We were in our room at the La Quinta Inn in Pueblo, Colorado when I heard Tom’s cell phone alarm ring at 6:00am on Tuesday October 12, 2021. The wake-up call was followed by a severe weather alert; one that cautioned travelers in certain areas of Colorado that high winds and blizzard-like conditions could make certain highways treacherous. At that moment, I heard Tom scoff at the report when he sarcastically remarked to his wife: “That’s why we bought a Jeep. That Grand Cherokee will go through anything – we’ll be just fine. A little bit of snow isn’t going to stop us. And why? Because we’re the Griswold’s.” All I could do was shake my head; but then again, I do that most of the time.
The weather was ideal when we departed Pueblo and headed south along I-25 for roughly 50 miles. The sky was mostly sunny and the temperature was in the mid-50’s, which didn’t seem too bad for an early October morning in Colorado. With Vicki behind the wheel of our ‘Family Truckster’, we headed west on US-160; which would take us to our first destination of the day – the rest area where the Griswold’s ate their picnic lunch in the 1983 movie ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’. That rest area, officially known as the Shaw Creek Rest Area, was located about five miles east of South Fork, Colorado.
Although I knew we wouldn’t visit any Presidential sites that day, I was excited because we were headed to the Four Corners Monument where I’d get the opportunity to stand in four states at the same time. But first, I would have to endure 300 miles spattered with a small handful of ‘Vacation’ film locations that Tom had on his agenda. Besides the rest area, we were slated to visit Kamp Komfort, located on the west side of South Fork, and the Strater Hotel in Durango where Clark Griswold wasn’t allowed to cash a personal check because his credit card was cancelled.
From an opening in the camera case, I saw some of the Rocky Mountains as we headed west along US-160; the scenery was beautiful and the weather was even better. In my mind, there was no way a blizzard would factor into our trip across the state – the temperature was still in the 50s and the sky was mostly sunny. But 50 miles into our trek across Colorado, the weather began to change; and it changed fast. The sky became overcast, the temperature dropped into the low 40s, and the wind had grown stronger. So much so, in fact, that we drove into a massive sandstorm on the west side of Blanca, Colorado. Hundreds of tumbleweeds blew across the highway, some of which were the size of beachballs. Vicki was worried about hitting one for fear of doing damage to our Jeep’s grill.
As we approached the city of Monte Vista, Colorado, we saw snow in the mountains for the first time on the trip. As a matter of fact, some of the distant mountains were difficult to see because of what appeared to be a severe snowstorm. I heard Tom say to his wife: “We’re about 25 miles from the Shaw Creek Rest Area, but I think we’ll be okay. The blizzard is likely further north and west of that rest area. I hope I’m right because a blizzard would definitely hinder my pictures.” By the time we drove into the small town of Monte Vista, however, a few flakes of snow hit our windshield. For the next half-hour, as we travelled toward the Shaw Creek Rest Area, the snow increased. As a matter of fact, we drove in and out of massive snow squalls that made visibility quite difficult at times. I laughed to myself when I heard Tom say to Vicki in his ‘Clark Griswold voice’: “Oh, don’t worry honey. I’m sure it’s not snowing at that rest area; you’ll see. Just trust me.” I waited for his wife to reply: “As long as you don’t tie me to the rear bumper.”
When we arrived at the Shaw Creek Rest Area, which was located about five miles east of South Fork, Colorado, Vicki nearly missed the entrance because the snowstorm had made her visibility extremely poor. My photographer’s wife found a place to park the Jeep; she stayed inside the warm vehicle while Tom and I trudged through the blizzard to find the lone concrete picnic table that was featured in the movie ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’. Luckily there weren’t many picnic tables in that rest stop to choose from; and there was only one concrete table near the semi-truck parking area. When Tom removed me from the warm camera case and placed me onto the ice and slush-covered table, my resin teeth chattered inside my closed, painted mouth. The temperature was 30 degrees and the wind whipped through the rest area at roughly 40mph – it was the worst weather I had ever been exposed to.
But the frigid temperatures didn’t seem to deter Tom whatsoever; he moved about the snow-covered ground as though it was a summer day. He was on a quest – a quest for fun! My cameraman used still photos taken from scenes in the movie, which helped him duplicate the Griswold’s road-side picnic through the lens of his camera. During our time near the famous table, we discovered that some of the rest area’s trees had been removed in the 38 years since the movie’s release – including the crooked one held by Clark Griswold when he flirted with Christie Brinkley. When my photographer was finished capturing images of me standing on the table, he had one film location left to find – the tree where Rusty Griswold struggled to control Aunt Edna’s dog Dinky. But after a thorough 20-minute search for that lone tree in the snow-covered rest area, the two of us returned to the Jeep cold, wet, and empty-handed.
