It's across the interstate. Fountain, Colorado, is famous for "The Blast," the result of a passenger train colliding with part of a freight train carrying 18 tons of explosive naptha. Today the event is celebrated with a street dance in July.

My blood test in Hays went off without any problems at all. Unlike those people in Kentucky, these guys knew a customer when they saw one and were more than willing to test my blood. Unfortunately, my INR came out 3.3. Not significantly higher, but still up. They're dropping the extra half milligram I take on Mondays and Thursdays. A half milligram might not sound like much, but I guess it has a significant effect on clotting time. I read the entry in Wiki, but it's too technical for me to summarize. Go there if you dare.

Yesterday, as I was driving on US-24 from Limon, CO, to Colorado Springs, I came across the small town of Simla. Just to let you know, there are no other towns in the entire USA with that name, but Simla, CO, is pretty damned small; total area is one-half square mile on which live 663 people (2000 census).

If you know anything about India, you've probably heard of Simla. The more famous city has 163,000 people (2001) on 25 square kilometers. Surprisingly, their elevations are quite close with Simla, CO, at 5978 ft. and the other Simla at 6988. The one in Colorado is out in the plains with mountains in the far distance. The other is in the mountains.

So why have a Simla in the plains of Colorado? My guess is that is has to do with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railraod that used to run past Simla. Railroads came up with a lot of the place names in America because every siding had to have an identifying name. I imagine someone in the Rock Island organization had been to Simla in India, or maybe worked on the narrow guage railroad that climbs up to that city, and put that name on that siding.

Today, I deliver my load down the road in Pueblo and then drive over to Lamar for the night and most of tomorrow. I don't have to be in Liberal, KS, until 2154 tomorrow night, but since it is a beef load, I won't leave Liberal until the following morning.

We were planning on scattering my mother's ashes this Saturday or Sunday, but this load delivers on Sunday. I'd hate to have to reschedule the dispersal, but that's one of the difficult aspects of doing this job. You miss family events, it's just a part of the job.

Whew! My boss just let me know he'll try to get me authorization to drop the load. That saves me a lot of worry I don't need.