On the Road – Day 9

On our ninth day on the road we had an 8:00 am pick-up in Parlier, CA.
After Parlier we headed to Dinuba for another load.

Then we went to Kingsburg, another highlight of the trip for me.
We were in Kingsburg long enough to run some errands and do some sightseeing.

Kingsburg is a pretty little town with a centrally located park, very similar to the type of park you find in small towns back East. Known as “Central California's Swedish Village”, Kingsburg is a city in Fresno County with a population of just under 11,700 people. The sight seeing was interesting, fun and historical:

Interesting

The library mural spans one of the exterior walls of the library. The mural images display numerous aspects of Kingsburg: a world-renowned sports figure, science, religion, culture and education. The artwork is well designed and beautifully painted.

Fun

My favorite attraction was the water tower. A wonderfully whimsical creation, the water tower was cleverly turned into a teapot. Whoever came up with this idea, “Bravo!” ”

Whoever climbed up there and spent the who-knows-how-many hours it must have taken to create the tea pot, “Well done!

While walking down one of the streets, I was taken by the sight of an orange Swedish horse standing amongst the nicely landscaped entrance to George Boyl Way. Perfectly placed. Perfectly painted.

Historical

The historic Kingsburg jail was built in 1925 in six months for $3,098. Wow! The jail was closed in the early 1970s and was used as a storage facility until the 1990s. The building remained vacant and abandoned until the decision was made to lease the building to the Kingsburg Historical Society. I’m glad it was because I enjoyed seeing the jail and learning it’s history.

After spending most of the day in Kingsburg, we had to leave in order to head to Delano to pick-up a third load.

After Delano it was time to make a stop at a Flying J "travel center" in Kern to take showers. Ahhhh, getting cleaned up and putting on fresh clothes felt really good …

But, we weren’t done with driving for the day.

After our showers we drove down to Los Alamitos to be in place for a 4:00 am pick the next day. I thought, “Four a.m.? Ugh. Way too early for me!”
Again, I was glad the truck had a bunk in it.

We drove 265 miles on our ninth day.

On the Road – Day 8

We spent the morning in Tracy, CA. My impression of Tracy was that it is a nice, inland Californian urban town. I can’t remember why, exactly, and it’s not in my notes, but, my boyfriend alluded to the fact that a lot of people’s impressions of Tracy, CA, are not consistent with mine. I could only conclude that people who had a poor impression of Tracy probably:

* Had not actually been to Tracy;
* Have been to Tracy and had a bad experience there;
* Have been to Tracy and only saw the town with a very narrow view.

In any event …

We ate at La Costa, a taqueria with an outdoor walk up counter for ordering and picking up food.
I liked this place a lot. The food was good and the atmosphere nice. While there was some seating inside, most of the restaurant was outside and comprised of a large patio area shaded by a row of palm trees.
There was a nice, breezy, tropical feel to the place.

We spent the rest of day in Manteca running errands. We enjoyed a nice walk to the bank - twice. I’m not sure why we went twice.
Maybe we forgot something and had to go back …
.
.
.
Around 6:30pm we started driving towards Traver.
On the way we stopped at the Black Bear Diner, a nice restaurant with a bear theme.
We ate dinner and then got back on the road.

We drove a bit more and then stopped for the night.
We parked in lot across the street from Bravo Farms (neat place!).

Light day of driving – only 185 miles.

On The Road – Day 7

No Notes for day 7. Weird. I could have sworn I took notes every day I was on the road …

It is also weird that two months have gone passed and I have not posted on this blog.
Well, a lot happened during the holiday months of November and December.
I’ll write a little more about that in a later post.

For now, I’m going to pull out my notes for day 8 and get cracking on my next post for this blog.

Stay tuned.

On The Road – Day 6

We continued through Texas towards the New Mexico boarder.
The drive was mellow and filled with the beautiful scenery of the Southwest.

I’d been to New Mexico. But, I had never driven through New Mexico and I had not been to Fort Sumner. Pardon my ignorance: Judging by the name, I am assuming that Fort Sumner has a military history. If you know any of the history, then please comment regarding what you know. I am interested and, perhaps, some of my readers are as well.

We were passing through Fort Sumner and my boyfriend wanted to stop long enough to get some breakfast. We drove by the Rodeo Grill and turned around to park and go in to see what breakfast food was being served.

I liked the Rodeo Grill a lot. The place had a down home feel to it. The décor was interesting too – a lot to see – and the service was good. But, what made stopping at the Rodeo Grill interesting for us was meeting the cashier/waitress/owner. She was from San Juan Capistrano.

