Trailride Vignettes: Part 1

[Things don’t always go as planned. My first 2020 Walkabout was conceived in good faith and pursued with diligence. It didn’t come together well. It was a reasonable idea but it got pancaked by the truck of external factors. What follows are vignettes from the oft-interrupted process.]

Vignette #1:

It was dark out; not because it was late but because the northern climate spends half the year trying to kill us. That includes blizzards so dense they blot out the sun. The wind was howling and I was shivering.

I was in my workshop (not the one with wood heat). It’s well insulated but a standard 1500-watt heater just wasn’t up to the task. I had a generator outside humming away and a second auxiliary heater going. The two combined were only barely adequate. The window panes were frosting up. Through them I could see no more than ten feet into the maelstrom. I saw nothing but misery and the snowdrift that used to be my truck.

I usually like working from home but this day I was miserable. I was talking to someone on the phone. They were in a clean, properly heated, well-lit office. Imagine the unparalleled luxury of heating that’s provided entirely by unseen forces you can ignore! For once, I was jealous.

“So, we’re going to need some poor sap to go to all the way to Salt Lake and do this job. It’s a lot of work so I won’t ask you but if you know someone who can…”

I glanced at the thermometer. It was -22f. It had warmed to -22f over a long unpleasant day. It was sure to drop to -35f by midnight.

“I’m in.”

“WHAT?”

“I’ll do it. E-mail me the details.”

I hung up the phone. I’d just agreed to a less than ideal work situation. I didn’t care. It was just so damn cold. I’d have driven 2,000 miles to submit to a proctology exam on live TV if it happened where the ambient temperature was above 50.

I’d figure out a way to make a silk purse of this sow’s ear.