The World's Largest Truck Stop

Okay, if you've never been to the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, you've never been to the world's largest truck stop.  It's worth seeing just to say you've been there.  It is actually quite impressive to me, and worth spending some time at if you are ever in the area.  That load that I picked up in Spanish Fork, Utah took me East on I-80 right over to the Chicago area, which allowed me to spend the night at the Iowa 80 truck stop just before making my final deliveries over there.  The building itself is so large that they have quite a number of trucks on display inside the place.  Here are some shots of three of the trucks that were inside when I was there this time.  I've been here before, but each time I'm here they have changed around the displays inside.

They also have a trucking Museum next door which is operated by the same family who own the truck stop.  Sadly I didn't get to go through it on this trip because when I got there I was so tired that I needed to sleep.  When I woke up later and wanted to go to the museum so I could get some photos to share with you, it was closed!  While the truck stop is open 24 hours a day, the museum keeps more regular business hours.  I had driven through the night and on into the morning, so I laid down in my sleeper to catch some rest, but when I woke up that evening anxious to take a look around in the museum, the doors were locked.  The museum has a very impressive collection of antique trucks in it, and I'm disappointed that I can't share some of them with you.  They did have a few of the trucks that are normally inside the museum parked in the truck stop though, so here's a few pieces out of their collection...

A truck driver can get just about anything he might need here at this place.  They have a shoe store, clothing store, all kinds of gifts and trucking related trinkets, four or five restaurants in the building, and all sorts of services for truckers.  You can get a bad tooth pulled, or maybe a cavity filled, and if your back is really bothering you then you could get it worked on or adjusted by the Chiropractor!  You can get your hair cut, and if you are a lady trucker, you can even get your nails done!  There is just about something for everyone here...

I also saw some show quality trucks out in the parking lot that were actual working rigs, and maybe one that was being hauled to a show on a trailer...

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of what I witnessed while I was there at this colossal monstrosity of a truck stop recently.  I certainly was glad to get to share it with you.

Tonight I am sleeping in Hamden, Connecticut outside the gate of my first stop on the three stop load I am pulling this Holiday weekend.  It's been a busy couple of weeks for me since I started back to work after my time off for Mother's Day weekend.  Today, as I was coming up through Virginia on I-81 there was a lot of traffic, and at one point it was just creeping along so I decided to take about an hour break and see if they couldn't get an accident cleared ahead that was causing the delays.  After taking my break I got back on the road and eased my rig into the still slow moving traffic, only to discover that the accident was about twenty minutes ahead of me.  When I got there the cars were gone from the scene, but they were still trying to remove the body of a large black bear from the roadway!  He decided to cross the highway on this busy Holiday, and paid the ultimate price for his poor timing.  That is the fifth black bear I have seen killed on the interstates in the last four years.

Go West Young Man

There is so much lingo in trucking that I think it confuses people who are just getting started at looking into the career.  People get all worked up about which companies are good ones to work for, and they also get confused on what type of trucking they want to do.  One of those things that confuses people is all the different types of jobs available.  Some of them are called regional, others are dedicated, some are Over The Road (OTR) while there are some that are called LTL, line-haul, local, and the list just goes on and on.  I serve what is called a dedicated account.  I am a dedicated driver for SAPA aluminum.  I am employed by Knight Transportation who has a contract with SAPA to provide drivers who are solely responsible for moving SAPA's freight.  Even more specifically, in my case, their freight from their plant in Delhi, Louisiana.

What I'm trying to point out is that even with a title like "dedicated," it doesn't mean that I only run the same routes all the time.  I spend a considerable amount of time running to some of the same customers, but there are so many of them that it keeps a nice variety in the job.  It still feels like I am an OTR driver because I go to so many places, and into so many different areas of the country.

