Summer Travel Map

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

“Chasing” storms and pulling up short

April 23, 2008
Oklahoma City, OK

Today, it was back to reality. We’ve been so spoiled by the almost perfect weather in the Phoenix area that we knew we’d be in for a shock when “normal” weather crept back into our lives. Well, today, we went to the other extreme.

We started out a little after 6:00 AM from Albuquerque just before dawn. I’ve read that fuel is denser when it’s cold, although this usually seems to be in some sort of scam email. You couldn’t tell the way we climbed the 6-7% grades on the east side of town, never breaking a sweat with the cruise (working today) on 59 MPH.

Although the weather continued to be bright and sunny, we heard about the storms predicted for the plains on The Weather Channel on XM. We caught up to the clouds around Santa Rosa, NM. The drive from Albuquerque east could rival Montana for the moniker “big sky country”, as the landscape is flat with scrub brush as far as the eye can see. We saw a trio of mule deer quietly grazing along the side of the Interstate (on the wrong side of the fence), and a wild turkey poking around in the brush, but no other wildlife (a few “skid” animals, but enough on that).

Just as we came into the town of Santa Rosa (a whole 3 exits on I-40), I saw a truck pulled over to the side about a mile ahead. Custom (and most state laws) dictate that you pull to the left lane to give a breakdown a wide berth, so I did. As we passed, I could see that it was an 18-wheeler that had passed me about an hour earlier. He lost a whole rear wheel assembly from his trailer, and actually started two separate brush fires in the dry grass. One wheel was in flames by the side of the road, and the other, with the brake drum still attached, was burning about 100 yards off the road. He must have lost a wheel bearing or had a dragging brake to cause that much damage. This was a good reminder of why we check these things frequently while traveling!

As we continued in far northeastern New Mexico, it was interesting to see the increase in agriculture (many fields were starting to green or were recently plowed), juxtaposed with the number of abandoned and crumbling buildings along the side of the highway. It reminded me, in the extreme, of many of the older “highways” in New Jersey, where commerce has moved to the malls and new developments and the older plazas fell into decay. The only difference here is that there isn’t any new development around, just buildings that are falling apart along the Interstate. It’s interesting that they don’t even take down the billboards and signs advertising the services that are no longer available. You can see ads for repair services or dining options for miles (think “South of the Border” on I-95), and then find that the place is falling down when you actually get there. It doesn’t pay to believe that roadside signage!

Back to the weather, we caught up with the storm around Amarillo, TX, running into patches of light rain and watching large dark clouds on the horizon. As we traveled across the Texas “panhandle”, we were in and out of the showers. We were running behind the computerized schedule (I may not have Microsoft Streets & Trips calibrated for average speed) by the time we stopped for fuel here at the Flying J truck stop in Oklahoma City, and when I went in to get my receipt, it all broke loose. We had heavy rain, thunder and lightning, small hail, and winds gusting to at least 35-40 MPH. Needless to say, we decided that we’d tuck in between some trucks in the “back lot” rather than drive further tonight. We’re about 3 hours short of our planned destination, but I’ll make it up tomorrow.

Well, even though the body says it is 8:15 PM, the clock says it’s after 10:00 and the 6:00 AM departure will be here before I know it, so I’ll call it a night…

1 comment:

Unknown said...

George -- haven't you heard that it is suppose to be out at 9 and in at 3 !! Enjoy the trip east but be sure to smell the roses and take lots of pics.