Sun, Nov 30 ... Bidding Texas Goodbye!

Today is Sunday... we've been in Laredo since Thursday morning... and WE are ready to leave! Trapper decided to take a walk to the terminal so I hung out in the truck.... I straightened up, did some paperwork, did some computer work and decided to go shower.

Just as I got my clothes together, got my bags out of the underneath compartment, got my keys, and stepped back down to the ground, what do I hear?.... that's right.... beep, beep.... and then another beep... meaning we just received a preplanned load message on the Qualcomm! We're headed somewhere!

I put all my stuff back under the cab.... and started my brisk walk to the terminal. I met Trapper about half way and he tells me to take my time... go ahead and take a shower... and then we would leave.

Back to the truck, get my stuff, back to the terminal...

Finally, we're both ready to go. Looks like I can put the flip flops up for a few days. We've been dispatched from Laredo, TX to Nacogdoches, TX to deliver part of our load at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. The rest of the load is going to Waukesha, WI and must be there by Wednesday. I feel snow in our near future.

All the people that evacuated Texas on Wednesday were returning today. We were completely stopped in traffic on the interstate and the cb radio was reporting an accident at mile marker 718... we were at mile marker 688 (with the numbers going up!) Thirty miles of bumper to bumper traffic!!

At this point Trapper says, "Let's look for a different route." Sounds easy enough, right? Nope... wrong!

I look at the map on the computer and see a couple of alternatives.... one is coming up pretty quick... a couple of miles ahead we could have turned, but we're in a vehicle that is 13' 6" tall and 70' (give or take) long. So, I get the book out that list low bridges and weight restrictions for each state.


I'm looking and looking for each of these tiny roads that look like an alternate for us. There would have been 5-6 different state hiways and little roads. I'm seeing bridge heights from 13' 6" to 14'. I learned my leason in North Aurora, IL about bridges and they make me nervous.

In the midst of this "on the spot trip planning", Trapper is out of coffee. Anyone who knows Trapper, knows... COFFEE should be on hand 24/7! He politely asks me to make coffee, when I had a chance.

Giving up on the alternate route, because of the bridges.... I go to the back to start the coffee. I had the slow cooker plugged in with dinner started... in order to run appliances you have to do a little juggling act!

It goes something like this... unplug the slow cooker, make sure the refrigerator is unplugged, plug in the coffee pot that rides in the floor board of the cab (to prevent spills).... with the coffee being done and served you must... unplug the coffee pot... plug the fridge back in for thirty minutes or so, unplug the fridge so you can plug in the slow cooker to finish dinner. The slow cooker also rides in the floor board... to prevent spills! (Mom... this is the reason I had the gallon jugs in my hands in the picture... coffee and washing dishes!)

Of course, all of this is being done while balancing yourself in a moving vehicle and crazy people driving little cars in a big hurry to get back home! I haven't been thrown back to the front of the cab yet, but you do learn when to get up and move around and when not too!

Other than the traffic the day went well. We arrived at our delivery place later in the evening and we will park it here until we deliver in the morning. We're both ready to call it a day....

And here's a picture for the Fry family! Fry Rd. located in Katy, TX!