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Up again for air...
Jan. 3rd, 2001 09:29 pmWell, it's been a heck of a year, so far.
I got up on Sunday and spent the morning putting the finishing touches on the load in the truck. This included rearranging the couch that had been loaded late Saturday, and adding another couch, two plush chairs, my computer gear, a few pictures, a mattress, and a lot of miscellaneous stuff.
By 2 pm, I was ready to leave, after cleaning up and having a quick lunch. The sky was threatening rain, and it was time to go.
I spent the next 45 minutes trying to start the diesel engine, including getting a jump start from my wife. (The spray can of alcohol that is squirted into intakes to help engines start was apparently in the truck for a reason.) Finally, at 2:47 pm, I was on the way, along with our feisty Peke, Ming.
The weather was very cloudy with just enough precipitation to require the use of the wipers for visibility. One of the blades on the truck had been installed very tightly, however, and unless there was a lot of water on the windshield, it would return to its initial position with a loud "br-r-u-u-m-M-M-P-P!" After a while, even that annoying sound became part of the background noise.
Somewhere just north of Austin, I filled up the truck's 50-gallon tank, and then again around midnight at a truck stop near Tye, Texas. (Heck, for all I know, and given the size of the place, that truck stop may have been Tye, Texas.)
I pulled away from the pump after paying for the fuel and joined the trucks parked next to each other in back of the place and tried to catch some shuteye for a couple of hours. I got the cabin up to a nice toasty temperature, and then shut off the engine and lay down on the seat. It was pretty cozy. However, I woke up an hour later, shivering despite my heavy clothes. It was a heck of a way to greet the New Year.
Ming and I drove on for another hour or so - it seemed an eternity, at any rate - and pulled off and repeated this procedure, and yet again every time I felt sleepy. Between midnight and 7 am, we had just about covered an additional 100 miles and gotten maybe 3 hours of sleep. Lubbock seemed to recede as we drove on, relentlessly.
Night gave way to day very slowly, as there was a fog in the air once I finally got past Lubbock. Fortunately, visibility was at least half a mile, but the particles in the air still required the wipers. The weather didn't really clear until I was well into New Mexico, approaching Ft. Sumner on highway 84.
After another fuel stop at Santa Rosa, Ming and I motored down I-40 to Clines Corners, counting down the miles to that exit with the help of the many billboards erected along the road, advertising a range of goodies, from cheeseburgers to rattlesnake tails.
Once I hit Clines Corners, I felt I was almost home, although there were still several hours to go. Mentally, I divide the road between Clines Corners and Pagosa Springs into four legs: the first, from I-40 through Santa Fe, then a second from Santa Fe to Espanola, then a third leg from Espanola to Chama, and finally a last leg from Chama to Pagosa Springs. These are not equidistant segments. The first is about 60 miles, and consists of a smooth road that follows the gentle undulation of the terrain and ends with a short run on I-25 and passage around the center of Santa Fe. The second leg is about 40 miles long, and brings you past a number of Indian pueblos and a couple of casinos. The third leg is about 90 miles long and runs from Espanola up past the Abiquiu reservoir, past Georgia O'Keefe country, and winds its way up and down steeper grades through villages with names such as Terra Amarilla. The last portion of the road has only one village on it that I can see, Chromo, consisting of a post office and a general store. The terrain now becomes very rugged, and you definitely don't want to run off the road through this area. The road, highway 84, finally dead-ends at the intersection with highway 160, which is the main drag through the town of Pagosa Springs.
Everything went well until the last 100 yards. Literally. The driveway up to the house still had some snow and ice on it and the truck just couldn't make it up the grade. Unfortunately, in backing down the incline, I overcorrected and the truck came to rest at an angle in the road, unable to go forward or backward. As night was falling, I wedged the back wheels, prayed that the embankment would hold, and went on up to the house.
The next day, I had a wrecker come out, and the truck was freed in short order. The driver then put chains on the truck, and after a couple of failed tries to get up the hill (by him and me), the third time turned out to be the charm, and the truck is now outside our garage.
