Monday, October 5, 2009

My Third Day in Texas and Still No BBQ!

Well I'm still here in Texas. Woke up at the Flying J in Waco this morning. It was still wet and cloudy. A few lite sprinkles here and there with the temps around 60. My pickup time at the Tractor Supply DC was at noon, but you never know when they may actually have you ready.

They were just 2 miles down the road, so I went over there about 7:30 AM to check in. Nope, not ready. But I did drop my trailer there none the less. There were a few geocaches within a half mile, but the gloomy overcast weather dis-swayed me from finding them. So I bobtailed down to the Pilot Travel Center just another 2 miles down I-35.

There I waited for a while contemplating McDonald's breakfast next door, but decided on the Little Debbie Nutty Butty bars I had in the truck. The gloomy weather really can have an adverse affect on you sometimes!

Finally around 10:00, I went and topped off my fuel tanks before heading back over to Tractor Supply. But still they did not have my load ready. I talked to a few other drivers who were coming and going. One was surprised about my load considering his was ready but wasn't due until 6PM. Sure rub it in!

But it didn't bother me so much because I couldn't deliver until 7AM tomorrow and it was only 300 miles away. No problem! Well they finally got me done right at 12:00 O'clock. I hooked up and I was on my way.

Instead of taking I-35 south to San Antonio, then I-37 over to Corpus Christi, I decided to take a slower but more direct route. It was about 20 miles shorter down US77, but time wise longer due to the small towns along the way. But it was a new route and I had plenty of time to spare.

Another reason to take this new route was to find some geocaches. I pretty much already got those on I-35 having been that way many times. I managed to find 4 today at each of the old picnic areas in which I was able to get the big truck into.

I was also hoping to find a BBQ place to eat at today. My third day in Texas and I still had not yet had any BBQ beef brisket and sausage! THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT! Where I passed the BBQ restaurants that had truck parking available, it was still breakfast time. During lunch or dinner there were none to be found. Plenty of BBQ places, but nowhere could I park 70' of truck and trailer!

Finally, hunger won me over and I pulled into a Mexican restaurant around 5:30 in Refugio, TX. I should have just made a sandwich instead and saved a few dollars. I ordered the beef enchiladas which were OK, but nothing to brag about.

After eating, I continued south on US77 to Corpus Christi, then west on Hwy 141 to Alice, TX. That's where I sit tonight, behind the Tractor Supply store there for my 7AM deliver. They'll get half the load and then I'll drive down about 40 miles to Kingsville where they'll get the other half. But that's tomorrow and I'm getting ahead of myself.

That's my day today. Thanks for dropping in and keeping me company. Use the comment link below to say hi every once in a while. Till next time...

2 comments:

  1. Hey Mark I finally made it home funny i was just on I 77 i picked up in Brownsville Texas i made it as far as the TA and it was taken from me as they said i didnt have the time to deliver well guess what happened they had me bob tail to ORLANDO and funny i recived the same load that i had in Brownsville and then delevered it in Miami and made it home yesterday i wonder sometimes if they really know what there doing lol oh dont you just love tractors supply been there too well its the only place that will stack a load of tractor oil on a pallet of dog food what a mess i had dog food and oil all mixed together hahaha oh well the life of a trucker i guess well have a great day talk again soon
    Charlie

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  2. Hey Charlie. Glad you finally made it home! I'm in Brownsville myself now, getting a load to TN. We'll see how far that goes. I will tell them I have a full clock though so they won't take it away!

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