Day 3- March 11, 2007

I was a little worried when they said it was going to storm big time overnight in OK City with possible golf ball sized hail. Luckily the hail stayed south of the city, but there was a driving rain that lasted well into the morning. After setting out a change of clothes, I re-packed the car before the rain started last night. Good thing I did. It was raining sideways in OK City when I got up this morning. It was 54 degrees.

I left around 0700 hours CDT and drove the first hour through a hard, driving rain and thunderstorm. The rain stopped an hour west of OK City, but it would remain overcast and rain off and on throughout the day. At one point in the storm, I ran over something metallic that rumbled as it hit the undercarriage of the car. When I stopped for breakfast I checked to make sure nothing was leaking, but I couldn’t see anything.

It was in the 40s and windy when I stopped in Amarillo for gas ($2.46/gallon). I heard some Amarillo radio traffic, but nothing exciting. It was a boring drive on I-40 today with a lot of construction, which meant long segments with only one lane of traffic and 60 mph speeds.

I lost an hour overnight due to Daylight Savings Time kicking in, but I gained back that hour at the New Mexico State line when I entered the Mountain Time Zone.

Just as I was coming into Albuquerque (around 1500 hours) my “check engine” light on the dashboard came on. Maybe something was damaged from earlier in the day? I got off the freeway at the closest fire station and asked them about the closest Chevrolet dealer. They told me of one about two miles away. They also told me I missed a working fire by two hours. I just saw TV coverage of the fire on the 6PM.

Just as I was trying to get photos of Engine 13, Ladder 13 and Rescue 3 they received an alarm. It was for a reported fire in Engine 3’s first-due area. The engine and ladder responded. While they were gone I got a shot of the Rescue. When the engine & ladder returned I also got photos of them. It was still mostly overcast, but shortly after I left Station 13 it cleared up.

The AFD firefighters at Station 13 told me about some motels close by and I checked into one of them. I was going to visit more stations before the sun went down, but not with the check engine light on. I’ll drive my car the two miles to the dealer tomorrow morning and find out what’s up. Maybe I’ll be in Albuquerque longer than I had planned? At least Albuquerque has high-speed internet access for my Verison cell phone. It’s a very fast broadband service and when I called Verizon to have it activated for the trip, they told me that the first month was free because of a promotion they were running.

I’ve heard a number of AFD alarms dispatched since I arrived. They use a Motorola trunked system here and I started picking them up over 50 miles out. That’s because their radio towers are up on top of the high mountain top just east of here.

That’s about it for now. We’ll see what happens tomorrow with the car. My trip itinerary had me arriving in Phoenix sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Your Roving Reporter