Yesterday when I was driving up US-550 toward Durango, CO, I saw what looked like a small rottweiler puppy lying beside the highway. There isn't a breakdown lane in that stretch so the little doggy was lying in a narrow, a tire's width, space between the pavement and the weedy shoulder. I imagined Mom moving the kids the previous night and little Pokey trying to keep up before the next car came careening down the highway. It was probably too dark and the driver was probably distracted by the mother and puppies on the other side of the road to notice Pokey was trying to run across, too.

Or, some kid wasn't paying attention and dropped their stuffed rottweiller toy puppy out of the window of the minivan and Daddy refused to stop and get it. Well, there isn't a breakdown lane so there was nowhere to stop.

I couldn't really tell what exactly was lying beside the road because the highway was narrow and I'd been on the road for quite a few hours already. I'd like to think some little girl is really pissed at Daddy right now because the thought that Pokey died trying to cross the road isn't something I want to think about.

If you're driving down I-35 in Oklahoma you'll see that at exit 86 you can go to Wayne and Payne. There're on opposite sides of the interstate, if that matters.

Did you know Hereford, TX, is the Beef Capital of the World? Drove through it on my way to Friona, TX, the Cheeseburger Capital of the World, to pick up a load of beef I'm not taking to Portland. Interesting thing about Friona, there doesn't seem to be a lot of burger places other than the Dairy Queen. Is a dairy queen the gay guy who milks the cows?

One thing I encounter quite a bit is feed lots. You know, well I suppose if you don't get out on the highways and byways of America that much you wouldn't, those big expanses of land where beefies are getting fattened so they can be turned into "It's what's for dinner tonight." The aroma of beef shit and piss on a hot summer afternoon is so undesirable it makes me wonder why anyone would want to live in the Beef Capital of the World. There are a lot of feed lots in Hereford.

Finally, last night I'd gone to bed early (1800) because I had to get up at 0100 to get to our yard in Salt Lake by 0800. I woke up with a start because there was still light coming in through the blind. I looked at my watch and it was eight o'clock. I did not look at the sleeper clock which is on 24 hrs or the instrument panel clock which shows AM and PM. I got myself together and was on the road by eight-thirty. I drove for nearly 20 miles until I finally began to absorb some of the evidence of the actual hour. One major clue was the setting sun. I assumed it was rising. In the west? Something was horribly amiss because if the Earth had altered its axial spin everything wouldn't be so okey-dokey. Finally, I looked at the clock on the instrument panel and noticed the PM under 08:56. I had looked forward to at least six hours of sleep, but ended up with only four and a half.