Cruise Control Set on 80
Posted: March 3, 2009 8:30 amFiled under: Kevin, Uncategorized, reflection
(I originally composed and e-mailed this blog entry on March 28, 2008.)
And the governor kicks in at 115.
Today (Wednesday), I went from Columbia, MO to Laramie, WY. Yesterday, (Tuesday) which was the day I left, I went from Huntsville, AL to Columbia, MO.
According to my Rand McNally Deluxe Motor Carrier’s Road Atlas - I drove big trucks for a short while and carried everything from medical sponges & diesel engines to explosives. That was a blast! (pun intended) - HSV to Columbia, MO is 561 miles. Columbia to Laramie, WY is 767. Laramie, WY is about 60 miles west of Cheyenne, the state capitol.
Although, the most precious cargo I ever carried was human life.
While I was enrolled at the University of North Alabama in their Licensed Professional Counselor graduate school curriculum, I drove a school bus for elementary aged school children. It was a pleasant job, one which I enjoyed immensely. I recall with particular fondness a little Black boy whom was very precious to me. He always sat close by me and talked to me. One day, I learned I needed to add a new stop to pick up another family’s children. They were Hispanic, and the local women’s shelter had helped the mother find an anonymous location to hide her from her abusive spouse. You’d be amazed at the social history that school bus drivers need to know. One of the little boys’ name was Jesus.
In Spanish, the “j” is pronounced with the sound of “h”. Each day, as I picked up the children, I would greet them by name. Of course, that meant I would say something like, “Good morning, Jesus! How are you today?”
So, after a period of time, one afternoon Jesus went home early, which meant he wouldn’t be riding my bus that afternoon. As I awaited the afternoon school bell, the little Black boy climbed up the steps and said to me that, “Zeus won’t be riding this afternoon.”
I wondered what he was talking about, so I asked him. He explained to me that he was talking about the quiet little Hispanic boy.
It was then that I understood that for all that time, he had thought I was greeting Jesus saying, “Good morning! Hey, Zeus! How are you today?”
That’s been a source of great humor for me for quite some time.
Today, I’m going to try and make Lake Tahoe, which is on the Nevada/California state line. (I arrived at Reno @ 8:30pm PST and Lake Tahoe one hour later.) Which, according to the handy-dandy mileage chart, is about 900+ miles from Cheyenne. The listing was from Cheyenne to Reno, which were the two closest cities.
It’s a different feeling to sit behind the wheel for hours on end doing 80+ mph and not be concerned about it. Once you get past Kansas City, MO/KS, American topography gets mind-numbingly flat.
Specifically, it’s Nebraska that’s so flat. Because I got an extra hour of time (Wyoming in on Mountain Time), I decided to go on beyond Cheyenne to Laramie, which is where I stayed last night.
As I awakened this morning, I looked out the window and discovered it snowed overnight. About 4 inches fell. It’s still snowing just a little bit at 0700.
I crossed the mountains with little difficulty, though I traversed it doing between 34-50mph depending upon conditions.
I happened upon some unfortunate travelers, who identified themselves as being from Napa Valley, California. Their Toyota pickup truck/SUV thingy slipped off the road and flipped on its side. Though I didn’t witness the event, as I passed them, I saw a woman getting out of the opened side door, which alerted me that it was a recent event. I slowed down and stopped, turned around and put on my trauma nurse gear. Fortunately, the only injuries were a scraped elbow. Thanks be to God, eh? A UPS big truck driver had stopped, along with another female driver of a Ford 250 crew cap pick up, who let the three women get in with her. Shortly, a state DOT truck stopped by and surveyed the damage and attempted to contact the Highway Patrol. Seeing everything was under control, I left.
High wind gusts in several places, in conjunction with icy roads made travel over the mountain from Laramie treacherous.
Today, I made Reno, NV around 8:30pm PST, and am staying the evening with a relative of a friend in Lake Tahoe. Norm is back in Hartselle with his mother to attend his uncle Dean’s funeral in B’ham. Dean was a highly decorated WWII veteran and died recently.
Norm said to call him for instructions on how to start the Ferrari, but I politely declined, saying that, “perhaps it would be better for me to wait for you.”
It’s close to bed time for me, so I’ll wrap things up for now.
Sacramento, CA is my destination tomorrow, which is where I’ll need to get my California Nursing License. Why Alabama doesn’t honor other state’s nursing licenses (it’s called reciprocity - for example, your driver license is good in all 50 states, but my Nursing license is not) is beyond me. Sacramento is a little over 100 miles away, so I’ll be able to “sleep in,” which for me means not setting the alarm. I’ll probably be up around 6:30am, anyway. It seems my body does that kind of thing these days.
I’ll keep you updated.
Kind regards,
Kevin
