TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Craig's run into Colorado would have him being too close for comfort on a fire that was started by a lightning strike.  I had casually mentioned to him, when he got this run into Colorado, if he just might be hindered by the fires there, but with the main fire being battled in the Colorado Springs area, he was confident his run into Denver would be problem free.  Little did he know about the lightning strike Pine Ridge Fire burning near De Beque, CO.

When he called me on the phone, he said he could see the fire off in the distance, and that Interstate 70 was being closed down.  The Department of Transportation was having the big rigs stage while they had passenger vehicles take an alternate route.  Craig was the lead truck in a long line of trucks that had backed up behind him.  Finally the DOT employee hopped onto his running board and had Craig get on his CB radio to instruct the truckers behind him to follow him.

The DOT truck escorted them onto the alternate route, and Craig could see, even in the darkness of the night, that this road was going to get interesting.  He told me there were times he wasn't sure that his trailer was going to make the turn as the curves were that tight and with it being so dark, he wasn't able to track his trailer as he normally would.  As usual, I'm always glad he tells me this stuff after the fact.

Even with the delay of the fire, they made their appointment time in Denver and were quickly unloaded.  They were then sent to Holcomb, Kansas to a Tyson meat plant for their next assignment.  It was in the middle of nowhere, and instead of car dealerships in the small towns, there were John Deere and farm equipment dealerships.  They ended up being there a day waiting for their load, which allowed Justin to get a reset on his driving hours as they headed back towards California yesterday afternoon.

The trailer was loaded a bit awkardly, light on the drives and heavy on the tandems, but Craig was confident with a few hard brakes, that they might be able to shift the weight a bit more onto the nose of the trailer.  For their sake, I hope they are right, as they should be back in the company yard in Bloomington, CA sometime this evening.