Watching people

Today, we had the misfortune of spending a decent amount of time at the Flying J in Caldwell. It seems the Blazer has an issue with the fuel pump or fuel filter, and the end result = no go. The worst part, we had just fueled the mule and it had a full tank. We got to travel I-84 on the shoulder for a few miles to the truck stop, which isn't nearly as exciting as you'd think. The fun part came later.

When it was clear the truck wasn't going anywhere and we were waiting to be rescued, we killed time watching folks go in and out of the c-store. I know there have been all kinds of news reports and whatnot about how fat Americans are, but seeing it in person was sorta interesting.

Then again, maybe it's more indicative of the type of people who frequent truck stops. We saw the "cute girl" and her fat friend, the unhappily married couples, the old men, the churchies, the alcoholics and the truck drivers.

Truck drivers, it turns out, can be divided into two categories: rail thin and so fat they have body parts that never get washed. Many of them wear cowboy and/or Nascar attire. They almost all carried Thermoses (Thermi??) or huge mugs for soda. The thin ones usually wore super tight jeans and super tight t-shirts and the fat ones, well... I'm still scarred from seeing the exposed white belly of the white whale. If you've ever watched Viva la Bam and saw the episode where they go to Brazil and Don Vito gets waxed... Vito looked like Adonis compared to this blubbery excuse for a human. I think I need to go vomit.

Airports are still No. 1 for people watching, but truck stops, at least in Redneck County, Idaho, are pretty damned interesting. Hey, you get what you pay for.

Postscript:
As for the Blazer, it's going to get its demons exorcised, quickly, we hope. That was a hell of a ride getting it to the garage. Hope I don't have to do that any time soon, but I will say I have new-found respect for pink Geo Trackers and I'm glad the boyfriend is a strong dude. Steering a 2-ton beast with no power steering and stopping it without power brakes looked like anything but fun. I guess some people are just good like that.