We have several customers who are installers of stadium seating.  Often times those loads are delivered to the location of the stadium being constructed or remodeled.  Here's a link to a delivery I made at the Arizona State University Football Stadium.  The great thing about these customers is that we get to deliver to some very interesting places at times when working for them.  This past week after I got off from my time at home over Mother's Day weekend, I got dispatched on just such a run.  My dispatcher asked if I'd be interested in a trip to Oregon, and I jumped on the opportunity.  It was a one stop load that went to...

✔ Hermiston, Oregon

As I was working my way up through Colorado I stopped in Pueblo and checked the weather up ahead of me.  I was going to go up to Cheyenne, Wyoming and then turn West on I-80, but here we are nearing the end of May, and they are having such a heavy snow storm up there in between Cheyenne and Laramie that I-80 is closed until further notice!  That stretch of I-80 in Wyoming can be really trying in the winter time.  Not only is it common to have a lot of ice and snow up there, but the high winds that blow so fiercely through there have turned many a big truck over on it's side.  I quickly made a new plan to turn West right where I was and take Hwy 50 over through Colorado and then get on Hwy 6, up through the Spanish Fork Pass in Utah, thus avoiding that storm that was raging just to the North of me.  I went through the Monarch Pass in Colorado and had such a wonderful trip through the area that I felt compelled to share it with you.  I have some photos, but due to the narrow roadways I was on I didn't get to make very many stops for photos along the way.

Hwy 50 snakes along through the mountains and much of the time follows along the path of the Arkansas river, which makes for a very pleasant and scenic drive...

This is a fairly mild section of the river, but in many places this river flows rather rapidly through some interesting sections.  I saw several rafters in the area taking their chances at getting dunked in those rather cool waters as I snaked my way along through those canyons, going the opposite direction of the folks floating down the river.  At one point I stopped for my thirty minute break and watched as a storm came rolling in over the mountain tops in the distance...

Speaking of Mountain passes, while I was up in Oregon, and coming back through Wyoming I saw exits for a couple of passes that I avoided.  One of them was "Dead Man's Pass." and the other was "Rattlesnake Pass."  I don't know, but there was something about the names of those places that discouraged me from wanting to take them.  Oh, and another one that has an interesting history is "Donner's Pass."  If you don't know the story, I'll just let you "google it."  It has something to do with cannibalism - it was not a great day for those members of the Donner family, and those traveling with them.

Oregon, like much of the far West, can be quite rugged at times.  It also can surprise you suddenly.  At one point I was passing through what had to have been treacherous travel lanes for those brave pioneers who first came this way, when all of a sudden the mountains gave way and the terrain dropped down into a rich and fertile valley where there was all kinds of agricultural activities going on...

When I made my way to my final destination point, a brand new Rodeo Arena, being built for the High School Rodeo team by private investors, I was quickly unloaded by the waiting construction crew who I had made arrangements with earlier in the week.  Here's a look at them unloading my truck, and you can see the steel structure in the background where the aluminum bench seating will be installed...

Of interest to those wanting to learn how to be successful at this career is the fact that my original appointment for this load was set for Monday, but I could actually get there by Saturday morning if I pushed really hard.  I'm not talking about breaking the law, I had legitimately legal hours available to make it if I managed it right, but the problem was that my notes in the dispatch from customer service indicated that there would be no one available to unload me on Saturday.

Always one to try to make my own opportunities out here, I did a little research, found out the job superintendent's cell number, and gave him a call - well actually three calls, until I finall get hold of him and actually talk. I simply tell the man that I can be there Saturday morning if there is any way they can unload me. He is happy to do it, and tells me that they are not actually working that day because they don't have the materials they are needing, but they will just be sitting around at their hotel, and if I will call him when I'm getting close, he will meet me at the site and unload me.

Next thing I do is make a call to the folks in Phoenix, Arizona who help us find back haul loads for this dedicated account that I am serving. Usually I would just call my dispatcher in Louisiana and let him know that I had moved my appointment and he would handle the details, but he is out this week on vacation. I don't even want to bother the stand-in, who really doesn't have a clue about how things work on this account. I'm really not supposed to call the folks in Phoenix, but when I explained to them what was going on they thanked me for calling and said they would get right to work on finding me something for Saturday instead of Monday. It is critical on this account that we get back to Louisiana as quickly as possible so we can be dispatched onto another outgoing load from the manufacturing plant.