My boyfriend and I live in Southern California. So, here we were, in a small town in New Mexico, having another one of those “coincidences” that seem to happen on a regular basis when I’m with my boyfriend.

My boyfriend and I walked outside with our breakfast burritos and sat on a picnic bench in front of the Rodeo Grill. We had to talk about the cashier/waitress/owner at least for a few minutes. I said, “Wow, she’s from San Juan Capistrano.”

My boyfriend responded, “Yes, what are the odds?”
I agreed, “I know. I mean, we drive into a small town in New Mexico, go into a small road-side restaurant and we meet someone from Southern California!”
We both laughed. He added, “She probably doesn’t have many Southern Californians walking into her place to eat.”

On The Road – Day 5

Five days on the road with my boyfriend and we were still getting along.
I was happy.

We drove back up to Austin and didn’t stop.

I remember thinking, “The Texas landscape is pretty” as we kept connecting from one highway to another, heading towards Lubbock.

We drove through numerous little Texas towns, all with a similar layout: a center park-like area, main street, and a town hall. I thought Texas was all country, cowboys and ranches. I didn’t expect quaint towns, many of which looked like the movie set for Back To The Future.

My boyfriend had a plan for the day. He wanted to stop in Marble Falls for brunch. I’m glad my boyfriend wanted to stop there because Marbles Falls is a pretty river town. Visiting Marble Falls proved to be one of the highlights of the trip for me.

After spending a few hours in Marble Falls we got back in the truck and went off course a little bit so we could go and check out Fredericksburg.

Here is my comparison of the two towns: I found Fredericksburg to be more of a tourist town. The main street was booming with people going in and out of shops. I saw some German influence. But, I didn’t see the kind of charm that I did in Marble Falls and Fredericksburg was congested. I enjoyed strolling down the streets in Marble Falls:

... not so much in Fredericksburg ...

In Fredericksburg we walked a few blocks off the main street and went grocery shopping. Side bar: My boyfriend and I both prefer to buy and make our own food, as much as possible, compared to eating out.

Ahhhhh, it was nice to be in an air-conditioned store for an hour. It was also nice to restock the truck with fresh fruit, veggies, sandwich fixings, fizzy water and snacks.

After we bought our groceries we spent another half of an hour rinsing off the fruit and veggies with bottled water and getting everything put away in the refrigerator and cabinets.

We got back on the road and I sat on the bunk, made a cutting board out of some clean cardboard and started making sandwiches. I made about a dozen sandwiches, putting each sandwich in its own baggie.

You know, if I ever make sandwiches on the bunk of a truck again (which I ended up doing a few times while on the trip), I’m going to make sure I have a metal knife (versus a plastic one) and an actual cutting board. Cardboard cutting boards really are not the way to go.

But, having a batch of sandwiches over the next few days proved to be nice while traveling the Texas roads. It was a simple matter of reaching back into the refrigerator to get a sandwich and then handing it to my boyfriend when he was hungry. I ate a few too.

I’m telling you, keeping your trucker fed is a definite plus. :-)

We kept moving and watched a beautiful sunset while driving on the highway towards Lubbock. We drove through Lubbock and decided to stop at a country gas station in Amherst for the night.

Total miles traveled on day five = 563 miles.

On the Road – Day 4

I enjoyed Dallas - I could have stayed in Dallas for a few days. I definitely want to go back.

On day 4 we had to head down to the Texan port town of Galveston to pick-up a load of pineapples.

I thought, “The pineapples I eat come from Texas?”

Hmmmmmmm …

Let’s not get off track here … back to the road trip.

Wow, if you’re talking about a hot, humid, summer day, then you’re talking about Galveston, Texas in July!

We didn’t let the weather get in the way of enjoying a few hours in Galveston. We walked around Galveston, went down to the pier, did some people watching and grabbed a bite to eat.

Then, we stopped to take a look at the beautiful, historic, Hotel Galvez. This was the highlight in Galveston for me. We spent about an hour inside of the hotel, walking around, appreciating how pretty the interior was. We went downstairs and looked at the display detailing the history of the hotel, complete with old, black and white photos (treasures, in my opinion).

I definitely recommend taking time to get down to Galveston if you’re ever within an hours drive. It is touristy. But, that was easily overlooked by all of the architecture, people watching and history.

After Galveston we drove to Houston and stopped at a Pilot truck stop for some much needed showers.

