The Adventure

I awoke 40 minutes before the alarm was set to blare after a fit-full partial night. It was 1:20 am and I had a long day ahead of me. I had loaded most of my gear in the truck the night before, so after a quick cup of coffee, teeth brushing and bathroom break, I was out the door. My first surprise of the trip hit me as I opened the door to outside and saw my truck. It had snowed over night, I had about an inch of the white wet stuff to brush off the truck before I could get underway.

Truck engine warmed up, snow brushed, and seat belt fastened, I was on the road, backing out of my parking spot at 2:06 am. Up one main street for about 10 minutes, around the beltway for 2 miles then South on the highway toward the border. First I had to get through the residential areas, before real speed could be attained. Finally, I'm rural and can accelerate.....But, NO! Now I have snow falling, it looked like I was accelerating to Warp Speed through the stars, streaking white into my face, glaring off the headlights. Low visibility so I slowed down.

About 10 miles from the border, no more snow, finally.....a quick stop to enter the states, recycle some coffee and I was back at it. The speed limit in North Dakota was 75 mph so I set the cruise control at 80 and sped through the dark, leaving miles behind, until, wait for it.......FOG~!! Oh Crap! I hit the breaks and slow to about 60 and feel like I am crawling along. I can only see 5 dashes in the street, so I am keeping in slow. Finally, after about an hour of fog, it clears up and I resume my speed. This was not how I had planned this extended drive day.

I made it through North Dakota, then South Dakota, then a sliver of Iowa and into Nebraska where I finally turned from South to West and raced the sun toward the Rockie Mountains. Through Nebraska, I had to turn off the radio as I was decidedly tired of listening to crying cowboys and cold not find other satisfaction. By the time I had made it through Nebraska, I was pretty sure I had taken out ALL of the bugs in the I80 corridor, bug butts through bug brains, smeared on my windshield......nasty.

The trucks were thick through Nebraska as well, and decidedly not respectful at all to other vehicles' speed nor closure rate, and I had to stand on my brakes a few too many times for comfort to avoid rearending them as they took over my lane and proceeded to take 5 to 6 miles to actually pass the other truck.

Finally into Colorado, I76 is much less crowded until I hit suburban Denver and had to slow again. But, finally, to I70, the C470 then 285, then surface streets and finally, at 7 pm after an hour time change, I am done driving. Eighteen hours digging a hole the size of my butt in the seat of the truck. BUT, no real issues and I am here. Only to do it in reverse in about two weeks, but probably with an over night stop along the way.