Saturday, May 14, 2011

I'm Still Kickin'

Welp, I have days and then there are days. Then, there are weeks. Had to go high altitude this last week, and it really sapped me - short of breath even at lower altitudes, so at the end of some pretty long days the creative juices were just not flowing, as it were. Guess I've got good timing considering how Blogger decided to take a dump during my period of not posting!

We had to deliver to a small town slightly northwest of Boise, ID. I've passed through that area before, so it wasn't a totally new experience. We jump up to I80 and go to the Salt Lake area to catch I84. That gets us there. This trip, I84 just off I80 was restricted for wide loads, so we had to go around the beltway in Salt Lake. If there is one thing this ol' country hick just doesn't enjoy, it's gotta be that big city traffic. Actually, it was Boise where we ran into problems - a message board informed of a traffic accident ahead, and that the right two lanes were clear. It took us about an hour and a half to go about two miles, with most of the movement at the end of that time period. We saw a good lookin' babe in a green outfit with a camera guy under an overpass, so the crash must have been newsworthy. Turns out it was - there was the original wreck that the message board referenced, then a car trying to clear several lanes at once hit an end dump - knocking it on it's side. The driver had to be hospitalized. Generally the trucks win in these things.

But, none of us were hurt - just had our blood pressure spike due to impatience. I did get some pics. Not of the crash, it was cleaned up by the time we got there.


This crummy pic is the best of three - I guess the low light screwed with my auto exposure settings. That was morning along I80 near Green River, WY.


This would be one of the "Three Sisters." They are a series of three passes between Fort Bridger and Evanston, WY. Pretty much straight up and straight down - no winding curves there. My kinda mountain pass.



This is a southbound view of the mountains east of I84 immediately north of where I15 splits off.


Just a few miles further south, running on I15 and I84. The unusual large sign like object at the summit of one of the peaks left of the road is actually a bug on my windshield. It should also be noted that Tuesday when we were northbound through here, we were in fact very close to Promontory, Utah, where 142 years ago to the day, the Golden Spike was driven into the final tie of the first Transcontinental Railroad.


Aaaand, last but not least - this was in the really rather charming little motel at Evanston, WY. It had the look of one built in the sixties, but the owners had kept it up quite well. The Prairie Inn is fairly inexpensive, too. Some of these old motels are actually worth the stay - this is one of them.

When I was a kid, I used to always hear that restaurants with trucks parked around them had to be good, since truckers stopped there and "they knew." The truth was and is that there is truck parking available. The food might be crap and the service horrible, but it might be the only place for miles that a trucker could park. The same can be said for motels as well. Lots offer a bit of parking for a few trucks, but motels that have room for many more are kinda rare, particularly if they are wide loads.

So, I'm back at the Farm, and after lengthy and rigorous inspection of the inside of my eyelids I'm starting to feel like a capable human again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As they said when I was a kid, "keep on truckin'"! ;-)

threecollie said...

thanks for the heads up about the diners. We always heard the same thing. lol I hope you get all rested up and feeling better. That shot of the mountains was pretty amazing.