That brings us to Tuesday...(to be continued).
Cheers...
I got up on Sunday and spent the morning putting the finishing touches on the load in the truck. This included rearranging the couch that had been loaded late Saturday, and adding another couch, two plush chairs, my computer gear, a few pictures, a mattress, and a lot of miscellaneous stuff.
By 2 pm, I was ready to leave, after cleaning up and having a quick lunch. The sky was threatening rain, and it was time to go.
I spent the next 45 minutes trying to start the diesel engine, including getting a jump start from my wife. (The spray can of alcohol that is squirted into intakes to help engines start was apparently in the truck for a reason.) Finally, at 2:47 pm, I was on the way, along with our feisty Peke, Ming.
The weather was very cloudy with just enough precipitation to require the use of the wipers for visibility. One of the blades on the truck had been installed very tightly, however, and unless there was a lot of water on the windshield, it would return to its initial position with a loud "br-r-u-u-m-M-M-P-P!" After a while, even that annoying sound became part of the background noise.
Somewhere just north of Austin, I filled up the truck's 50-gallon tank, and then again around midnight at a truck stop near Tye, Texas. (Heck, for all I know, and given the size of the place, that truck stop may have been Tye, Texas.)
I pulled away from the pump after paying for the fuel and joined the trucks parked next to each other in back of the place and tried to catch some shuteye for a couple of hours. I got the cabin up to a nice toasty temperature, and then shut off the engine and lay down on the seat. It was pretty cozy. However, I woke up an hour later, shivering despite my heavy clothes. It was a heck of a way to greet the New Year.
Ming and I drove on for another hour or so - it seemed an eternity, at any rate - and pulled off and repeated this procedure, and yet again every time I felt sleepy. Between midnight and 7 am, we had just about covered an additional 100 miles and gotten maybe 3 hours of sleep. Lubbock seemed to recede as we drove on, relentlessly.
Night gave way to day very slowly, as there was a fog in the air once I finally got past Lubbock. Fortunately, visibility was at least half a mile, but the particles in the air still required the wipers. The weather didn't really clear until I was well into New Mexico, approaching Ft. Sumner on highway 84.
After another fuel stop at Santa Rosa, Ming and I motored down I-40 to Clines Corners, counting down the miles to that exit with the help of the many billboards erected along the road, advertising a range of goodies, from cheeseburgers to rattlesnake tails.
Once I hit Clines Corners, I felt I was almost home, although there were still several hours to go. Mentally, I divide the road between Clines Corners and Pagosa Springs into four legs: the first, from I-40 through Santa Fe, then a second from Santa Fe to Espanola, then a third leg from Espanola to Chama, and finally a last leg from Chama to Pagosa Springs. These are not equidistant segments. The first is about 60 miles, and consists of a smooth road that follows the gentle undulation of the terrain and ends with a short run on I-25 and passage around the center of Santa Fe. The second leg is about 40 miles long, and brings you past a number of Indian pueblos and a couple of casinos. The third leg is about 90 miles long and runs from Espanola up past the Abiquiu reservoir, past Georgia O'Keefe country, and winds its way up and down steeper grades through villages with names such as Terra Amarilla. The last portion of the road has only one village on it that I can see, Chromo, consisting of a post office and a general store. The terrain now becomes very rugged, and you definitely don't want to run off the road through this area. The road, highway 84, finally dead-ends at the intersection with highway 160, which is the main drag through the town of Pagosa Springs.
Everything went well until the last 100 yards. Literally. The driveway up to the house still had some snow and ice on it and the truck just couldn't make it up the grade. Unfortunately, in backing down the incline, I overcorrected and the truck came to rest at an angle in the road, unable to go forward or backward. As night was falling, I wedged the back wheels, prayed that the embankment would hold, and went on up to the house.
The next day, I had a wrecker come out, and the truck was freed in short order. The driver then put chains on the truck, and after a couple of failed tries to get up the hill (by him and me), the third time turned out to be the charm, and the truck is now outside our garage.
That brings us to Tuesday...(to be continued).
Cheers...
