THE FIRST HORROR STORY FROM MY MOVE TO SANTA CRUZ...

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- A truck carrying 43,000 pounds of beer that overturned Thursday on Highway 17 blocked lanes for nearly four hours at the summit in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The tractor-trailer from Oakland headed to Watsonville overturned on the highway just after 6 a.m. north of Glenwood Drive. The driver of the beer truck was not injured. The California Highway Patrol had to divert traffic onto Summit Road as crews cleared the roadways.

The bottled beer was shrink wrapped onto pallets that had been loaded in the truck.  During the cleanup, southbound traffic was backed up to the Lexington Reservoir and northbound traffic was backed up to the Glenwood cutoff. 

CHP said it appears the truck driver was speeding when he lost control of the vehicle. "According to our only witness and some of the physical evidence it appears that the driver pulled into a turnout and tried to stop but wasn't able to. (He) lost control of the rig and went off the road up an embankment and slid 200 feet," Davide Bruestle of the California Highway Patrol said.

CHP said the driver could be cited but an investigation is ongoing.

43,000 pounds of beer.... now that's alcohol abuse.