7-3-2009 - From ‘Smokey & The Bandit’ to ‘Leave It To Beaver’

Friday July 3rd 2009

I slept in ‘til about 8:30 this morning (I was up past 3:30 last night). Al was starting to do things loudly. Shutting the door a little harder than necessary, revving the engine, etc. I can take a hint, it’s time to get up and roll.
We had a load. Go to Big Springs TX, pick up a load of Coke cans, and haul them to Okmulgee Oklahoma. It looks like we’re not Smokey & The Bandit anymore running a truckload of beer to Texas. It’s more like Leave It To Beaver with this load of Coca Cola cans. It’s only 63 miles to our pick up. We’re not due to pick up our load ‘til 10am tomorrow. We stopped by the shipper to see if we could pick up the load of empty cans early. The place was located on the airport. We were driving down huge concrete slabs that were once used for taxiing airplanes. There were tons of prairie dogs in all the surrounding fields. I run into the receiving office only to find out that we can’t pick up today. Maybe tomorrow at 7am. So, it looks like we are going to be spending another whole day and night at a truck stop. Two days in a row. This time we’re staying at a TA truck stop in Big Springs. Al went in to get some food. I stay in the truck to check out what the internet situation is. The good news is, the internet is much better here. The bad news is I had to pay $5 for 24 hours.
I go into the restaurant to eat breakfast and find Al sitting at a booth so I sit with him. I ordered a veggie omelet. He’d already ordered so his food came first. Al calls the waitress back over to the table. “Can I talk to the manager please.” Great! He’d told me a story before of complaining about food, demanding it be fixed, and telling them he’s not going to pay for. Now folks, I have a bad case of what’s known as food paranoia. I don’t send food back and ask them to fix it. I’ve worked in kitchens before. I know how they “fix it.” In fact, I know of an Omaha sportscaster who’s eaten my friends spit. So, as he’s complaining to the manager about his mashed potatoes tasting funny, I can’t help but worry about the integrity of my omelet being compromised. I’ll try not to think about it as I eat it.
I decide to hit the streets of Big Springs.

I walk two or three miles and discovered a few thrift store along the way. In one of them I find a Grim Reaper red vinyl 12” single of Fear No Evil for $1. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

They also had a few Conan comics and magazines for 50 cents each. Yes! They had some cool weird old Scorpions album too, but the record wasn’t in the sleeve. Damn it! It was early (pre Tokyo Tapes), but not one of their normal studio albums. Probably a compilation. By the way, I hope you don’t mind reading about my thrifting adventures because it’s one of my favorite things to do. I didn’t find anything in any of the other stores.
Along the walk, I also noticed a few Mexican restaurants. We’ve been wanting to get some Mexican food while we’re in Texas. I noticed that the one that looked the most promising also happened to be the closest one to the truck stop, so it won’t be a long walk to go back later and eat.

It’s really hot out. I come back to the truck to cool down and catch up on some internetting. I tell Al of the Mexican restaurants (and show him pictures). I read one of the stories in my Conan magazine. Not long after, Al wants to walk down to Casa Blanca for lunch. So, back into the scorching heat again. Luckily we’ve only got about a half mile to walk. We get there only to find that they closed at 2. It was now about 2:20. Oh well, let’s walk down to one of the other ones. We walk to four different restaurants and find that all of them had just closed and won’t be re-opening until dinner time. So, I had another 2-3 mile walk in the scorching heat. I got a bit of a sunburn on my bald head. I hope it’s not as bad as last time I sunburned my head. That was one of the worst pains I had in my life (taking a shower. Ouch!). We finally decide to just go to Dairy Queen instead.
Afterwards, I go back to the truck and take a nap. I wake up a little after 5. I note in the back of my mind that the Mexican restaurant (Casa Blanca) is open now. I start heading into the truck stop and notice a heavy hauler across the parking lot. I go back and get my camera. As I’m walking over to take pictures it starts to drive away. I managed to snap a few as it drove away, but I would have loved to have gotten better pictures. If you think 18 wheels is a lot...this thing has at least 50! Click on the picture.

Speaking of heavy hauler…someone in a classic country band needs to change his name to Heavy Holler! I picture the keyboard player for Southern Culture On The Skids. Hootin’ & Hollerin’ with Heavy Holler!
About a half hour later we walk over to Casa Blanca for dinner. I look over the menu. The prices are cheap. I order the Casa Blanca Special (chili relleno, taco, enchilada, and a guacamole chalupa which was more like a tostada). The food was excellent! I noticed a full page newspaper ad on their wall that said “Thanks for voting us best Mexican food two years in a row.”
Now back to the truck for more internet and Scorpions. I should have bought that record sleeve. “Will you take a quarter for this?”