Houston, We Have A Problem !

The problem is that there is one extra long haul truck driver parked just outside Houston in the small community of Brookshire (just west of Houston) with nothing to do. Yup, it is James and he has been sitting in Brookshire since early Friday.

Originally James was to get loaded Saturday morning and then head for home, however, the company needs a crane to load the trailer and there were no cranes available until Monday at the earliest. With no real other choice, James gets to sit and bide his time until Monday morning. The sitting idle has not pleased James too much, but then he can't really zip home for the weekend and then back again for Monday morning as it is nearly 3000 kms to Houston from Saskatoon.

James has amused himself by watching a bit of TV, a couple dvd movies and he even went for a long walk. While he was out walking yesterday it started to rain. However, he was able to make it back to the truck prior to the real downpour. He got a bit damp, but nothing too serious.

I talked to James Saturday night and he was pretty bored with the whole situation. He was able to find another truck stop that sold cheaper wobbly pops though than the one he was parked at. If I remember correctly what he said, he could buy 6 king cans of Keystone Lite for about $4.80. He had picked up a movie, some Chinese food for eats and 6 king cans and was settling in for the evening.

He still has all day Sunday to go, so you could fairly well say he has had about enough of south Texas. I took a quick peak at the temperature in Houston just prior to starting up this blog and the temperature was sitting at +22C. Then I looked at my temperature gauge and it is showing -29C. Let's see, where would I rather be?

The one good thing about sitting in Houston for the weekend is that most of the ice storms that are going through the north of Texas and into Oklahoma should have moved on prior to James travelling northbound. From the weather reports from the south, the ice was snapping off telephone poles as it coated everything and then the wind was so strong. From the weather reports, most of the storms should have dissipated by late Sunday. There may be the odd icy section on the highways, but nothing like what it was like late Friday, early Saturday.

As of yesterday, James was not certain where he would be heading when he leaves Texas. He thought the load was destined for Calgary and was hoping he could take it all the way there to unload. With another quick run to the States (down to Iowa or Missouri) and home and he should have enough miles for the month that he could maybe get a couple days off back in Hanley.

The boss may have different ideas though so we'll have to wait and see what transpires.