While this entry deals with a topic off-campus, it is important nonetheless. Well.....important to those of us who make the commute to and from the communities east of campus (Duvall, Carnation, Monroe). It is the stuff of legends. It is the story of the Blue Truck Lady From Hades (BTLFH).
It all seems innocent enough: a woman in a blue truck with a camper shell, apparently frightened to death of moving vehicles, driving 
under the speed limit. Well under the speed limit. In high traffic times. And she has been known to swerve to discourage anyone from passing her.
I can go on and on, describing the experiences I have lived through personally and try to articulate the trauma experienced by others, but I thought it more appropriate to share the stories told by the actual people who lived through them (pulled from one of the work DLs):
I read a previous thread “BTLFH sighting on Novelty Hill tonight”. I was right behind her tonight – 7:25PM – coming down over Redmond Ridge right up through Duvall. I didn’t clue in until we hit 10MPH winding down Novelty Hill Road. It was like I met someone famous – “I know this truck!”
It wasn’t too bad because I was the second car in the line. But if I were the 15th car (as there were in this lineup) I’d wonder WTF is going on. You’d think she’s transporting volatile chemicals in glass vials.
And another experience:
She drives no more than 15-20mph wherever she goes, even if there are 100 cars she’s holding up – and the speed limit is 45, 50 – doesn’t matter.
Usually encountered during your commute to work or home – I’ve usually seen her on Novelty, but I’ve also seen here on Snoqualmie Valley Road & 124th.
It’s almost funny anymore – no point in losing patience over it
And another:
I think I have told this story before on this alias, but I once saw a guy driving a big truck spend about 10 minutes or so yelling at the Blue Truck Lady from Hell (where did this Hades come from?). The truck driver, I think it was a cement truck, followed her all the way up the twisties to the top of the hill where construction stopped all traffic. The delays were about 15 minutes each way at that construction site and the truck driver got out of his truck and “discussed” the situation with her for the full delay. I was about 2 cars behind and loving it. As soon as we were let through the construction, a miracle happened: she pulled over and let everyone pass.
And another:
I turned off of Novelty onto Avondale this morning and she suddenly appeared in front of me. I am no longer a BTLH virgin. It was voodoo magic – I hadn’t been behind her on Novelty (although the entire line of cars had come to a screeching halt on the curves, I should have guessed it was her). She just appeared! As we cruised along at a whopping 15 MPH going down Avondale, I decided to pass on the left and get a look at her. She doesn’t look like a crazy cat lady, she looks like someone who is petrified of driving. She was gripping the wheel like she was strangling it and had a very worried look on her face. I swear she winked at me when I drove by.
Nobody knows the full story behind BTLFH. What we do know is that the area police have pulled her over on occasion, and our understanding is that she was even threatened with having her license taken away if she continued to be a hazard. It is said that she was let off with a warning and told to only drive in off-hour commute time. But as you can see from these stories, which are all more recent, that she is still out there impacting the ride home, and the legend grows.
Drive on, BTLFH, drive on....
![clip_image002[4]](http://buckleyplanet.typepad.com/cafetour/WindowsLiveWriter/clip_image002%5B4%5D.jpg)
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