The Best Laid Plans
Aug. 28th, 2006 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperWe'd planned to make it to Midland, Texas tonight and spend the night (and a couple of days) at my sister's place. Instead, we're in a very nice room in Las Cruces, New Mexico (much nicer than the Super 8 that we stayed in here back in 1999).
We got out of the Dealers' Room at LACon a little late, because the forklift drivers decided to take an unscheduled break shortly before their scheduled break. This meant that my pallets were going to get moved later, rather than sooner, since I'd watched them sitting in a cluster doing nothing before they vanished on their real break.
The joys of union labor. When it's bad, it can be rotten. (Note: I don't mind paying to have forklifts operated by competent union labor, because I would live in fear of an average fan trying to pilot a forklift. Ghu forbid.)
So Betty and Angela helped me move my two pallets of stuff onto carts and we rolled them out to the car and loaded them into the van. But with the delay, missing a turn on the way out of town, and a lot of traffic, we ended up staying in Blythe, California last night.
We got out before 10 AM, a bit later than we'd intended, but were making good time until we got caught in a 10 mile backup on I-10 east of Tucson. A semi had wrecked and burned and the cleanup was blocking one lane of traffic. Then we made the mistake of stopping at "The Thing" to grab lunch at the Dairy Queen. Unfortunately, they had the world's slowest service, since the guy manning the grill there had vanished. And when we got the "freshly prepared" food, it showed signs of having been passed through a microwave on the way to our hands. *sigh*
All this would have been surmountable, save for the two hour time difference between Blythe and Midland. Getting in at 2 or 3 AM local time would have been bad form at best. So after we stopped for a late dinner in Las Cruces, I looked up across the parking lot, saw a likely motel, and we settled here.
To heck with the plan. :) (Anyway, I'd like to drive in West Texas during the daytime with that nice freshly-minted 80 MPH speed limit.)
We got out of the Dealers' Room at LACon a little late, because the forklift drivers decided to take an unscheduled break shortly before their scheduled break. This meant that my pallets were going to get moved later, rather than sooner, since I'd watched them sitting in a cluster doing nothing before they vanished on their real break.
The joys of union labor. When it's bad, it can be rotten. (Note: I don't mind paying to have forklifts operated by competent union labor, because I would live in fear of an average fan trying to pilot a forklift. Ghu forbid.)
So Betty and Angela helped me move my two pallets of stuff onto carts and we rolled them out to the car and loaded them into the van. But with the delay, missing a turn on the way out of town, and a lot of traffic, we ended up staying in Blythe, California last night.
We got out before 10 AM, a bit later than we'd intended, but were making good time until we got caught in a 10 mile backup on I-10 east of Tucson. A semi had wrecked and burned and the cleanup was blocking one lane of traffic. Then we made the mistake of stopping at "The Thing" to grab lunch at the Dairy Queen. Unfortunately, they had the world's slowest service, since the guy manning the grill there had vanished. And when we got the "freshly prepared" food, it showed signs of having been passed through a microwave on the way to our hands. *sigh*
All this would have been surmountable, save for the two hour time difference between Blythe and Midland. Getting in at 2 or 3 AM local time would have been bad form at best. So after we stopped for a late dinner in Las Cruces, I looked up across the parking lot, saw a likely motel, and we settled here.
To heck with the plan. :) (Anyway, I'd like to drive in West Texas during the daytime with that nice freshly-minted 80 MPH speed limit.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 04:51 am (UTC)*gack!* I hope that the rest of your journey is more trouble-free!!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 09:46 am (UTC)(I come from Marfa, down thataway [pointing] a couple hundred miles... Possibly you'll see the exit sign when you pass through Van Horn...)
no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 02:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 05:43 pm (UTC)