I had no idea that truck stops like this existed, let alone the way the showers were set up. When my boyfriend talked about showers, I pictured more of a locker room type situation. But, instead, I had my own shower room, complete with a toilet, vanity, fresh towels, liquid soap in a dispenser in the shower, a hair dryer and a fan mounted to the wall.

I have to say that while on the road, every time we stopped for a shower, it was a very nice experience for me.

Next, we drove towards Austin.

At about 10:00p my boyfriend said we were going to stop for the night soon. He said, “It would be nice if we could find a place that would sell us a few cold bottles of beer. Then we could sit outside, enjoy the summer evening air, look up into the sky, and drink our beers. But, most places are probably closed by now.”

Side bar: My boyfriend observes the rules regarding alcohol not being allowed in the truck.

Then, as we were driving through the quiet town of Ledbetter, my boyfriend saw a country store on the side of the road with an SUV parked out front.
“Huh,” he said. “That store looks closed. But, maybe someone is inside, closing out the register and would sell me two bottles of beer.”
He added, “Wouldn’t that be interesting if they actually had beers on ice in a bucket …”

You know what? They did.

:-)

The smiley face isn’t because I got to have a beer that night (although it was refreshing to drink one).
The smiley face is because this happens on a regular basis when I’m with my boyfriend – he says some version of “wouldn’t it be nice if …”
Then, seemingly as a coincidence the very thing he thought of appears.
I’m not exaggerating.
I’ve even pointed it out to him.
His response?
Usually, “Hmmm. Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
I think it’s fun.

My boyfriend parked the truck in the dirt lot to the side of the country store for the night.
We enjoyed our beers and a quiet summer evening.

Day 4 he logged 450 miles.

On The Road – Day 3

We drove to little Texan town, Columbus, saw a pretty park and decide to enjoy a picnic.

Even though it was hot and humid, it felt nice to be taking it easy outside.

We were at the park for over an hour, saw some people kayaking on the river, took some photos of the bridge, one another and the huge trees that provided a decent amount of shade. I remember thinking, “I wonder how old these trees are. You don’t see big trees like this in a lot of places back where I live. They are so pretty.”

After our break at the park, we headed to Austin and drove along side and underneath the double decker freeway.

We talked about how it was the Fourth of July and how we didn’t have any big plans. I mean, again, my boyfriend was working and the priority was to get as many miles in as possible. But, we did have some time before we had to be in Dallas. So, today my boyfriend was driving a little slower, looking around a little more and deciding to stop more often.

Our third day on the road proved to turn into one of the best evenings of our trip.

We approached Dallas at around 9pm.
All of a sudden my boyfriend said, “Oh, wow! Look at that.”
He was pointing off to his right and then I saw it, a burst of color.
“Oh, cool,” I said smiling.

For the next 30 minutes, while driving into the city on E35, we saw a fabulous fireworks show. I’ve never seen anything like it. There were ten, maybe more, fireworks shows happening on both side of the city, all up and down the night horizon.

We’d see a burst of beautiful sparkles on one side of the city and then a minute later, on the other side of the city the sky would light up with color.

“This is incredible!” I exclaimed.
My boyfriend chuckled and replied, “I know. This is really something."

If you ever get a chance to be in Dallas on the 4th of July, then late in the afternoon drive out of town, stop somewhere, have some dinner or a late picnic and at about 9pm start drive back into town on 35. You’ll see what I’m trying to describe. You’ll also see the gorgeous Dallas cityscape at night with all of the skyscrapers lit for the 4th of July. That alone was a beautiful sight. Then, with all of the fireworks going off up and down the horizon, wow! It is really something special to see and makes for a great 4th of July.

But, the night wasn’t over. Earlier in the day my boyfriend asked me to try and find a place where we might be able to go out in Dallas that evening. Thanks for modern technology, I used his smart phone and found Cowboys Red River off of the Northhwest Hwy.

We parked the truck in the huge parking lot that surrounds Cowboys Red River, cleaned up and headed in to the bar.

Well, it’s not just a bar. It’s a big place with numerous bars, live music – the sound of Runnin' Behind greeted us when we walked in – and a good size dance floor.

We grabbed a couple of Shiners, stood in front of the stage and watched the band as we took in the place.
Then, my boyfriend looked at me and asked me, “Do you want to dance.”
I smiled and replied, “Of course. I love dancing with you.”
I do. He dances well, is nice to look at and smells good. ;-)

On our third day we drove 395 miles.
To my boyfriend, it was like having a day off.