8/22/09

Two weeks, mofos. Two weeks. Justice shall be unleashed violently on the world of the unbelievers. Repent now and join in Our Lady's impending glory, lest you be discarded along with the Wolfpack, Wolverines, Spartans, Boilermakers, Huskies, Trojans, Eagles, Cougars, Midshipmen, Panthers, Huskies and Cardinal (whatever that is) of the world. Two weeks.

I asked the folks in the cartography department at the Fenian Godfather Institute to prepare an alternate route for me this morning, before I left Eagle Pass. The basic plan would be to re-trace the route up I-35 to the Dallas area and then loop over to I-30 eastbound. Just in case though... just in case. I crossed over on US-57 and caught Satan's Driveway northward through San Antonio. Traffic wasn't too bad up to that point. It seemed that I may have a tolerable trip on my hands after all. Nope.

After slugging my way through twenty miles of slow traffic in the right lanes while the left lane (where trucks are not allowed) was wide open, I couldn't bear the thought of dealing with Austin for the second day in a row. Guess we'll give that Plan B a shot. I grabbed my notepad with the findings from the folks at the institute and started following their directions. TX-80 to TX-21 to US-77 to US-79 to TX-43 to US-59... I think we may have a winner on our hands here, by golly. There were some towns and whatnot along the way, but overall the route was pretty peaceful and quick. I don't recall any situations where I was forced to drive slower than the speed limit for any significant period of time. One weird thing about these yahoos from Texas is that they'll go 50mph on the interstate (for no reason) but they'll also go 80mph on the two-lane roads. Whatevs.

I was planning to cover at least 450 miles today and then play it by ear. After I passed the 450 mile mark I was quite bored, so I started looking for somewhere to park. I didn't see anything until I got to Linden. I spotted a little gas station with a dirt parking area next to it and decided that I might as well hang 'em up for tonight. 544 miles down and 360 or so left for tomorrow. Not bad at all. There is a Mexican restaurant next to the gas station so I walked over and had some dinner. Shitty salsa, shittier rice, and generic fajitas? What's up with that? Aren't they supposed to have real Mexicans down here or something? In the tradition of the Toledo heckler, I must say - Boo! El Inca. Boo!

Another pay week is in the books and the results this time around are pretty solid - 3,244 miles plus $35 for an extra stop and $21.40 in northeast nickels. Since I know I won't be in the poor house for at least another week, I went ahead and bought some new clothes so I could try and fit in down here. Getting in the college football spirit and all. I don't know man. I think I'm looking pretty good...