Classified week

After a delivery in Phoenix, AZ, Pops and I drove a little away from the city to a TA truckstop. We pretty much figured that we would be spending the weekend here and we wanted to go where we could shower, do laundry, hopefully find a church and just kick back.

The TA is in a town called Eloy. It is desert area.

The first thing that we did was to get our truck washed. While the workers were drying our truck, I looked up into a nearby palm tree and saw these 2 doves watchinng our progress. 

After that we parked near the building and went in for a shower.

Inside the truckstop was a convenience store, a restaurant, a hair salon, a store selling good quality jewelry made by Native American artists using turquoise, coral, shells, etc. Of course, it caught my eye. 

And I visited the store many times during the weekend. I did purchase a few items too, several Christmas gifts. 

On Monday we got a load that picked up in Phoenix and was headed toward Houston, TX. So once we got it picked up in the afternoon we headed east.

I started the drive and made the pickup and then drove until after dark. We were in New Mexico and stopped by a Walmart there to restock some items and switch over so that Pops could drive. I went to sleep. 

I woke up somewhere in Texas, desert area but don't really remember where exactly and began to drive. It was Pops' turn to sleep now.

I drove us through San Antonio and our the other side. I drove and drove. Texas is big and we were crosiing it through it's widest part that is 879 miles wide. We reached Houston in the late afternoon and made our delivery. 

Then we drove to the TA truckstop area but stopped 2 miles away at our favorite burger place, Ricky's Thick and Juicy Burgers. I just cannot tell you how wonderful their burgers are. They make their buns homemade and have several kinds to choose from. We both got the Fiesta Burger on jalapeno buns. The Fiesta is a huge angus burger with spicy mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion and of course, jalapeno peppers. They also include french fries made from real potatoes, and a great big Sweet Tea. 

aAnd then I found out that they now have delivery service, so we can go straight to the truckstop and just call them and have our burgers delivered. Oh boy!!!

The rest of the week we were kept pretty busy doing some classified work for the government. We can't really discuss it, but it is never boring for us that's for sure. We bounced around Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas for a bit before finally ending up in Alabama, by the end of the week.

We did get to make a short stop at the Mississippi Welcome Center at Vicksburg. The sun was just setting over the Mississippi River and it was very pretty.

After our delivery in Alabama, we headed north toward Nashville, Tennessee. It isn't a very long drive, only about 120 miles. Yet on that drive we were held up two times by very bad accidents. The first was at the Tennessee Welcome Center. It involved a van pulling a Uhaul, a bulk tanker truck and at least one car. We sat there for 2 hours.

The second was actually an accident that had occured about 5 hours prior to our arrival but was so horrific that traffic was still barely moving. A tanker hauling gasoline somehow got sideways in a construction zone under a bridge that was just being completed. The middle of the tanker hit the upright bridge support and split the tanker, breaking the back half off and sending the front half into a fiery explosion that totally burned up the new and old bridge and much of the roadway. The driver was killed instantly. 

Because of that accident the interstate would shortly be closed for about 72 hours to demolish the two bridges.

We didn't even stop in Nashville because we got a load for Monday. So we decided to head toward the pick up location. That meant that we would be spending the rest of the weekend in Kentucky.

We stopped along the way to shower, then stopped in Somerset, KY to sleep. On Sunday, we drove to Mount Vernon to attend church at the First Christian Church. The preacher met us outside and helped us to get parked in an empty grass lot that the church owns next to the building. The service was good and the people were so very nice to us. It felt like home.

Starla called me about her dog, Boots. 

Boots had tangled with a porcupine and had many quills in her nose and mouth. The vet fees for a weekend emergency visit were astronomical, so Starla and Bill P. took matters into their own hands and while Starla held Boots tight, Bill P. pulled out the quills. He found instructions on the internet. Then Starla got some antibiotic cream from one of the neighbors. 

She will be just fine. Thank goodness. That had me sick in my stomach thinking we were going to lose yet another family pet. 

On Sunday afternoon, after church, Pops and I drove even closer to our Monday pick up destination. We got settled in and then watched movies. It was a nice, relaxing day that passed by very quickly. It began to rain during the night and on Monday morning was raining really hard. But it didn't last long and then cleared off to a brighter day.