Somewhere during my last six hundred mile leg of the trip to Hermiston I got dispatched a pre-plan back haul load which has 2,800 miles on it!

Now I can't legally drive 5,000 miles in one week, but consider this: Had I just took my time and gotten this load there on Monday I would turn it in on Tuesday's cut-off for payroll - I would have a 2,200 mile pay check. Then if I got the same back haul (which is unlikely) I would have taken it by it's schedule and I would have my next week be a 2,800 mile paycheck. That's not bad, but neither is it impressive. I would have averaged 2,500 miles per week those two weeks. Many people are satisfied with that.

By doing what I did I have got a big jump start on the next weeks pay period. Being familiar with this account, and how it works, I can almost guarantee you what will happen when I finish this 2,800 mile run. I will be given a load to Connecticut with 1,400 miles on it that I can deliver just in time for the next payroll cut-off. So now let's do the math again... Three loads delivered in two weeks time with a total of 6,400 miles turned in. Now I have averaged 3,200 miles for those two weeks, just by taking some initiative of my own. When you do these types of things consistently you are really increasing your pay. You don't have to get a pay raise to make more money, you just have to understand how to play the game out here.

Here's the three important things I did...

✔ I moved my appointment time forward by making a few calls and presenting myself in a       professional way to the customer.

✔ I knew who to call at my company that would do what they could to keep me moving and     got them on the same page with me.

✔ I followed through and did what I said I would do - no excuses, just "git er done."

I tell people all the time that this job is more like being self-employed than any other you can have. Here's what successful self-employed people who are their own boss do: They seize every opportunity that is given them, and then on top of that they are vigilant about making their own opportunities happen whenever possible. That is what I did this week, and to be honest with you I'm on the hunt for opportunities each day that I am out on the road. You need to be an opportunist to make stuff happen out here, and when the people that you work with understand your abilities, they will be right in there to support you. They recognize the kind of drivers who are consistently getting more accomplished, and they are more than willing to get behind that kind of driver with their support. You have got to be consistent at this, so don't over extend yourself and start messing things up. Learn your craft and build upon a good foundation. If you drop the ball too many times you will lose their trust, and that will cost you.

Knowing the log book rules, managing your time efficiently, and being willing to make a few sacrifices that other drivers may not, are key factors in being a top tier driver. Taking your own initiative, and producing consistent results are key ingredients to success out here.

Okay, I hope I am not so long winded that I am boring you, but just a few more things of interest to note about this trip.  I stopped at a truck stop somewhere along the way that still had some of the old vestiges of the "Old School" days of trucking.  Now days we all communicate with our company, or our dispatchers, through cell phone communications, or more likely through our Qualcomm tablet in our trucks.  Back in the day, truck drivers used "Pay Phones" at the truck stops to find out what they were to be doing next.  Here's a look at what almost any of the old truck stops would have somewhere in the building...

That is a look at a place where nine different truck drivers could sit and talk on the pay phones (way back in the day it was a dime to make a phone call, and later it jumped up to a quarter) to their company to report problems or just to find out what they needed to do next.  Here's a closer look at a pay phone for you youngsters to see.  I know some of you wouldn't even know what it was...

When you start your day as early as I often do, (on this particular morning I started my work day at 2:30 a,m,) you will often get to enjoy scenes such as this sunrise in Wyoming...

I took I-80 in Wyoming on my back-haul load because my first stop was in David City, Nebraska. They had it opened back up after just a day or two.  My back-haul load was loaded at the SAPA plant in Spanish Fork, Utah and here's the places it delivers to...

