God Bless Texas

Ya wanna know something? Texas is BIG. It has taken several days to go from the northern border of the panhandle to the very southern tip, and almost make it home. Actually, we didn't go to South Padre Island - which would be the "most" southern - but west of McAllen counts as pretty close to Mexico. I did manage to take some pics today - I hate screwing around with a camera when I'm loaded (the truck - not me).


Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus of speed limits, and he lives in Texas along I10 west of San Antonio on the way to El Paso.



This is a bit of a view of the valley opening up westbound on I10 before Junction.



Cotton along US83 north of I10 somewhere. You'll notice there are two styles of planting techniques. The top is two row close together, then a space between. The bottom pic shows eight rows with a space. I noticed the two row plants were a lot taller. Since doing it differently will require different spacing on the cotton pickers, there has to be a good reason for this. What it is I have no idea.

Another interesting tidbit - when we unload for some of the larger oil companies, the job foreman will have a "tailgate meeting" where safety procedures are discussed. We unloaded less than ten miles from the border. One of the recurring subjects at the tailgate meetings in this area is to always lock your vehicle when you leave it. There is enough scrub trees, mesquite and cactus to hide an army. There have been many instances where a worker parked their pickup to unlock a gate only to have it stolen as they were busy. Trucks have even been stolen in simiar situations.

Immigration officials drive around in white vehicles with a green slash on the side. When we were about forty miles away, we could see a blimp in the air keeping station - and figured it was one of Immigration's toys. On US281 north of McAllen, we had to go through an Immigration check. It wasn't just trucks - it was all vehicles. Lots of officers, three or four dogs and a fleet of white wheels with the green slash. The officer just asked me if I was a citizen, and I said "Yes, sir." He just motioned me on. I'm sure my midwestern accent gave me away.

So, I ran out of hours and am at Perryton, TX tonight. The Best Western here is pretty new, and is one of the nicest rooms I've ever seen - they have big screen television with high def channels - pretty slick.