Home from the Road

Posted Mon Jul 26, 2010 in Travel

We are home and finally off the road. It is good to be in my own house and I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. The trip was good and the work was good and it was good to see friends and my kids. But, it’s so good to be home.

We left Ely this morning at a reasonable time — maybe 0900 or so. The extra hour from the time change crossing into Nevada yesterday was a boon. I think we all rose a little earlier. It meant we got onto the road earlier and that is a good thing.

We had rain most of the morning and into the afternoon. We had medium to heavy showers driving through the basin and range country. The spray from some of the heavy trucks made passing difficult. But, we made good time and kept after it.

I should have stopped in Eureka to refuel. But, it was raining and there was utility construction — the road was all torn up. I gaged the remaining fuel and believed we would have plenty to get to Austin with a safety factor. So, we kept moving.

I will say I was a little nervous climbing the range just east from Austin. The reserve fuel indicator was illuminated. I thought we’d have 20 miles to spare, at the least. Still, I don’t like having less than a quarter-tank of fuel in Nevada. There is a whole lot of nothing out there.

But, we rolled down the west side of the range into Austin, being careful because local LEO likes to write speeding tickets to improve local finances. We pulled into the station and I refueled while Wife and Young Son took a bio-break. About the time I finished refueling, Young Son exited the facility. So I gave him the car keys and he gave me the head key. “Think you can pull the car over there?” I asked, indicating the flat parking area just west from the depot.

He nodded, “Yes.” So, I watched him climb into the pilot’s seat and fire up the engine. He rev’ed the engine pretty hard. “Damn that sounds good,” I thought to myself, also grinning because he forgot to engage the transmission.

I watched him pull the vehicle to the side, being careful to maneuver between things. It was easy and he handled it well. He’ll do fine.

After my bio-break, I entered the store to see if the coffee was fresh. It was still cool and I was tired. Fortunately, the attendant was just brewing fresh, which made me very happy. They even had mini-moos for lightener. I picked out a ham-and-cheese sandwich for a snack, paid, and headed back for the car.

Wife and I teased Young Son about forgetting to engage the transmission. That was fun. Wife unwrapped the sandwich while I pulled back onto U.S. 50 heading west. I was happy to have fuel and glad for the break. I munched my sandwich while watching for the local LEO in case he set up somewhere in town where the limit is 25 mph.

We exited town and I ran the cruise back up to 80 mph (GPS clocked — the speedometer is 4 mph slow). We put on some music, munched, and chatted a bit. The rain let up on the west side of Austin. Visibility was good, road conditions were good, and traffic was fairly light. Wife and Young Son dozed, as they often do.

Some miles west from Austin I came on a Suburban emblazoned with the claim “Best seamstress in the World” on the side. The tag read SEXAUER, whatever the hell that is. It was a PRK tag as well. That probably explains everything — the land of fruits, flakes, and nuts. The van was just pulling back onto the highway from the shoulder, so I passed.

A few miles down the road, the Sub pulled in behind me, but too close for highway speeds. I thought “350 miles of damned-near empty road, and this ID-10-T is tailgating me.” We caught up to a pickup truck with a couple of bikes in the bed, so I passed and watched. Yep, the tailgater tailgated the other truck. It hung behind the truck a long time before passing and eventually catching up to me, falling in behind me again.

“Shit.” What I didn’t want was someone that close to my tail. If I needed to brake hard (oncoming LEO) then it would not be good. Especially given the Sub-driver appeared to be brain-dead. So, I backed off the accelerator more and more until I was running about 60 mph. The other driver took the hint, passed me, and motored on.

It wasn’t very far down the road before the Sub-driver pulled in behind the next slow-mover and did the same thing — hanging on their tail about 40 feet back, much too close to react at highway speeds and too close to see around to pass. I caught up too and stayed a couple hundred feet back, watching.

The Sub-driver wouldn’t pass. I have no idea why, because there were several opportunities.

“I don’t trust that driver,” Wife said, “if you pull out to pass, he’ll probably pull out at the same time.”

“I’ll tap the horn so they know we’re coming past…” I waited for a clear spot, laid on the accelerator, and tapped the horn a couple of times as I passed. I fell back into my lane and watched. Soon, the Sub-driver decided to pass too, pulled out, and executed a pass.

Figuring the driver would do the same thing to me again, I hammered it hoping I could put enough distance between me and the Sub-driver so I could fall back to my target speed and run without a tailgater.

After passing a couple more slow-movers, there was 1–2 miles between us and I backed off some, re-engaging the cruise control. But, the driver gained on me so I pressed it a little harder and ran pretty hot all the way to Fallon, where I finally lost the Sub-driver.

Good riddance. Tailgaters who won’t pass and then do and won’t go make me very nervous.

We considered stopping Fallon for a bite, but none of us were really hungry so we continued on toward home. Traffic west from Fallon and east from Carson City tends to be a bit heavier, so more care is required. Traffic wasn’t very heavy until we were approaching Dayton so we made good time.

We ran into rain again near Dayton — a group of thundershowers formed up over the Carson Range near Minden and were advancing northwest. The overcast sky kept the temperature moderate and made driving easy on the eyes. We broke for a bite at the DQ in Carson City, then stopped to refuel the last time and drove the remainder of the way home.

We had thundershowers and a bit of hail here at the house. It reminded me both of Texas and an afternoon long ago in Missouri when Dad, Daughter, and I stood on Dad’s front porch watching a thunderstorm. That wasn’t long before Dad died and is one of my favorite memories of time spent with him and Daughter.