✔ Timpte Industries in David City, Nebraska

✔ Ryerson Metals in Omaha, Nebraska

✔Chicago Tube & Iron in Milan, Illinois

✔Earle M. Jorgenson Company in Schaumburg, Illinois

I've loaded several times at the plant in Spanish Fork when I am up in this area of the country.  It is a beautiful area and even the views from the plant are aesthetic enough for a tourist to enjoy.  This photo was taken just outside the gate of the SAPA plant after I got my truck loaded.

After delivering in Schaumburg, Illinois I will be "dead heading" back to Delhi, Louisiana to find out what my next load assignment is.

Down By The Sea

I am at home for a few days right now.  I had planned on being home around Mother's day, but it is sometimes a little tricky coordinating everything just right with this job to be home exactly when you want to.  It is one of the things about being an Over The Road truck driver that causes many people to stumble at this career.  Not being able to be home when you want is one of the top reasons that people give for quitting this career and going back to some other type of work.  Generally, if you are a top performer and getting things done like you should, your driver manager will do what ever they can to make sure you are home when you need to be, as long as your requests are reasonable and communicated well in advance of the desired time.  Sometimes taking some time at home may have an ill effect on your income potential during the week prior to going home as they will start trying to keep you close in the area and may not have as much liberty in choosing loads for you due to the constraints of the logistical possibilities of making sure you make it home when desired.

I had communicated with my driver manager my desire of getting home during this time, as I had a few things to take care of at home while my youngest daughter was still there.  She will be leaving for the school she is attending in Colorado next week, and my wife is going to go with her and take a little vacation of sorts while staying there with her for a week or two.  There were some things that I needed to take care of for them with their automobiles, and preparations for the trip.  It is really fairly easy for me to get home to Texas because I am in Delhi, Louisiana on a weekly basis, but this time it got just a little tricky.  I had a back haul load from Cressona, Pennsylvania that put me down in Tampa, Florida - not exactly close to Delhi, Louisiana.  I had communicated with my dispatcher about finding me a load to Texas so that I could go home, usually an easy thing for us to do since we have loads going to Texas almost on a daily basis.  It is important for new drivers not to panic when it comes to getting their home-time.  Your dispatcher is working on it, but sometimes the flow of profitable freight sends you on a circuitous route to get where you are wanting to be.

One of the things that we are required to do on this job is to make sure we get our trucks into a terminal every 10,000 miles for the mechanics to take a good look at everything, and then on each fourth visit (40,000 mile interval) we have what is called our "B" service, which is a thorough servicing of the truck including oil and filter changes.  These visits are critical, in that if we miss them, or go past our mileage limits on these visits, it takes away our bonus pay, which is fairly substantial.  They use the financial incentive to keep the drivers on an effective schedule of their maintenance of the trucks.  It is a good program, and works well to keep our trucks in top condition. This time it fell at just the wrong time for me.  When I got finished at Tampa I had only about 500 miles left to get my "B" service performed, so I had to make a stop at the terminal in Gulfport, Mississippi on my way back to Delhi.  I  was not going to get there until late on Friday, which meant I would have to wait until Monday to get my service performed.  Ahhhgg!  Several wasted days and my truck will be in the shop all day Monday so that I can't get to Delhi until Tuesday.  What do you do?

Here's what I did...

Gulfport is right down on the coast, and just a short distance from a place that I have wanted to visit, Pass Christian, Mississippi.  I just drove my truck down to Pass Christian and parked at the beach, while spending the weekend right on the coast with the cool ocean breezes blowing through the open windows of my cab at night.  It was a really nice treat, but it felt kind of silly taking a break just before I was going to take my break at home, but I had no option.  I parked right by the Pass Christian Harbor  where a good many fishing vessels are docked right along side of the pleasure craft that are docked there at the Pass Christian Yacht Club.  There were some grand old Trawlers there and I enjoyed the sights of the boats as much as I enjoyed the sights, smells, and sounds of being on the coast.

