STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life day 22560: Dawdling in Del Rio

April 18, 2009 on 9:36 pm | In On The Road |

It’s been an interesting week. Not much sitting around for a change, which is good. The weather, once again, was seasonal; meaning that you never know what to expect. Some sunshine, some rain, and still even a little snow over some of the mountain passes. All in all, a pretty good week.
The chronicles now begin.

Monday, April 13th:  I received a PrePlan a little before noon. It picked up in Usk, WA (no, I’m not clearing my throat, that’s the name of the place) and delivered in San Diego, CA. I departed Stanfield at noon and drove to the Sprague Lake Rest Area on I-90 at mp-241. I took a break here, along with the following pictures.


When I was finished here, I completed the trip to Usk. Usk is little more than a paper mill located about 50 miles north of Spokane, WA. It was a drop/hook customer, and it went smoothly. The load scaled legally on the first try. I left Usk at 1900 and drove to Ritzville, WA. Here, I had dinner at Perkins restaurant. I then drove to a rest area a couple of miles from Stanfield, OR where I stopped for the night.

Tuesday:  I left the Rest Area at 1030 and drove to Ontario, OR where I had lunch, put on some fuel, and naturally, walked the MMM. At 1500, I drove to Winnemucca, NV. I took a short break here, then finished my day by driving to Fallon, NV.

Wednesday:  I left Fallon at 0930 and drove to Montgomery Pass, NV. I took a quick break here, then drove to Pearsonville, CA. Another quick break, then off to  our terminal in Fontana, CA. I fueled here, walked the MMM, then fixed a snack in the truck. I then drove to San Diego and parked at the customer.

Thursday:  I was first in line this morning, and was unloaded about an hour after my appointment time of 1000. I received a PrePlan shortly thereafter. It picked up in Chula Vista, CA and delivers in Brownsville, TX. It was a “live load”, and took about 3 hours. I left Chula Vista at 1545 and drove to Yuma, AZ. I took a quick MMM break here, then drove to Tucson, AZ where I had to stop for the night (14-hour rule).

Friday:  Between today and tomorrow, I only have a total of 12.5 hours to drive. With this in mind, I left Tucson at 0945 and drove to El Paso, TX. I stopped here for the day after using only 5.5 hours. I wanted to have something to do tomorrow. There was nowhere past El Paso, on my route, where I wanted to stop. Just a few dingy truck stops in dingy towns.

Today, Saturday, the 18th:  I left El Paso at noon, with 7 hours available to drive for the day. I drove to Alpine, TX where I took a short break. Along the way, I encountered a UFO, and a herd of Buffalo. The UFO, I encountered at a picnic area on US-90 between Valentine, TX and Marfa, TX. It broke up the monotony of the day, so I thought it BLOGworthy.

As you can see, it was actually some sort of observation balloon, although what it was supposed to observe, I have no idea. It was tethered to the ground.
I encountered the herd of Buffalo meandering in a field along US-90 between Marfa and Alpine.


Again, I just had to stop and snap a few pictures. It’s not every day you see a herd of Buffalo.
Anyway, after I  left Alpine, I drove here to Del Rio, TX where I ran out of hours. Del Rio is not a bad little town. I spent a year here at Laughlin AFB in 1971/72. I usually park at the Wally World when I’m here. Today was no exception. After I arrived, a little after sunset, I walked the MMM. I then went to Rudy’s Bar B Q for dinner (my Luby’s closed at 2000). It was pretty good. After that, geeking, then bed.