Friday, November 15, 2019

Brownsville, Friday afternoon.
Trailers were here, but two drivers before me.  They got them, I am stuck here.  I actually decided yesterday, while driving down here, to stop and the get truck washed in Houston at the Blue Beacon.  The truck hadn't been washed in two months, but also an intentional move to get other drivers down here before me.  I didn't know where they were, I just knew the loading times. It was an hour wait at the wash to even get into the bay and then they spent fully 45 minutes washing the truck and trailer, both were filthy. 

I had plenty of on-duty hours available since I didn't have to load the truck - that takes at least 2-1/2 hours.  On the other hand, it rained the entire drive down here and that ate up some time driving in Houston - everyone slows way down. I mean, they slow down far more than necessary.  And, of course, people that panic in such traveling conditions do stupid things in traffic resulting in numerous accidents. 

The worst accident I saw yesterday, however, was not in Houston.  Highway 59, somewhere near Livingston, Texas, there was a tractor-trailer rig parked on the side of the road on the north side.  There were a lot of first responders a the rear of the trailer and when I saw why they were, well, it was an incredible and horrific scene.  A car had smashed into the rear of the parked truck. That was obvious, the truck was on the shoulder of the road and the driver of the car, for whatever reasons, drove right into the trailer.  The speed limit there is 70 mph, from the looks of the collision, yes, that person was doing at least 70.  The entire front end of the car was completely gone.  Just smashed all the way up to the firewall. 

You see stuff like this and wonder how it happened? Distracted driving?  No clue about the condition of the occupants of the vehicle, but the passenger compartment at least appeared to be intact, perhaps they survived.  I see this type of stuff all the time.  Terrible accidents up and down 59, the entire stretch, there is no place that is "safe" from someone making a mistake in traffic and causing a severe crash.  It's probably why I see so many cops hanging out, especially south of Houston. 

Anyway, one of the drivers called me and asked if I wanted to leave?  I was here last but I was supposed to leave yesterday.  I said well I dunno, which is when he stated he'd like to leave, he didn't want to have to wait down here.  Fine by me, feel free to go!  I wasn't sure I wanted to stay or not. The first driver down here had already hooked to a trailer and left - went to the Love's and parked there for the night.  So the second one took off around 8am and I am likely not going to be able to leave until nightfall. The next empty was at least 4 hours south of the border, I was informed, at 11 am.  So figure 3 or 4 to get TO the border, then they have to wait in line to actually cross the border. 

That's at least a couple of hours, could be much longer? Who knows.  If it gets here early enough, I'll take off and try to get at least 300 miles behind me before stopping. If it doesn't I'll spend the night, get up early and just drive straight on through tomorrow.  I'm guessing I'm going to get dumped with another run for either Sunday or Monday, I actually hope not, I've been running hard and a few days off would be nice - but - it's whatever. 

As for the Trump impeachment inquiry - boring.  I watched a couple hours of it and then shut it off.  There isn't any new revelations coming out, at least none that I saw up to that point.  I'm sure the highlights will be put out on every news channel, so I really am not missing anything.

Dropped the money off for the parts to fix the 4 wheeler before I left for this trip - that should be ready to go next week and I will be ready to take the thing out to the woods somewhere and take it for a test ride.  Maybe take the dogs too if I can get away with them running around off the leash. I figure if I go daytime during the week - there won't be many people at the parks where you can go riding.  The boat - we still have a leak issue, can't locate it.  The mechanic said he was taking it out to the lake, reset the carbs and then just sit there in the water and see if he can see where the water is coming in from.  The final chapter to fixing the boat may very well be to take it to a hull specialist to find and repair it. 

And I'm getting bored sitting in this lot.  Just trying to decide whether to find a show to watch on my computer - or go do something.  I kind of get this feeling a trailer will show up soon?  This yard guy is right on sometimes - and other times he's wayyyy off on his predictions when a trailer will show up. Like either one shows up much earlier than what he stated or as of late - much later in the day than what he calculated. 

Actually I think I'll take a nap, then eat some lunch and then watch a movie, time permitting.

G'day.   









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