For thirty minutes, Tom carried me back and forth throughout the rest area. I was so cold I worried the Gorilla Glue would fail and parts of my body would fall off. When the blizzard intensified, my photographer called-off his search for the last site, which he had dubbed “Rusty’s Tree”. Wet, cold, and frustrated, the two of us returned to the warm confines of the Jeep where Vicki was still occupied by her phone. As soon as Tom’s fingers had thawed, he typed in the address to our next site, which turned out to be less than nine miles from the rest area. That next destination was the Riverbend Resort; the campground that had gained world-wide fame as Kamp Komfort in ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’. But there was a problem – again. Before I could say “Edna, this is your tent”, Tom discovered US-160 was closed about a mile west of South Fork; several large trucks had jackknifed across the highway due to the blizzard. When I heard that news, I couldn’t help but think to myself: “Is there anything else that can go wrong on this trip? It’s one thing after another.”
At roughly 12 noon, Vicki navigated the ‘Family Truckster’ westward along the icy highway until we reached the town of South Fork, Colorado. My photographer had a plan – they’d get lunch at the Mountain Pizza and Tap Room while officials cleared the highway. Tom figured by the time he and his wife had finished their meal, the highway would re-open and we’d head to Riverbend Resort; which was only three-short-miles down the road. I thought it was an excellent idea; until the three of us went inside. There wasn’t a place to sit; and the line to order food was extremely long. It was obvious other travelers had the same idea.
Our luck seemed to change for the better, however, when we returned to the Jeep. My companions saw a large service vehicle with a disabled semi-truck and trailer in tow; the tandem was headed east along US-160. At the moment when the wrecker passed the restaurant, I heard Tom say to his wife: “I bet that was the truck that was jackknifed across the highway. Let’s head west to see if the road’s been re-opened. We’ll have to take it easy on the icy road; but Kamp Komfort is only three miles away.” Before we got to the western edge of South Fork, however, several patrol vehicles blocked the road – there was no way to go any further. At one point I envisioned a patrolman standing in the road with his hand up: “Sorry folks, road’s closed. Moose out front should’ve told ya.” Knowing that a huge delay would hinder our plans for the rest of the day and possibly for the rest of the week; not to mention the terrible weather conditions that threatened the safety of our vehicle and the three of us; Tom made the decision to turn back. I couldn’t believe my resin ears when I heard my photographer say out loud: “We’ll have to abort our plans to see the Grand Canyon and the other sites in Arizona. Since we’re scheduled to meet Ash and Anthony in Dallas next Monday, we don’t have the luxury of waiting a day or two for this storm to clear. This is the main road to where we’re going and it would be unsafe to take the back roads through the mountains. It’s not worth us getting hurt or stranded or smashing up the Jeep.”
I was stunned; I had looked forward to standing in four states at once. I also wanted to pose for pictures at the edge of the Grand Canyon with the chance of falling a mile to my death. And now, because of a “little” snow, we were turning back. Numerous thoughts ran through my resin mind, but the first thought was: “We’re ten hours from the fudging fun park and you want to bail out. This is no longer a vacation; it’s a quest. It’s a quest for fun. I’m gonna have fun and you’re gonna have fun. We’re all gonna have so much fudging fun, we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our gosh darn smiles. You’ll be whistling Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah out of your…” I stopped my silent rant. I knew Tom was right. It wasn’t safe to go further; not in that weather.
Vicki pulled a U-turn on the slushy, ice-covered US-160 and we retraced our path eastward. By the time we arrived at Monte Vista where we first saw falling snow, the sky was clear and the weather was ideal. It was cold and windy, but the blizzard seemed well behind us. While my companions ate lunch at the Dairy Queen in Monte Vista, my photographer contemplated on where the three of us would go. It was a rare site for me to behold – Tom had to deviate from his well-planned agenda. Once he decided Santa Fe, New Mexico was our destination and was where we would spend the night, Vicki found a good deal on a hotel in the capital city of our 47th state.
It took nearly three hours to make the 150-mile drive to Santa Fe. Once we arrived at the fourth largest city in New Mexico, the three of us were surprised by the lack of tall buildings – there were none. As a matter of fact, my photographer tried to spot the Capitol Building somewhere in the distance, but he never saw it. Shortly after my companions registered at the Baymont Inn & Suites around 4:30pm, Tom placed me alongside the television set while he and Vicki walked to the nearby Applebee’s for dinner. When they returned, the three of us relaxed until the lights were extinguished at 9:30pm.
Throughout the night, I stood in the darkness and thought about all the sites we had missed because of the snowstorm in southern Colorado. Not only were we forced to bypass seven or eight ‘Vacation’ film locations that were on the agenda, there were some huge natural sites we had missed as well – including The Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Four-Corners Monument, The Great Meteor Crater, and the Petrified Forest. But in my resin-filled heart, I knew it was the right decision. The way our “Griswold Family Vacation” had gone thus far, we likely would’ve slid off the road and smashed the new Jeep; and we surely didn’t need that.
