I hate Murphy.
Just about when things seem to be going fairly well....he nukes you.
Lemme 'splain.
Back last friday as mentioned in the previous post Floyd and I rolled into the job site....I cut Floyd loose and he came on back to El Paso. Kevin (the company dude) escorted me out to the pad site and I got unloaded. After all was said and done I was outa there by about four or five.
Being it was a holiday weak end and all (pun intended) I decided to head on back thru Kress and visit with my Kiddo, my incredible daughter in law...and my awesome grankids.
But I couldn't get there all at once....and I was low on fuel...so I stopped in Brush Colorado at the truckstop. I think it's called the tomahawk or something. Dunno...not stopping there again.
Why? Well I pulled in there and filled up. 247 gallons. I was pretty much low. Old truck she was thirsty. Headwinds up mountains tend to burn a lot of fuel. So....after I fueled up I'd get a shower then eat...then get on down the road a bit.
The shower...well it was wet. 'Bout all I can say good about it. In fact the less said the better.
Time to eat. I noticed a LOT of folks in the resturant....lots of kids running around. Real busy. The food looked good....fish buffet it looks like.
So I looked around until I noticed an empty table and wandered on over to it....like I do almost everywhere....almost every night of the week.
Bad idea. The little waitress gal comes up and says that there's a waiting list for tables. ...and I can't sit here...I got's to move. I just stare at her. A waiting list at a Truck Stop?
I drew a blank for a second....Ok....Truck. Stop. Has to do with trucks right? I just got thru paying almost a thousand dollars for diesel fuel and now they tell me....truck driver....that I gotta wait for a table while local folks...folks who drive cars who can go to ANY OTHER RESTURANT IN TOWN (which I can't....cause my truck's too big)....get priority?
It took a minute for all this to filter thru my head.
The waitress was saying something or another....I didn't really hear it all. I just decided I wasn't welcome there and wandered on out to the truck and left. I drove on down to Limon Colorado at the Flying J and ate there.
Next morning I took out and rolled in to the Rip Griffin in Tulia Texas around noon. I topped off the tanks.....(the right thing to do I figured...since I was going to be using their parking lot to "store" my trailer for a couple of days....ought to buy some fuel shouldn't I?) Then I dropped the trailer and bobtailed twenty or thirty miles to the Kid's place.
I shoulda took some pictures. It was green. Green is unusual in "the golden spread"...as it used to be called when I was growing up. Usually it's brown.
I bought the "place" back in the eighties. Ten acres out in the country about twenty miles from the town I was born in and grew up in. My boy (who is now 37 years old....OMG!!!) has lived there since then. Time sure does fly.
It's ten acres out in the "sticks". Not too imposing but I liked it....he seems to like it as does his family....other wise they'd a moved I guess.
He hasn't moved.
I came rolling up in a cloud of dust and had my siren on...parked under a tree .I figured the grankids would hear and then come running out of the house to meet me. Do the "granpa" thang. (kids come running..."granpa...granpa.."....jump...catch...carry....wrestle a bit)
Nothing.
Hmmmmm.....the car's here....wonder what's going on.
So I got outa the truck and started walking toward the drive and toward the house....bout 30 yards. I'd just barely taken a few steps when something hit me on the shoulder. ...a twig.
giggle......giggle giggle.
I stopped and looked up in the tree.
Grand Kids.
Gotcha.
The oldest one (the gurl) was about thirty feet up. The younger one (boy) was closer to the ground but still up on up there.
So they bailed out and we did the "granpa" thang.
Whew..My how they'd grown. I think I'm gonna let them carry ME the next time.
Anyway....I staid there a day and two nights. Had a REALLY nice time.
Drank waaaaaaaaaay lots of beer sitting under the trees watching the grandkids and their friends play in the pool... helped feed the Emus...
Emu's...oh? Your kids don't have Emus I bet. Mine does. Thirty of em.
Why? Beats me. He thinks theyre kinda cool....and they eat the weeds mostly...but he still feeds em some dog food.
While he was growing up we had pigs, sheep, goats, cows, a pony, Great Danes....(other kinds of dogs..but mostly Great Danes)....ducks...guineas.....geese...a bigggggggggg garden.
Never had any emus.
You can do that living out in the country. Things they'd frown on in town. He also has his own private shooting range. Pretty good shot too.
That night I .staid up way late at night talking to my son....grandkids too...but mostly him...the kids got bored pretty quick .
Left early Monday and headed to El Paso.
Stopped in Clovis New Mexico...for food.
Should have kept moving.
I've stopped at "Cooks" truckstop in Clovis for years and years. It's not much of a truck stop but they have a prettty nice resturant on the same lot.
It's not Cooks anymore. It's a Loves. I talked to the folks in the resturante....it IS still Cooks....but they sold out the truckstop part.
So I had a pretty good meal...walked back to the truck and headed out.
Tried to anyway.....then this happened.
Best I can figure was that cars or trucks were in front of me and I couldn't see that ditch until I was TOO close to see. On a truck like mine the first twenty or so foot right in front of the bumper is a blind zone.
Any way I missed seeing the ditch and the front wheels fell right into it.
It doesn't look it but that ditch is over a foot deep. The highway patrol guy measured. Busted my truck up pretty much. I learned later that I wasn't the only one it had happened to either. It'd been there since about March and quiet a few people had done the same thing I had....one guy had busted his oil pan.
I guess I would have too except for my Moose bumper.
When the front wheels fell in the ditch all the weight of the truck came down on the bumper...which held JUST long enough to clear the ditch...otherwise who knows what might have been broke. Oil pan for sure I figure.
This guy....the manager....he thought it was kinda funny.
He didn't think it was too funny when I called the cops.
City Police AND New Mexico Highway Patrol.
I'm giving some serious thought to a lawsuit. I've certainly got enough police reports to back up my case. I've filed an insurance claim anyway....we'll see what happens.
So anyway...after all the paperwork was done me and the city cop manhandled the bumper onto the trailer and I swung back around and parked. Phone time.
I was on the phone about an hour....lots of people to call. Trucking companies are big on accident reporting...I figured this counted.
Being memorial day it was kinda hard to get ahold of the right folks but my wife (I had her on the cell phone right away....) finally managed....and I headed out.
They have warning cones up now....after three months why NOW I wonder?Hmmmmmm....the ditch was filled in. It'd been open for months...but since I called the cops they suddenly decided it needed to be filled in.
Imagine that.
I only made it to Roswell for the night.....not gonna be able to load Tuesday like we'd planned.
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