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Home again...
Jun. 29th, 2005 02:44 pmHave you ever had one of those episodes where you find it difficult to concentrate on the road while driving? I had one yesterday, starting around Conroe, Texas and ending around Tucumcari, New Mexico. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The dire warnings of slow, single-lane roads running north from Houston turned out to be somewhat exaggerated. The going was smooth up Interstate 45 all the way up to about a mile before the interchange with I-30 in Dallas, at which point the traffic merely slowed down. I got to the U-Line warehouse around 9 am.
My order hadn't been assembled, for the simple reason that I'd asked the folks in Pagosa to hold off until today in placing it. In the end, that detail kept me in Dallas for about an hour longer than necessary. After packing the truck to the limit (in terms of volume; I assume I was still way below the weight limit, though I heard some disturbing creaking from the rear of the truck if I didn't take turns very easily after loading up on the boxboard), I set off back to the Interstate (I-35E) which I picked up headed north, subsequently picking up highway 380 west, just after Denton, toward highway 287 and the usual route home.
My first gas fill-up was curious. As I watched the display on the pump edge upward and tried to figure out the rate of delivery (gallons per minute... or in the case of this particular pump, ounces per minute, so as to have integers to the left of the decimal point) I tried to guess where the delivery would stop. I was surprised by the seemingly coincidental halt at a nice round figure of $50.00.
I climbed back into the truck and got under way, when I noticed that the fuel gauge was falling way short of the full mark. Then it occurred to me, from previous visits to other stations, that credit card gas purchases over $50 require you to actually present the card to a clerk, and that automated purchases were limited to $50. It was the first time I'd spent so much money on a single gasoline purchase, and it only filled half the tank on the truck.
Things got high-tech around Amarillo. I figured that Amarillo was the last place to find a place like Toys-R-Us before it got late, so while I filled the tank again, I called Natalie on my cell and asked her to get online to see if she could find such a store somewhere not far from I-40, which I was now on for the trip west to Clines Corners, New Mexico. Within a few minutes, she had called me back with the coordinates of the store, and I found it with little trouble. (Most of the time, I end up spying a store that I need about 50 yards past the exit I had to take to get to that store, so this was a refreshing change.)
The flat terrain of New Mexico was set off magnificently by the sun as it went down behind a series of dark clouds that ended up silhouetted against the orange sky, spitting lightning at the ground, at each other, and occasionally within themselves as they drifted above the desert. The clouds seemed almost alive - but representing what species, I could not tell you - and a couple of times, I found myself probably within 50 yards of a lighning strike (no delay between very bright flash and ear-splitting sound). I also found out the hard way that the cab of the truck leaks, right above the driver's head. (Fortunately, I can recover from such abuse with no ill effects; even more fortunately, there was no leak on the passenger's side, where I had cached all of my important papers, computer, etc.)
I left the rain behind as I put Santa Fe squarely in my side-view mirrors and concentrated on staying awake past several pueblos through to Española. Finally, it dawned on me that pushimg myself to make it home without sleeping was not a smart thing to do, but I had to wait until gaining the village of Tierra Amarilla before I could pull well off the road and button myself down to sleep.
The cold awoke me a couple of hours later, and I set off again, traveling no faster than 40 mph (despite the significantly higher speed limit) so as to avoid fulfilling the fantasies of any suicidal wildlife that waited for me in the middle of the road. I hit on the idea of edging my left side wheels from time to time directly on top of the center line, which was painted on a "rumble strip." The result was a satisfying low-frequency braaap sound that hopefully, carried far enough ahead of me to warn the deer and the antelope not to be playing in my lane.
I pulled into the driveway around 4:50 am, with the sky lightening in the east. I did not stay up to watch the sun rise.
* * * Galina woke me around 11 am and I had a very nice lunch with her, where we discussed plans for our commercial property. On the way back to the car, I detoured to the new fitness place and made an appointment tomorrow for a one-on-one session to have someone explain to me the proper way to use fitness equipment so I can intelligently use the stuff that's in the fitness room at the Fili once I get there.
