I think that thinking I'll get across TX without something happening is a fools errand.

Yesterday evening in east TX, we had a road rage incident that I successfully disengaged from.

This afternoon in west TX, Ft Stockton, a semi cut us off & would have taken out the front of my truck & ran us into the center barrier if my wife hadn't had quick enough reflexes, We were clear by about 6 inches.

And about 5 PM today east of El Paso we got rear ended by a DUI doing 110 MPH. No, that's not a typo, another driver got video including his speedometer while following the guy for about 15 minutes. I'll post that once I get a copy. The cops have a copy.

He didn't appear to have been drinking but was intoxicated, off to the hospital to find out why.

Wow what a day! Hope you guys are alright.

I'd say we came very close to rolling the truck. He hit us on the left rear bumper, which shoved it to the left & forward towards the back end of a semi. Wife was driving & she handled it like she'd been doing this [beeep] all her life. Turned into the skid, braked hard & brought us to a controlled stop on the shoulder.

We had a 2nd witness who stopped, the guy had almost hit both of them separately

Dang! Glad you're okay.

Stu,
I'm sure glad y'all are OK.

we were doing 75 - 80, out to pass the rig. Speed limit is 80 in that area.

surprisingly little damage to his truck or the beast. Ford may go on about being ford tough, I'm not so sure one could take a 30MPH hit with this little done. The tail light even still works.

last time, I had truck problems & lost 4 rs on the side of the road.

This time we only lost an hour, a 75% improvement

you ever drive across TX?

I10 is 888 miles.

The sun has risen,

The sun has set.

And my [beeep] still sits in Texas yet.

Glad you and yours are fine and nobody got hurt. Welcome to the Mexico border.

Wow glad your ok !!!

Dang Stu, I hope your karma changes and the yotes are plentiful.

Stu, glad to hear you are ok. Maybe you need to start going up and around Texas ?

Sorry to hear about the issues Stu but hopefully you can make it the rest of the way without incident. Good hunting to you guys!

Wow. Rough trip. Glad everyone is ok. I'm headed out in the morning hopefully on an uneventful ride.

Did a self tour of Carlsbad Caverns on the way back this morning. Made it east of Houston, will sleep a bit late.

In Houston even the cheap rooms aren't cheap. A Motel 6 for 2 is $66 and wifi is another $3, so we kept going for a while. Figured I might as well get the city well behind us & then get screwed on the room.

Be safe. Made it to Cortez Colorado. Rick

Stu, Too bad I didn't know you were pushing that far or I would have directed you to Breau Bridge, LA...Great motel there and not too far away is one of the best 'out of the way' Cajun restaurants with a great band and dance floor...Spent a few nights there over the years...

no way we could have made it to LA last night.

I got home at 8pm last night. Have to drive to Leland Mississippi and back today. Leaving now.

Home now. 3470 total miles.

We've escaped the gravitational pull of TX

Glad you had a better trip home then coming.

Still a long ways to Alabama, better watch yourself.

Getting home was a lot faster for some reason, left NM at 4:30am hit Dallas at 3:00 pm
I had a great time!!
Can't wait till next year in AZ

...There have been many times that I've compared myself to a horse my uncle used to have and I rode...We could spend all day poking around the farm, but when it was time to head in, that horse had no brakes and it was hang on time...

I used to be the same way on motorcycle or car trips...

Turtle! Sounds like the old horse was barn soured...

Stu.. I really do hate that you had all that trouble in Texas.. We are not all like that.. I would bet that they were transplants lol.. From another state, maybe Alabama... Just kidding.. Glad you got home ok...

I actually love TX. The only thing I really don't like is the lack of public lands, but that's rooted in history & that bell won't be un-wrung LOL

actually Stu, East Texas has public land. It just has a lot of traffic. We have learned to share. After deer season you pretty much have the run of these areas for coyotes. Cats are there also..

I live in about 180,000 acre National forrest. One hour of driving can put me in two other national forrests as well. While some of it needs type II permits it is accessible.

yeah, there's some, but it may well be the worst state overall in that regard.

got a voice mail from state farm. they finally got the crash report, the other driver does have insurance.

Police report on the wreck showed that the other driver had been drinking but BA wasn't higher enough to get charged with a DUI.

the truck is insured, there's some question about if the driver was covered by the policy or not.

The N. to S. travel feels the same way; then when nearing Austin, it appeared an option of `the high road` or the `low road`..well we chose the latter(stuck in that lane) and ended up in rush hour bumper to bumper average maybe 5 MPH for close to a hour.

never have done the north route. I have done the 40-30-20-10 route many times

Progressive has finally determined that they cover the driver, truck goes in tomorrow for repair workup.

The rental is a new Nissan Frontier, not even 1300 miles on it. Nice ride, but I don't think I'd buy one. While it would do nicely for most day to day needs, come hunting, diving, camping, it's just too small for what we do.

I'll stick with my full size pickup.

$1800+ to repair it. In a week the beast is going to look pretty good again.