In the Blink of an Eye

There's a huge cap for a nuclear reactor coming through the desert at 5 mph. It's too big to go under over-passes, so it takes the really long way around on its destination to AZ. For days we heard in the media that it was heading our way, stirring up lots of interest in people who maybe just want to see something really big being driven on the highways and byways. I drove by it today -- just because I could -- and there were lots of people looking at it and taking pictures.

Last night, it left I-10 to travel Highway 111 through PS, then onto a major road that crosses I-10 and heads toward my neck of the woods. I'm not sure how this route works, but the thing is parked on a side street and slated to head out tonight for the very long, very S-L-O-W crawl up the 2 big grades, through all the little cities between here and points east, and then make its way back down to I-10 and across the Colorado River into AZ. It only moves at night as it completely blocks any roadway it takes.

An elderly couple drove out Highway 111 about midnight last night, perhaps to see this event in person. They pulled way off the road, but were killed when a black Mercedes SUV plowed into their parked vehicle. The driver of the Mercedes was allegedly driving erratically (DUI?) prior to the accident and had to leave the roadway to hit the car and kill the occupants therein. The driver who caused the accident is in the hospital with a broken leg and some other minor injuries.

I was thinking about all of this as I headed back down the hill after sharing a wonderful lunch and gab sessions with some of my Spring Students this afternoon. As I started down the first grade, the speeding truck behind me suddenly veered into the center neutral lane and across the two lanes of on-coming traffic before realizing that he was head-on in the traffic coming up the hill. He jerked the wheel and skidded back into my lane going down the hill -- without hitting anyone in the process. I have no idea how he missed all of us. I had quickly changed lanes to the far right, so he had a bit more room to maneuver than he had when he crawled up my bumper, but not much.

It is amazing how smoothly all the vehicles on a roadway can slow as one to create a path for the driver who is all over the road.

Well, he kept going, speeding down the grade ahead of all the rest of us. I'm sure that the drivers he narrowly missed had to change their tighty whities as it was that close, and my mind projected what's headed the same way tonight: the huge assembly of axels, wheels, and engines moving a 150-ton cap for a nuclear reactor up the same roadway. I hope that the drivers are as alert tonight as we all were at 3:30 this afternoon; if not, we could have more traffic fatalities marking the route.

UPDATE: The rig made it all the way to YV, where it was discovered to have a flat tire that has to be replaced before it can continue the journey. Well, there are about 3 dozen tires all in all, so I'm not sure why 1 tire makes a difference, but whatever. It's heading east after the tire is changed, through JT, 29, and then to the turn back toward I-10. Never realized how much is involved in these kinds of product deliveries, but it seems to me that it would have been easier to strap the darned thing onto the back of the plane that transports the space shuttles from one landing site to another and just git 'er done.