Day Nineteen

Day Nineteen
27 January, '10

The Sapp Brothers truck stop in west Omaha is also known as a transfer stop. This is a place where independent truckers go to after dropping one load and waiting to find another to a place that works for them next. This is where I met Pat Callahan. He's from Atacosta, Texas running loads up and down the plains, and this time of year trying to find loads to drive around the weather. We commiserated about ice in Iowa, blizzards in the North and the upcoming Alberta Clipper. He told me longingly of his friends who played golf at home in Texas last weekend in the 70's (it's Nebraska in January - it's 20ºF - and he's outside in a T-shirt); and, he's trying to avoid driving a load into impending sub-zero temps. We spent time talking as he showed me his cab and I wished him luck. I headed west up the Platte River with a blue January sky and forests of skeleton trees along the way and the road dominated by truckers. Two, four, five at a time running together: this time of year the road is theirs, jockeying mostly with locals. It was a beautifully easy drive as I went from the river lowlands up into the high prairies and then high plains into Cheyenne.

What a way to end this part of the journey.

Jim & Ole Yeller,

PoD - Pat Callahan.