Saturday. A day of bright winter sunshine, medium blue sky, and the occasional cloud. The Trucker and his Passenger were rolling northwest on Route 80, west of Laramie, Wyoming.
Colors in this view are few. Gray roadway. Yellow-brown grasses and scrubby bushes on the rolling hills. Black, tree covered mountains in the distance. A light, white snow cover on the ground. And the aforementioned blue sky and white clouds.
No buildings or living creatures are in sight, nor evidence thereof.
Zig zagging along the left side of the road, multiple miles of rust colored snow fencing, most standing perpendicular to the road. Snow blown through slats in the fencing lay on the right side of the highway, a dark dirty brown. Yep, that's another color. Here, sand is spread on the road for traction against snow and ice, which mingles with the sand and is flung on the shoulder by plows.
And have we mentioned wind? Oh yes. It has no color. The evidence of it cannot even be seen, but for infrequent little snow tornadoes whipping across the road. Even on a sunny day, with minimal snow cover, a whiteout is possible. The road can go from clear and dry to snow covered and slick in an instant, and back again. And further, when the rising hills are in the right position relative to the winding road, a massive wind tunnel can be created.
But this wind can be felt. Quite. The Passenger mentioned to the Trucker - this wind will do a number on the fuel mileage? His response - "Fuel mileage is the least of my current concerns." This stretch, from Laramie to Rawlins, is most likely to be challenging because of wind. And the current load is on the light side - a kit with the components to construct a gazebo, large rolls of plastic wrap/labels for food products, and large spools of wire, in varying weights. Roughly 25,000 pounds, out of a possible 40,000.
The Trucker's full attention is on the road. Steering carefully, feeling the hit of wind on the truck, countering the blasts, directing the truck's angle. 'Cause if the trailer goes over, we is all goin' over!
The upgrades and downgrades are getting steeper, the hills higher, the snow deeper. Ahead, far in the distance, barely visible snow capped peaks rise up and merge with clouds. Is this terrain prairie, desert, or foothills of the mountains? The Trucker's answer to this question, "Yep!"
Snow fencing, and wind shaped snow.
The windshield was sparkly clean this morning....until the wind began...
Dirty brown snow on the right shoulder...flung by wind and plow.
No comments:
Post a Comment