I got an early start this morning in the hopes of getting through Houston before traffic got too bad. Unfortunately it seems the Houston variety idiots get up pretty early, and there are a lot of them. Between the accidents, construction zones, and accidents in construction zones, it was a complete idiot-fest.
A good 3/4 of the people I could see in their cars, SUVs, and pick ups were holding a cell phone to the side of their head as they were doing their absolute best to create yet another crash, and the ones that weren't were too busy putting on makeup or shaving (yep, I saw one asshat shaving in heavy traffic).
One moron in particular saw the very same "Left Lane Closed 1/2 Mile Ahead" sign that the rest of us did. It shouldn't have been an issue as he was already in a right lane, but the moment he saw the sign he darted out into the left lane and hit the gas. Asshat sublime. Of course being as traffic was severely backed up and moving bumper to bumper he was unable to dart back into the lane on his right and skidded to a halt just before slamming into the barrels. As I drew up close to him he tried to nose his way in front of me but I laid on the air horn and kept moving. I also gave him the one finger salute as I passed him sitting there wondering why we was suddenly unable to go anywhere. He shouldn't have tried to be such an ass. But I'm sure I was the jerk in his tiny little mind.
Like I care.
I finally made it through the sea of idiots that is Houston and headed on out into the countryside South of there. Still lots of road construction but a smarter, or least more polite, class of drivers and they presented little in the way of a hindrance and I made it to the delivery point with no more problems.
There were a couple of trucks ahead of me when I arrived but as we were all delivering different materials we all unloaded at different points in the plant and so there wasn't much in the way of a delay. The one fellow was watching me as I was working to unstrap and remove the tarp. They usually help with this so I asked him if he was just going to stand there or if he was going to help me. "It's too hot" was his reply. I couldn't argue with that and so went ahead with my work.
I'm now parked at the truckstop just North of the sea of idiots waiting for dispatch to locate a reload for me. At this late hour it most likely won't be today, but I still may have some driving to do yet depending on if they find something and where it will be loading. TX is a fracking big state and a reload could be hundreds of miles from here and still be in this state. But I'm betting that I'll be here until at least tomorrow morning.
There are a number of flatbed type trailers parked here, all waiting for loads to surface. being as I have a step deck I can haul some things the regular flatbeds can't, but that's still a lot of competition for a limited number of loads, and I have the added complication of needing something that will be heading back in the general direction of WI.
While I have been sitting here typing no less than three "creepy crawlers" have approached my truck. One wanted to polish my chrome, those guys are usually ok, one wanted to know if I wanted to buy some drugs and I picked up my cell phone and told him I was calling the cops so he walked away rather quickly, and the third was trying to sell some gold chains and crap that was probably stolen and I told him to take a hike as well. I'm sure the crack head lot lizards will be all over this place after the sun sets. I'll have to put my "Wake me to get pepper sprayed" sign on the window before I go to bed tonight. I'm a little crabby when my sleep is disturbed.
I really hate truckstops this close to a major city. they're always swarming with lowlifes and little to any police. If I were a cop I'd make a point of cruising these places at night to up my arrest percentages. Of course I blame the lowlife scum variety of truckers were have out here. If they weren't patronizing these scum they wouldn't be here in the first place. Those guys make me sick. They aren't truckers, they're just dirtbags in a truck. No class or self-respect at all.
Oh well, enough bitchin for now. Tomorrow is another day.