All the cars and trucks along miles of Interstate 70 west sat solid and immobile – except for the Toyota Rav, with the snow boards on top, which was bouncing and rocking as the music blared and young arms and torsos rhythmically shot out open windows.
While most of the drivers on I-70 gripped their steering wheels, inched along and listened to disheartening radio traffic reports, Samantha “Sam” Wagner, Dain Silke, Taryn Roach and Liz Goodwin were having a good time.
A real good time.
The four teenagers had planned to do some snow boarding at Winter Park or Copper Mountain. “Where ever it was going to be easiest to get,” Goodwin, 19, of Boulder explained. Alas, Berthoud Pass was closed, so no Winter Park. Ditto for the Eisenhower Tunnel and the path to Copper.
“Why let this get us down?” said Silke, 18, from Fort Collins. And so while, many drivers were tuned in to KOA news, the foursome was wired to Blink 182 and “The Spice Girls.”
Wagner and Roach, both 17 year-olds from Fort Collins, took the opportunity of the no-moving traffic to dance along the aisles of cars, leading one Texas driver to ask if they were drunk and a grandmother to dance along with them in her car.
“Why would you just sit in your car and be grumpy?” Roach asked.
Even in the face of the miles of creeping traffic, the state troopers diverting traffic at the Floyd Hill exit and the reports of more delays for clearing snow, the band remained undeterred. “We are so definitely going to get there,” Wagner said.
“I rented a snowboard, dude,” Roach said. “I am not going to waste $30.”
