Bravado

[stilltrucking]

Or how my fears lead me to try to act brave, . Small town in Colorado over on the western slope, onions tons of onions, after I load up the farmer tells me that there is a severe winter storm warning. I sit there trying to think what to do, I listen on the CB for west bound traffic that has just crossed over to find out what is happening on the summit. One driver "Cowboy" says he is going to try and make it. I am ashamed because I am so afraid of the mountain. I shame myself into trying it too. It is okay starting out but a couple thousand feet up it starts to snow. They just don't make snowflakes like that back in Baltimore, each on as big as a silver dollar, big fluffy snow flakes gently drifting down. In an instant the road is covered. But I can still follow Cowboy's tire tracks. and then the tracks disappear, I am on virgin snow.. Either he got off somewhere or the snow is falling so fast now that it is filling in his tracks, although i can still hear him on the radio. Suddenly I remember what the farmer said about not going up if I can not see daylight between the mountain and the clouds. I noticed that when I first started but merely in passing, because if cowboy was going i did not want to chicken out. But there was a feeling of "this is wrong"
Now I realize how wrong. Finally I can make no more headway, I have down shifted all the way to the low side but her drivers are still spinning out. Finally she just stops. Every thing is quite and beautiful, I suppose this would be a good time to check out a thesaurus to find a few words to describe my feeling, serene, an oceanic feeling, like standing in the glory of creation, awe and peace,

Then The truck began to slide backwards down the mountain. It jackknife slightly and stops again, daylight is fading fast and all I am thinking about now is putting some flares or triangles out to warn any other fools coming up behind be and keep them crashing into me. The other fools turn out to be yuppies in land rovers and jeeps with tons of skies on top. I am running around like a frantic chicken trying to get those warnings out and they watch me in bewilderment. Finally one stops to ask me what i am doing, and he tells "don't worry about it nobody is coming up here tonight" I he know means no other fools like you in a forty ton truck.