midnight
Ben was watching his monitors and missed the glance . Kelly sighed and stared out into the light streaked night of the thruway . The heavy surge of football traffic had distributed itself into the general flow on the road and while all lanes were busy , there were no indications of any overcrowding or jam-ups . Much of the pattern was shifting from passenger to cargo vehicle as it neared midnight . The football crowds were filtering off at each exchange and exit and the California fans had worked into the blue and yellow -- mostly the yellow -- for the long trip home . The fewer passenger cars on the thruway and the increase in cargo carriers gave the troopers a breathing spell . The men in the control buckets of the three hundred and four hundred-ton cargo vehicles were the real pro 's of the thruways ; careful , courteous and fast .