2004-11-28 - 7:05 p.m.
Thanksgiving Part Two
There was a line of us, about five, crawling over Rabbit Ears Pass. The snow was slick and blinding. When we could, we saw that we were on our side of the yellow line, but drove mostly over the white line dividing the two lanes. I thought it could not get much worse when the rain flash froze in a sheet over my windshield and I responded with a blast of the wiper fluid and by turning the defrost on quick and hot. This made the truck cab too hot to wear the coat I unintentionally left on. In shrugging it off, very careful not to lose control of the vehicle, I pulled a neck muscle which I spent the next three hours stretching to ease the pain.
In Steamboat Springs, after a descent into the valley which I compared to a woman--both beautiful and dangerous--I asked the gas station attendant how bad the roads were to Craig. He could not understand my words, but accustomed to the questions commonly asked by travelers, he responded with the distance. Well, I could read the milage posts, so that was unhelpful and I tried again. I really wanted to know what to mentally prepare for. So far I survived by staying aloof from the danger, and succumbed to the fact that I would not arrive home before five if I wanted to stay alive. He estimated snow, but the roads were clear, just long, between Steamboat Springs and Grand Junction.
On the home stretch I was relaxing beneath the wide, pink sunset when a good sized rock whizzed up and popped a star in the windshield startling me. Clint was not going to like this part of the story. Bob, of course, would laugh in disbelief at my misfortune.
After removing my belongings, I drove the filthiest truck I had seen in a long time into the front parking lot, then drug myself into the office. I immediately turned around to drive a woman home. I felt so sorry that Bob had to clean the truck, but not after I learned that his wake-up call that morning was a prank. Mostly at my expense, the two stood laughing for about twenty minutes before we left for home. It was great to be back.
At times I am discouraged by the composition of my team, but I miss them so very much when I am not at work. I will miss them when we start to shuffle around with promotions and new openings, but I know that they will always be a phone call away and replaced by more people I will miss. It is a warm feeling. I absolutely love my job!
