Sleighride

27 JANUARY 2014, 22:57 Briefly, as I persuade myself to sleep...
The past week has been amusing, and frustrating, and infuriating, and terrifying--
--and flippin' COLD!

So cold my company has overridden its own policies on idling, to keep from having to pay for dozens of jump starts. The truck runs day and night.

So cold the engine threatens to overheat--because of ice building up on the grille and keeping air away from the radiator.

So cold I drive hundreds of miles without thinking about anything but driving.

That's not usually the case. I spend less time daydreaming at the wheel than most of you, I suspect. But I still do it. Autopilot works fairly well, much of the time.

But not now. You only have to feel a forty-ton truck come unstuck once to change your perspective. It's happened to me four or five times this week. The main reason I've stayed out of ditches is creative cowardice.

I don't take chances. I stay well behind you. I slow down enough to get on your nerves. I make no sudden moves.

A gust washes over us. The wind working its way through the window seals goes from a mutter to a roar. The drive wheels drift slowly to the right.

I turn the steering wheel slightly to the left. The tractor thinks about that for a second or so, and the drive wheels drift slowly back.

I breathe again.

If I ever had to swerve, or hit the brakes--well, I don't know. So I spend much time watching for excuses to swerve or hit the brakes. And eliminating them. A car just ahead? A swiftly-approaching curve? Not if I can help it.

Don't know if this makes much sense. I suddenly decided I'd have to say all this to sleep well. If you get something out of it, I'll be glad. If not, maybe I'll have something more coherent to say later.

Ah. I feel better already. Good night.