5/6/10

Dude.  No, seriously.  Dude.  I-10 in Texas is long.  I mean, like really, really long.  Oy.

Using the standard greenhouse effect alarm clock to rouse myself this morning, I got rolling at around 11am (civilized time).  I knew that I had a long day in store, given the nature of my schedule for this trip, but dude.  Seriously.  The first hundred miles went quickly enough.  That got me to Van Horn, where I stopped to top off my fuel tanks.  I probably didn't need to get any fuel, given that my tanks were almost full.  I did make a stop in Anthony last night after all, but certain routes elicit certain memories.  Since I would be crossing mostly wilderness and trying a couple of creative ways to bypass San Antonio and Houston, my last chance to fill 'er up would be Van Horn.  So fill 'er up I did.  Not taking any chances.

In thinking about today's drive, all I can say is that I-10 in Texas is really long.  My first effort at 'winging it' came when I reached Exit 540 and turned onto TX-46.  This shaved a few miles off my route but, more importantly, it steered me clear of San Antonio.  Not a bad route either, with one notable exception.  Somewhere around New Braunfels, I should have made a turn (not sure which way) to stay on TX-46.  The intersection was under construction though, so there was no sign.  I saw a sign on the far side of the intersection with the number 46 on it, so I kept going straight.  As I passed the sign, I saw that it was for Business 46, not the main state highway.  No big deal though, right?  Just follow the business route and I'm bound to catch back up with the main road eventually.  It seemed like a logical idea at the time anyway.

After a couple of curves, I saw a sign warning that there was a low bridge ahead and that {insert some road name that I don't recall} had no turnaround.  All good though, I thought.  The business route was turning to the left at the next intersection.  I got into the turn lane and stopped at the light.  On the corner, pointing in the direction that I would be turning, I saw another of the warning signs for the low bridge.  Damn.  It turns out that the business route was the road with the low bridge.  Well that sucks.  Uncertainty is no friend of a truck driver in unfamiliar territory.  I moved back over after the light turned green and continued straight instead of seeing if I could knock down the bridge.  Time to use The Force...  I encountered a few curves here and a skinny bridge there, but no major drama.  I wound up catching up with the I-35 business loop and then TX-46.  No harm, no foul, and I technically managed to avoid Satan's Driveway completely.

Once I caught back up with I-10, it was getting to be that time of the evening when it's best to grab a parking space and call it a day.  I tried the Love's at Exit 632 but had no luck.  Completely filled.  This left me in the unfortunate position of watching my 11 hour clock rapidly approaching its end, but feeling terribly hungry.  Park in one of the I-10 picnic areas (with no food) or press on and hope for a spot at a truck stop?  The 'go for broke' option was the Shell station at Exit 661.  If I couldn't find a place there, then I would end up running afoul of the law.  Screw it.  After almost nine straight hours of driving, I was really freaking hungry.  I got off at the appointed exit and saw a truck parked illegally along the side of the road.  That's usually a surefire sign that the truck stop is full.  Not this time though.  Plenty of room.  Beauty.  And thus concludes another glorious day on the road.

It turns out that I won't have to drive nearly as far to reach the Wal Mart DC in New Caney tomorrow as I originally thought.  Probably a little over two hours, depending on how much time I waste by going up TX-6 and cutting Houston out of my route.  Even having driven the extra thirty miles to find parking tonight, I thought that I would be more than 200 miles away.

In any case, I have a dispatched ETA of 15:38 (or something stupid like that) and my assignment says that it's a live unload.  Those of you who are familiar with the Con-way dispatch system will see the apparent contradiction here.  Live unloads at Wal Mart have fixed appointment times and they always fall at the top of the hour.  For those, we're not allowed to arrive early.  An odd ETA like this one usually indicates a drop/hook, in which case it doesn't matter when I show up.  So which is it?  Who cares, really?  Given that the paperwork says the load delivers today, nothing will surprise me.  Hell, maybe I'll show up and they'll say I missed today's appointment.  Wouldn't be the first time.  Maybe I'll be in the mood to make a call in the morning and find out what's the story.  Otherwise I'll just cruise up there in the afternoon.  Whatever.

Now it's time to try and figure out if I need to do any portfolio rebalancing.  That was one big-assed "oops," to be sure, but I have to wonder what else goes into the equation at this point.  Big German bailout vote and domestic jobs report tomorrow.  Feeling lucky?