Dust in the Wind

It's hot in Georgia, we saw 95 degrees F today. I'm riding home in afternoon GA 400 commuter traffic in an open-face helmet, when suddenly I feel like my mouth and ears are being sandblasted. I begin scanning the horizon for the source of the sand or grit that is peppering me. For a couple of miles, I cannot locate the source. I use my gloved left hand to cover my face below the protective glasses that are keeping the abrasive out of my eyes and steer with my throttle hand.

A few miles later, I begin to make out what looks like a fertilzer spread truck way up ahead in the right hand lane. Can't be, Public Safety regulations require them to tarp a load. I ride on and the sand blasting intensifies. As I get closer I can see a mound of fertilizer above the sides of the hopper body on the spread truck and a cloud of brown dust above it.

A BMW is right on his tail. The front bumper, hood and windshield of someone's fine German engineered automobile is receiving the most effective method of removing paint, sand blasting. I manage to get along side the spread truck and out of the "jet wash" of the fertilizer cloud that is pelting all of the northbound lanes. As I get along side the cab, I notice the driver's window is down, so I yell, "Tarp that load." The driver appears to laugh as he continues driving along in the right hand lane with his left turn signal on just as it has been since I got close enough to see the truck.

Thanks Southern States and the driver headed north on GA 400 Thursday at 5:15pm for sandblasting all the cars headed home from work. Y'all might want to be aware that the Georgia Department of Public Safety requires drivers to secure all loads so they do not escape. Reference Georgia Codes: 40-6-248 and 40-6-254. Feel free to look them up at: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/hottopics/gacode/default.asp

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