasure of them.
Our family've left two days earlier than others in order to go skiing before heading to Las Vegas. Checking the weather through on the net, we hit the road at 4:00 p.m. yesterday, just after sunnday church service. Our plan was this; one night near the Ski resort, the other night at the hotels around Gleenwood, and the third day the union with other members in the vicinity of Grand Junction. Apparently perfect.
But our plan went wrong the first night. We took I-70 west direction to go to Keystone resort.
It snowed a bit, no threathening. But wind accompanied the snow, and it was rattling wind. Wind flew the snow, which closed our views. Wind was worse than we thought. It was so obstacling we could not see even 30-40 meters ahead. The flashing lights of front cars were covered compeletly by the snow wind. We could not proceed any more that we had to exit at Silverthron. A great deal of cars were going out of the Highway, I-70.
My husband assured me that we were just 4-5 miles behind, taking the exit. It turned out no problem at all. A very serious problem was waiting ahead of us. No lodging at all. All motels in town had been already occupied when we got there. I was upset and frustrated. Where should we go tonight for beding?
People working at the hotels advised us to go to the shelter that probably opened for travelers who were unable to check in. "What? shelter?" Homeless people flashed in my mind. I did not know why, but it reminded me of horrible and embarrassing places for homeless. I did not mean to offend homeless, though.
I thought the shelter was run with the name approved by the government at all times before getting there. But, I was wrong. It was a sport center. This center was opened for the shelter temporarly. This center has been already crammed with kind of sufferers. My husband told that there were approximately 900 people. Wow! A huge group of people.
We managed to get a cot and two blankets. At first, only the basketball courts downstairs opened, but they were crowded with people right away as soon as the open. Travelers have still kept flowing into the center, so it needed more places. At last, the gymn and corridors on the first floor got to open to people. We placed ourselves along the wall after walking back and force 10 minutes to find the place.
It was rare experience, staying at the shelter. A fear and worry has been gone and new feeling, the excitment, rose from my mind. Sitting on the cot and looking around, I thought of this as another feature of the United States, especially Colorado. Unexpected weather condition could make travelers center around some places, and the towns need the shelters to provide swarms of travelers driven into the town with food and bedding.
The staff seemed familiar with this situation. I guess they already went this through several times and knew what to do. The trucks kept coming to the shelter, carrying the relief supplies for the night. Pizza and drinks were supplied for free. The aid supplied were not sufficient, but they were there when necessary. Good to see all these. In fact, for me, as a foreinger, this kind of thing gives me huge joy, excitment, and thrill.
In korea, there was very rare possibility to get to stay at the shelter while traveling. For this reason, this go-through'll be remembered by all my family members for a while. We even enjoyed this. It was like a party for us, sleeping with 900 people from all over the states.
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