Saturday, 27 July, 2019
Today was an abbreviated day...
Ride Report: 43 Miles, 2,313 Total Miles, 18.1 Avg. mph, 269 Ft. Climbing, 2,937 Calories, and in a bit of an unexpected twist on the day, The Rig bears mention in the ride report - for reasons that will become clear later.
OK - I took this pic last night in anticipation of announcing the completion of Map 7 today when I passed thru Alexander at the far right of the map. However, the day ended about 17 miles short of Alexander. (Cue ominous sounding music. Think... "Jaws" but less watery.)
The day began innocently enough. By now the reader should be aware of Delta's love of early morning selfies, and of his love for fresh tarmac. The first 15 miles out of Dighton looked like this - they hadn't even had a chance to paint the white lines for the shoulders or do the center striping yet. It was that fresh. For those readers who examine my pics for signs of fakery (the same people who believe the lunar landing was faked, BTW) - yes - we were riding east and this early morning pic faces west. It was the only way to get the fresh tarmac to show up. We were both giddy.
And as further proof of the authenticity of my pics, I proffer this shot of a road construction...roller...thingy. They hadn't even had time to cart it off yet. Either that or the locals have an as yet unreported new model of combine. I'm goin with "thingy".
No wheat left - harvest is over. But the corn crop (at least the irrigated variety) looks good out here.
Me with another Kansas "mountain".
Susan told me this morning that she'd first wait for me several miles in to today's ride at a rest stop near Beeler, KS. This is it. When I got there she was present - as always. But I must have arrived early, 'cause I apparently interrupted a clandestine meeting of the Teamsters' Beeler affiliate. Susan acted all normal and everything, but I knew something was up when I left to continue riding and the Tractor/Trailer was still there idling with no driver in the front. Acting like he was asleep in the cab - ha! Do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck? I knew what was up. The New Jersey office has Susan doing a recruiting drive in western Kansas. She's an undercover union agitator!
But a few miles later I was distracted by the latest shiny object and forgot all about teamsters and their nefarious activities. This is it. Apparently the people at Ness City HS are quite proud of their 2019 tracksters. No word on how Jayme, Cynthia, John, Wyatt, Rylee, Tiana, Zoe and the rest of the crew fared...
At Ness City Susan was waiting again, but this time I arrived on time and the local Teamsters had already departed. The reader should note the prominent Kansas "mountain" behind The Rig and appreciate the overall scene for its majesty.
I shortly departed Ness City headed for Alexander, some 20 miles hence. I made it about a mile east of Bazine when my phone rang. The reader may have experienced this - it had that "You better answer" tone to it. Unusual. Normally I don't answer while riding, but when I pulled it out of my jersey pocket (see instructions on yesterday's post on how to go about this while riding a bike) I saw that it was Susan calling. This is even more unusual as she typically tries to avoid calling when I ride. I heard "...mechanical problems with The Rig..." over the sound of the wind rushing past my ear and immediately pulled over. The Rig had died 4 miles east of Ness City - which as fate would have it was about 8 miles behind me. Well, maybe "died" is too strong a word. But it was gonna require a "spa day" as one of my ghost writers called it recently when referring to Delta going to the shop.
Within just a few minutes Susan texted that she had arranged for a pick-up truck to come get me and return me to her location. Also, that it conveniently had a mattress in back upon which Delta could recline as we traveled. I gotta tell ya, these Teamsters have their finger in EVERYBODY's pie. Amazing. So - the truck shows up and I ride back to The Rig. Which after the obligatory call to our roadside assistance provider, and a rather stern lecture by Susan concerning who was paying for what (Susan won), and the mandatory 2 hour wait, resulted in this...
A TEAMSTER COMING TO GET US!
When I looked for Susan, she was nowhere to be found so I asked the wrecker driver if he had seen her. He responded that she had already set up camp in his rig. Of course she had. When I found her, she was clearly happy with her current arrangement and seemed familiar with the layout of a Freightliner. Shocker - I know...
A pic of a DIFFERENT teamster driving - taken from the passenger seat of his rig by yours truly. I prefer mine, she's cuter - and this one has hairy arms. Anyway - I can't describe how exciting this was. Just look at all those shiny gauges, switches, lights and other...things on the dash. This was like being on an Apollo moon mission! Except we had air and didn't die when the windows were down!
The Rig being dropped off by his rig in Hays, KS. Now that The Rig understands drafting, we may have to watch out when Susan next finds herself behind another rig. Our gas mileage from Ness City to Hays was outstanding as a result.
This is us with Phil and his rig. He was a good guy. Originally from Salina and transplanted to Hays a number of years ago. He also drives OTR (Over The Road - I got that from Susan) and told us stories about transporting seismic gear used to search for underground minerals up to Wyoming - in the snow. Not for me, but Susan and Phil were trading war stories like commodities traders on the floor in Chicago. I couldn't get a word in edgewise, so after I looked at all the shiny stuff on the dash I got bored.
So - there's the day in a nutshell. The repair guy has been kind enough to call and say he'll stop by around noon tomorrow (on a Sunday!) to check it out and order the requisite part(s) after doing so. We both think it's the fuel pump. They were already booked for Monday, but say they can get to it Tuesday. The long and short of all this is that I'll fall three days behind the riding schedule. We were gonna stop in Manhattan after three more days riding anyway and may end up staying there an extra day if we get there later than we had planned. So overall, we lose maybe 4 riding days. Not too bad after 2 months on the road. I figured something would crop up while we were on the road, so I'm not surprised that it finally happened.
I Love me some Teamsters.
Till next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment