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Publishing: December seventh 2022
Greetings from San Angelo State Park, ya’ll. We obtained in about 9:30 final evening. Discovered the lock on the evening gate. Wandered round til we discovered web site #3. Turned off the engine and became mattress and slept for 11 hours. Now I sit at a metallic picnic desk in an outdated, run down, rotting park below a metal grey sky with a slight breeze and distant visitors noise. We’re the one ones right here, and all of it feels to me like a scene out of a creepy put up apocalyptic film, as if Sally and I are the final ones on Earth. Aside from the distant visitors noise.
I had a bathe, although the drain backed up and flooded the whole males’s toilet. Sally made espresso, although Betty’s shore energy system is just half working so we needed to do some issues proper on the pole. Sally’s off to the tub now, and we’ve obtained to hit the street in an hour or so to get to Austin (assuming that distant visitors noise implies that civilization remains to be working, and that’s not the sound of approaching aliens or hordes of zombies) so Ima take a minute to obtain
just a few of the various ideas that occupied me throughout our lengthy sojourn.
1) I’m a beast. Actually. Driving 16 hours straight? Continuous by way of the relentless onslaught of packed snow, falling snow, driving snow, ice, wind, stronger wind, wind so sturdy it really nearly knocked me over when filling up the van, darkness, heavy visitors, 4 lane visitors, building zones, beat up roads, oncoming vehicles, oncoming vibrant headlights, the solar in my eyes, damaged gasoline pumps, bank card failure, disappointing meals, an excessive amount of caffeine, actually dangerous espresso, driving whereas exhausted, all of that? Are you kidding me? I’m a beast. And I did it whereas maintaining my head. And largely maintaining my good humor, although there was this one time… or possibly two…
2) Black Ice Issues. At one level in Montana, two drivers, each in giant pickups pulling lengthy flatbed trailers sped previous me within the left, ice-covered land. I thought of their ballsiness as they drove by, and questioned how they managed it, and determined it have to be the 4WD. Minutes after, one among these vans, proper in entrance of us, started to slide and fishtail and ultimately jack-knifed into the ditch, kicking up an enormous cloud of snow and disappearing into it such that we, arising behind them, and unable ourselves to brake in a short time, didn’t know if we’d smash into them or not. Inshallah that they had cleared the street earlier than we obtained there. It was like a scene out of NASCAR, and it each occurred in sluggish movement and was over earlier than we may even give it some thought. By the point we got here to our wits, we have been half a mile past, and so Sally known as September 11 to report it, and we trusted that different drivers arising from additional behind may cease to assist.
3) North-South roads are manner worse than East-West roads. First, there’s all these north-facing slopes it’s a must to drive up, which had no direct solar, and so have been extra ice lined than their south-facing sisters. Second, as a result of fundamental patterns of the Earth’s coriolos impact, the prevailing winds hit you facet on, slightly than head on or as tail winds, leading to a slightly relentless wrestling match.
4) Betty, bless her coronary heart, was designed to emulate the traditional strains of that architectural marvel often known as “the broad facet of a barn.” Whereas possibly many people might have issue hitting such a factor, the wind has no drawback in any respect.
5) For a lot of our journey, on the packed snow and ice, throughout the excessive winds and building zones, and so forth, our pace was diminished to 40 mph. This was nearly at all times half of the posted pace. At such half-fast speeds, our whole journey time expanded out from our projected 24 hours to the precise 34 hours. A part of this was as a consequence of foolish or incorrect assumptions made on our half. Most of it was as a consequence of street situations.
6) I spent quite a lot of time noticing, noting, and excited about completely different street situations. My conclusion is that whereas elevation, temperature, wind, and visitors patterns all play an element, the most important contributor to dangerous winter driving situations is county funds shortages. I could also be assuming an excessive amount of there, nevertheless it appears as if the one approach to clarify what I noticed was that some counties merely don’t have the cash, supplies, and manpower essential for the job.
7) One ought to by no means drive I-25 by way of Colorado. For those who should drive this street, don’t. When you’ve got no different selection, don’t drive this street. Buffalo, Wyoming, nevertheless, is a must-see. However solely at evening. In the course of the Christmas season. With contemporary snow. With all their lights are on. Then it’s a postcard-quality mountain city. In any other case, I don’t know what it seems to be like.
8) Someday, throughout His creator part, God’s crew chief accountable for landscapes teased God, saying, “Certain, you’ll be able to create magnificence like no person’s enterprise, however are you able to create one thing that can make folks say ‘meh’?” God laughed. “You imply one thing neither particularly stunning nor particularly ugly?” responded He. ”Sure,” answered the crew chief. So God, in His infinite jest, set to work. As at all times, He outdid Himself, and so created the Texas Panhandle.
9) Betty averaged simply over 15 mpg on this primary leg of our journey. This was barely higher than what we’d been getting round dwelling. Together with her comparatively small tank, we are able to go 250 miles tops earlier than needing a refill. Driving by way of the evening on these lonely roads, my rule was this. For those who don’t assume you can also make the subsequent large metropolis on the gasoline in your tank, cease and refill within the large metropolis you at the moment are in, regardless of whether or not you want gasoline or not. No telling what you’ll discover in between. This rule resulted in additional gasoline stops than it could have in any other case. However, that was good, as I obtained a breath from the relentless onslaught, obtained to stretch my legs, obtained to pee, and obtained to only catch my breath.
10) My proper hip aches continually whereas driving, the lasting leftover from my 2004 head on. Usually I can ease that by utilizing the cruise management, however I can not use cruise management throughout any of the above-mentioned checklist of relentless situations. Thus, the ache was fixed, and I used to be pressured to do things like push arduous in opposition to the ground with my left foot, or perform a little butt-dance in my seat, or press in opposition to the ache with my hand, none of which actually labored all that effectively.
11) Individuals are usually good, and smile once you smile at them, and speak about themselves once you ask them questions, and assist you once they can. That is vital to recollect.
12) There have been two lessons of auto I used to be envious of throughout our lengthy drive. First, truck drivers of their 18-wheelers. They’re dangerous ass. They drive higher, sooner, and seemingly with much more ease than I, by way of any situations. Second was folks in actually low-slung sporty vehicles like Corvettes and such. They, too, have been making time we couldn’t, and seemingly with ease. So we may promote Betty in Florida, mail our belongings again dwelling, and purchase a sports activities automotive for the return journey. Weirder issues have occurred. The US is a large place, and we may need to accede to that reality, and cease making an attempt to drive round it on lengthy journeys. I could also be a beast, however I’m unsure I’ve one other drive in me just like the one we simply did.
For now, we’re right here, and that is what we’re doing, and our associates in Austin await.
Take care, peeps.
T
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