Did We Deadhead 200 Miles for Nothing?

2:38 PM
Deliver concrete forms to United Forming in Austin, Texas
Pick up plastic pipe at Wilson in Houston, bound for Dow Chemical in Pittsburg, CA

3:23 PM
Pipe load fell through - would not load us without a headache rack.
Parked at Shell Station and looked for a replacement load. Spent the night here.

3:44 PM
I think we went for 3-4 days in West Texas without even seeing any law enforcement of any kind, but Houston sure made up for that. If I were to guess, I'd say they averaged 1 law enforcement vehicle for every 2 square miles. Not just state police, constables or sheriffs but also DOT trucks that will go get you if they think they need to inspect you. We saw one inspection station with 5 trucks stopped with their hoods up, and a cop for each truck. One old timer said they are cracking down on the companies who run the crap trucks that are falling apart. I'm glad we are in a 2009 (rental) that looks shiny, pulling a flatbed so they can see what we are hauling.


Houston

Missed the fourth president in the sculpture...

4:15 PM
Well, getting hosed never worked out so well. The pipe load we had planned to take didn't pay all that great, but the loads we got to replace it worked out better. We got a great paying load to LA that doesn't leave until Saturday, and a local load to take tomorrow, so we aren't sitting around. PLUS, the broker who set up the pipe load was able to get us a $200 "Truck Ordered, Not Used" fee, so we actually got paid a buck a mile to get to Houston instead of deadheading for free. Pretty sweet, huh?