Deep in the Heart of Texas (refrain)

Howdy.

And for the first time in a while, I can say "Howdy" and fit right in. This isn't the first time I've come to Texas, but I'd say it's been the most pleasant so far.

When I was with my first trainer, we made it out to Dallas a couple of times. I knew that there weren't going to be cowboys all over the place, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't look down at everyone's feet to see if they were wearing boots, maybe even spurs.

Everytime I make it to a different region of the country, I try to look for cultural differences, and seldom do I find the ones I'm looking for but occasionally I stumble upon more subtle ones.

A far as Texas goes, the only cultural difference I can think of is that they barbeque beef more than they do pork, which is way different than how things work in Alabama. That and they look better in their hats.

Anyhow.

I didn't make it as far as I would have liked after my last post, and I didn't make it anywhere close to Roswell by the time I had planned. On top of all of this, I ended up getting tired pretty quickly, and had to find a place to nap. I pulled over into a barren rest stop feeling exhausted and incredibly lonely for some reason. I'm sure it had something to do with being in the middle of the New Mexico desert for so many hundreds of miles without even seeing a town. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad if I had cellphone reception at the time, but it was like the entire state of New Mexico was a dead-zone. I fought the feelings of isolation and lonliness enough to fall asleep for about two hours.

I slept but I did not dream.

By the time I woke up, most of the sunlight had faded and it was time to drive a bit more. I inspected the truck briefly by flashlight, and was on my way. I drove for about another hundred miles before I called it quits for the night.

As I lay in the back of the truck I found myself again feeling incredibly lonely, the pain sharp once more. For some reason I heard my father's voice in my head talking about how when he was on the road, he used to talk into his tape recorder, and I ended up reaching for mine. I noticed that I had already recorded four different things that I had forgotten about, so I decided to listen. The first three files were brief messages to myself, reminders of sorts. The last file though, was a forty minute series of stories from the first part of my road training.

I realized how truly lonely I really was and how badly I wanted somebody to talk with, when I found comfort in hearing my own voice coming from a tape recorder.

I ended up falling asleep with the recorder in my hand.

______________________

I made it to Roswell in time for lunch. Aside from random alien crap here and there, not much to say about Roswell.

I have to wonder what aliens would have been doing anywhere New Mexico to begin with. It really is boring out there.

I made my delivery, and got my load assignment to head back home.

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I made it to Amarillo today, where I picked up and then decided to spend the day. The company is trying to manipulate my off-time, and as a result gave me four days to make a 950 mile drive. I can make 500 miles in one day, 1000 in two. If I got to Huntsville when they EXPECTED me to, I'd have two days off, but on the second one, I'd have to make the delivery to the final destination-- effectively cutting my off time. So, instead I've resolved to take as much time as I can to get to Huntsville so I can have two full days off instead of just part of two days. So once I picked up my load, I decided to find a steakhouse that is near-legendary, and one that I visited with my father when he was driving, fourteen years ago.

I wasn't even sure that my route took me past this steakhouse or not, but I didn't care I headed to it like a moth to a flame. I knew the general area of it, and with the aid of a couple of helpful texans on the CB radio, I found my mark.

The Big Texan is known for it's 72 oz steak which is completely free. *if eaten in one hour. As I walked in the door, part of me wanted to go for the challenge, but when I saw the steak in a display case, I quickly changed my mind.

The thing is literally the size of a pie.

When I walked into the main dining room, I noticed a raised table in the middle of the room where two men were seated, apparently taking the steak challenge (as I like to call it)

Of course I took their photo.

I got a table located conveniently near an electrical outlet so I could power the ole' laptop, and proceeded to order a feast for myself in celebration of the end of my first two weeks by myself on the road.

I ordered (and ate pretty much every bite):

a buffalo quesadilla

a 22 oz ribeye steak (cooked medium rare) with baked beans and a loaded bake potato

and a slice of cheesecake, covered with strawberries

plus some dinner rolls, and a few dr. pepper's of course

Obviously I don't eat like this all the time while I'm out here. Not only would it be insanely expensive, but also incredibly unhealthy haha.

My server was a charming girl named Kati (which I think I'm spelling correctly) who really made my day. She was dressed in pink and sold me on pretty much every course of the meal. I was originally going to choose BBQ as a main course, but she informed me that I was in a steakhouse so I should order accordingly. So I went with the ribeye, which I was going to have cooked medium, but thought twice about and changed to medium rare. Kati told me that was a good choice, haha.

Throughout the course of the meal, we chatted a bit about eachother. Nothing too in depth, but I found out she's in pre-law (if I remember correctly) and goes to school not far from Amarillo. She asked where I was from, and what brought me to Texas and I told her about trucking and why I was doing it.

It was nice to meet and talk to someone my age.

I asked her if I could take her picture to put on my blog, which I realized after I said it how strange it must have sounded, but she graciously obliged.

I left her a note thanking her for making me feel a little bit at home, and my blog address.

I'm not sure, but if you're reading this-- thank you.

After dinner I headed across the street to a truck stop and backed into a space (for the first time at a truck stop by myself!) and quickly headed inside for a well-deserved shower and an internet session.

Tomorrow I head east for 275 miles, which should put me somewhere in Oklahoma, I think.

Anyhow.

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