Better Days

Now that I am a trucker, things get better with time and experience. I remember one of the early trips took me to Center, Colorado.
After loading a roof system at the Truss Joist factory in Boise, I was routed through Utah again. This took me through Salt Lake City, Spanish Fork and over Soldier's Summit to travel via Moab, Utah and Cortez, Colorado. The thing I was not aware of was Wolf Creek Pass. As I headed East out of Pagosa Springs, it looked like I was headed into a box canyon.
The further I went the more it looked like there was no way over the mountain from where I was. The highway, if you could call it that, suddenly began a series of switch backs and twenty mile an hour turns and a seven or eight percent grade. The old B61 Mack I was herding had me down to second and under in the Tri-plex transmission. We are traveling at a whopping ten miles per hour.
After about eight miles of up grade we finally made the summit and looked at a sign warning truckers of six miles of seven per cent down grade ahead. No Jake Brake on a Thermodyne Mack Engine, so second and over was a pretty good gear selection for down the mountain, after stopping for a brake adjustment, (no self adjusting slack adjusters back then).
Leaving the summit, I soon found out I needed to gear down to slow the truck and save my brakes from burning. Down through the tunnel and in the valley, through Del Norte and on to Center we went. It went a little better than Orville "Hauli'n Chickens" (from the song "Wolf Creek Pass"). He was headed West and had the tunnel on the wrong side of the mountain.
This adventure ended with unloading at the new high school gym in Center and I was sent back to Boise empty. This freight was based on round trip rate per mile. It would be good to be home for the week end.
Remember to Truck Safely out There.