At Saturday's auction I asked Frank if the sandhill cranes were back at Bucklin this year.

Not the last time he looked.

So yesterday morning I gave a look as I went whizzing past at 65.4 mph. And there they were. Two large, brown shapes standing side-by-side in the wetlands south of the reservoir.

Good. They are part of an expanding sandhill population, and have only been using this spot for a few years. Had a chick last year.

Ever heard of highway hypnosis? A common occurance on our empty roads, and presumably a source of many fatalities. Discovered I was under the influence yesterday.

Was only about 10-15 miles from Central City, on the narrow two-lane "killer highway", where the road drops down into a small valley, and then climbs straight up the other side. As I dropped in, I could see a semi south-bound in my lane (the north-bound one), passing another semi.

But the semi being passed was gaining speed going downhill, and by the time I was halfway down my side of the valley (and they were halfway down their side, side-by-side) I could see the passing truck was not going to make it.

So I dropped onto the shoulder, putting the white edge stripe under my seat, the reflector posts whipping past my mirror. The semi being passed edged over to his right as well.

And then I waited to see if I was going to die. Watching the passing semi s l o w l y shift into the middle of the highway as I sped towards them. At 65.4 mph.

At the bottom of the valley, we passed each other. Three abreast.

As the bozo always says on the tv show of real-life police chases, we missed each other "by inches." I pulled back up onto the road, and mentally filed away the fact that we had not collided. I did not die.

It wasn't until I topped the valley that it occurred to me that I could have kicked off cruise control and slowed down, which may have allowed the passing truck to get back into his own lane.

Or even pulled off the road altogether. Either would have been preferable to a head-on collision. But those options never occurred to me.

Highway hypnosis.

Five miles from Central City, the state radio comes alive. Had been full of traffic as I started out two hours ago, various folks checking on where other drivers were, who was going to get the room keys, etc. And then quiet.

But now it came alive again, on the local truck-to-truck frequency.

Playing the theme song from Rawhide.

No explanation, no taunts, no conversation at all. Just that "Rollin', rollin', rollin', Rawhide!" music.

Two miles later it was The Good, the Bad and the Ugly