Wyoming Homecoming, October 11

Ok, I admit it. I'm way behind on my posts.

So, just a month after the trip to Laramie for the Texas game, Rasila and Rodney found themselves headed to the Homecoming game versus the University of New Mexico. Since we had lost something like 6 straight to UNM in football, it didn't matter that they were 0-4. We wanted to beat them. We knew the weather was going to be chilly, with a forecast gametime temp of 26 F (-3 C), so we packed accordingly.

We flew Southwest Airlines for the 3rd time to DIA, and I like them better each time. The car from Budget was more expensive, even with my frequent renter ID, so we rented from Alamo this time. We had a nice Mitsubishi Galant, which motored us nicely to Laramie, with only a skiff of snow on the Pumpkin Vine. Roger called and said he had once again forgot his season tickets, so we went by the ticket office to get his reprinted before going to the Gas Lite Inn to check in.

We had dinner that night at our favorite, Jeffrey's Bistro, while it proceeded to start snowing. Rodney and his brother Roger went over to the Buckhorn to meet their college buddy Jeff and any others in town. It was an early evening to make preparations for attending the 10 AM parade.

We woke to 7-10" (17-25 cm) of snow. All the roads were closed into and out of Laramie. We met Rodney and Roger's Uncle CC and Aunt Loree to watch the parade in the 9 F (-13 C) weather, then had breakfast at Shari's with them. We overheard the hostess say that the team, the coaches, the cheerleaders and the band all were in Cheyenne the night before for a Cowboy Joe Club auction. Neither Wyoming nor New Mexico were in town! After breakfast, we went back to the hotel and turned on the radio to catch any updates. It turned out that the Governor had given special dispensation to run a snow plow and highway patrol caravan to escort the teams and the accompanying people back to Laramie!

So, we headed to the Library for the pregame and then over for kick off. The roads opened only 1 hour before kickoff, so only people from Cheyenne could have made it that morning. The attendance was announced at 15K, but more like 9K were there. It was 15 F (-9 C) at kickoff and caused an eerie fog to rise from the field. We were well dressed for the game with multiple layers and insulated seats, so we had no problems with it. Wyo won after giving up the first TD to UNM, 37-13. We then headed over to our friend Chelly's for a post game BBQ and off to the Buckhorn and Cowboy Saloon for the evening.

The next morning was actually nice weather (20s) and an easy drive back to Denver after catching the movie Surrogates and lunch in Loveland with Jeff.