For now, I need to get back up to speed quickly and get all my invoices, travel expenses, etc. filed. There are also some details that need to be handled before the closing. Looks like things are going to be busy, as usual, but at least I'm upbeat about it all.
Cheers...
The dire warnings of slow, single-lane roads running north from Houston turned out to be somewhat exaggerated. The going was smooth up Interstate 45 all the way up to about a mile before the interchange with I-30 in Dallas, at which point the traffic merely slowed down. I got to the U-Line warehouse around 9 am.
My order hadn't been assembled, for the simple reason that I'd asked the folks in Pagosa to hold off until today in placing it. In the end, that detail kept me in Dallas for about an hour longer than necessary. After packing the truck to the limit (in terms of volume; I assume I was still way below the weight limit, though I heard some disturbing creaking from the rear of the truck if I didn't take turns very easily after loading up on the boxboard), I set off back to the Interstate (I-35E) which I picked up headed north, subsequently picking up highway 380 west, just after Denton, toward highway 287 and the usual route home.
My first gas fill-up was curious. As I watched the display on the pump edge upward and tried to figure out the rate of delivery (gallons per minute... or in the case of this particular pump, ounces per minute, so as to have integers to the left of the decimal point) I tried to guess where the delivery would stop. I was surprised by the seemingly coincidental halt at a nice round figure of $50.00.
I climbed back into the truck and got under way, when I noticed that the fuel gauge was falling way short of the full mark. Then it occurred to me, from previous visits to other stations, that credit card gas purchases over $50 require you to actually present the card to a clerk, and that automated purchases were limited to $50. It was the first time I'd spent so much money on a single gasoline purchase, and it only filled half the tank on the truck.
Things got high-tech around Amarillo. I figured that Amarillo was the last place to find a place like Toys-R-Us before it got late, so while I filled the tank again, I called Natalie on my cell and asked her to get online to see if she could find such a store somewhere not far from I-40, which I was now on for the trip west to Clines Corners, New Mexico. Within a few minutes, she had called me back with the coordinates of the store, and I found it with little trouble. (Most of the time, I end up spying a store that I need about 50 yards past the exit I had to take to get to that store, so this was a refreshing change.)
The flat terrain of New Mexico was set off magnificently by the sun as it went down behind a series of dark clouds that ended up silhouetted against the orange sky, spitting lightning at the ground, at each other, and occasionally within themselves as they drifted above the desert. The clouds seemed almost alive - but representing what species, I could not tell you - and a couple of times, I found myself probably within 50 yards of a lighning strike (no delay between very bright flash and ear-splitting sound). I also found out the hard way that the cab of the truck leaks, right above the driver's head. (Fortunately, I can recover from such abuse with no ill effects; even more fortunately, there was no leak on the passenger's side, where I had cached all of my important papers, computer, etc.)
I left the rain behind as I put Santa Fe squarely in my side-view mirrors and concentrated on staying awake past several pueblos through to Española. Finally, it dawned on me that pushimg myself to make it home without sleeping was not a smart thing to do, but I had to wait until gaining the village of Tierra Amarilla before I could pull well off the road and button myself down to sleep.
The cold awoke me a couple of hours later, and I set off again, traveling no faster than 40 mph (despite the significantly higher speed limit) so as to avoid fulfilling the fantasies of any suicidal wildlife that waited for me in the middle of the road. I hit on the idea of edging my left side wheels from time to time directly on top of the center line, which was painted on a "rumble strip." The result was a satisfying low-frequency braaap sound that hopefully, carried far enough ahead of me to warn the deer and the antelope not to be playing in my lane.
I pulled into the driveway around 4:50 am, with the sky lightening in the east. I did not stay up to watch the sun rise.
For now, I need to get back up to speed quickly and get all my invoices, travel expenses, etc. filed. There are also some details that need to be handled before the closing. Looks like things are going to be busy, as usual, but at least I'm upbeat about it all.
Cheers...
