It had been a fairly benign winter along the notorious I-80 in Wyoming until the night

before we were scheduled to drive it. The morning of February 23, Bryan Wright sat in

a large pickup at the gate in Cheyenne with a 15-foot long trailer carrying my 14-foot

long sculpture, waiting for the closed freeway to open. When it finally did, through the

blowing snow he could see a half dozen semis overturned by the side of the road

between Cheyenne and Laramie. When the road between Loveland and Laramie

opened, Mel and I headed out and passed another half dozen overturned trucks from

Laramie to Elk Mountain. The previous night's blizzard with 100-mile-an-hour wind

gusts had taken its toll.

Over icy patches and blowing snow, we all arrived safely in Salt Lake City and when

the next day dawned sunny and clear (though very cold), the 14' by 5' by 5' sculpture

consisting of 10 animals, a waterfall and a beehive was smoothly and successfully

installed in 3 hours! A crew and a large forklift from the project contractors lifted the

bronze off the trailer and up and over a section of the creek that runs through the entire

2-city-block "City Creek" redevelopment project, and then Bryan expertly located,

drilled and epoxied mounting holes in the granite base and perfectly set the sculpture,

exactly as I had envisioned it during my 2+ years working on this project.

On the drive back the next day we were chased the whole way by another blizzard,

which actually caught up with us when we stopped for lunch in Rawlins, but we briefly

braved near white-out conditions until we could out-run it once again. When we

arrived home we checked and found out that I-80 was closed all the way across

Wyoming. They must have been running along behind us closing it as we passed.

The client, City Creek Reserve Inc, is very pleased with their signature sculpture, and I

am more than pleased and grateful to all of those who did such a great job helping to

bring this project to fruition: Gary DuChateau for enlargement; Dan Ochs for mold making and wax pouring; Kathy Page for wax chasing; Dragon Castings for casting the bronze, Eric Mesplé for the formidable task of welding and chasing the 58 pieces of the puzzle into a beautiful finish; Patrick

Kipper for the gorgeous patina; Bryan Wright for transport and installation; and my

photographer, driver and all-around support system, husband Mel. THANK YOU ALL!

Rosetta           rosetta