We thought 2020 would end on a high note. With plenty of time for a leisurely drive to Las Vegas, we set off for our only international departure of the year. 2020 was not done with us yet, unfortunately. Not long after passing the Black Rock exit on I-15—the last possible turnout before entering the Virgin River Gorge—we could see a rapidly growing plume of black smoke just beyond the first bend in the Gorge. With an impending sense of doom, I began looking for a way out of the line of traffic forming in the distance. If we would have been driving my Landcruiser I might have attempted to cross the median, 100 yards of desert scrub separating us from the north-bound lanes that were still moving. Fairly certain that our rental car would not make it, I slowed to a stop as south-bound I-15 became a parking lot. It was now just after 3 pm in Las Vegas; our flight was scheduled to leave at 7 pm.
South-bound I-15
The plume of black smoke grew, and we were close enough that we could smell it. For two hours we waited, making room for several fire trucks and emergency vehicles rushing to fight the fire. We had given up any hope of making our flight when traffic finally started to inch forward. Before long, we slowly passed the burned-out wreck of the truck that had closed the freeway.
We raced through the Gorge, hoping for a miracle. Our original plan had us arriving in Las Vegas at 5 pm to drop off our car, allowing two hours to check-in for our flight. Instead, at 5 o’clock we were just leaving the Gorge. Luckily, traffic was light after the closure and it appeared that we were not the only ones running late. With the flow of traffic exceeding 90 mph, we avoided a speeding ticket and rolled into McCarran 45 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave. The gate agent was kind enough to accept our bags and I was back on the road in minutes, heading to the rental car return. With a little luck, the shuttle bus got me back to the airport in enough time that a sprint through the airport allowed me to slide through the closing door of our flight and into my seat, gasping for air through my mask. Unbelievably, we were on our way to Los Angeles and on to Tahiti!