Pass Christian is an old community that a little more than a decade ago boasted some very large stately mansions that were centuries old.  Unfortunately most of the town was swept away from the violence of Hurricane Katrina.  This once very popular tourist destination has struggled to rebuild itself, but is putting forth a valiant effort.

One thing that was not destroyed by that storm is the population of Hermit Crabs!  I lost count of how many Hermit Crabs I picked up and played with while on my little visit there recently.  I found them both in their usual Conch shaped shells and a few in some Nautilus shaped shells lumbering along in the sand and shallow water near the edge of the water as it lapped and ebbed back and forth on the shore.  Such a cumbersome little creature, but fun to watch nonetheless.  I captured three of them for a photo opportunity for my blog, but as soon as they realized I was going to post their images on the internet, they went remarkable reticent on me. So here's all I could get out of them...

One of the things I noticed while there was the constant sounds of the coastal aquatic birds in the area.  There were lots of Gulls, some beautiful little Least Terns, a good many Pelicans, and some Cranes.  Here's a shot of a fellow as he warily observes me working closer to him for a photo before he took flight...

The gulls had this unique habit of gathering together on a sand bar that was formed just a little short distance out in the water, and making such a racket with all their chirping and chattering among each other that it sounded as if they were holding some sort of council meeting and debating a great matter that was of most importance in their little Gull world.

I took my meals at a restaurant called Shaggy's.  It was a fun little place with some really good fresh seafood.  I am partial to the great flavor of our Gulf coast Shrimp and Oysters.  Having grown up in Texas we got our share of fresh Seafood, and it was good to be down here enjoying some of those flavors from the Gulf of Mexico again.  There were several nice restaurants in the area, but I kind of decided to stick with Shaggy's.  From what I could tell by my limited research the other restaurants were trying to cater a little more to the Yacht Club Crowd.  Let's just say they were attracting more of the "John Kerry" type crowd, whereas Shaggy's was more likely to attract the "Jimmy Buffet" crowd. That's the nicest way I can think to put it!

Of course I enjoyed the views from the beach and the gentle breezes blowing through the night.  It was a very pleasant break for me, but the timing of it kept me from having a very productive week.  But still it is hard to replace such a pleasant time of rest and the memories one gains from just such an unexpected break in the action.

Once I got released from the terminal and back on the road it turned out that they didn't have a load that I could run to Texas, so my dispatcher asked me what I thought about taking a load up to Lenexa, Kansas with a couple of stops in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Miami, Oklahoma.  He said I could do that load and then just head for home with my empty truck until I was ready to get back to work.  I jumped on that opportunity and worked the trip so that I could spend the night in Tulsa and see my good friends Jim and Virginia Rogers.  While there I took Jim out to a really great Barbecue Restaurant called "The Burn Company,"  People stand in line out the door of this place at the lunch hour, and if you are lucky enough to get near the front of the line you can get some of their really great Ribs before they sell out for the day.  Last time Jim and I tried this they were sold out by the time we got up to the counter.  This time we got there around 11:30 and were able to get Ribs.  About three or four people back behind us people started getting turned down and told, "We are sorry, but we are now sold out of Ribs."  It is a fun place where everyone sits at wooden picnic style tables, and it is so crowded that you almost always end up sitting with strangers who are crowded in at a table with you.

Of special interest to me, though not because of my interest in it as a drink, is a local libation available here that bears my name.  Yes, you can get yourself a canned craft beer here called Dale's Pale Ale for a five dollar bill...

Interstate Trivia

This might be a fun little topic for those of us who are kind of "Geeky" or "Trucking Nerds."

Captain Terryble commented on my last blog post with some interesting facts about the volume of trucks on interstates, and which ones have the heaviest truck traffic.  He also posed an interesting question about I-81 where it allows you to be in four states in just a short period of time.  Here is a quote of his comment...

Perhaps of interest I've got a government map of Interstates with more than 8,500 trucks per day. I-80 (most of it's length) and I-78 are on it along with I-287 and I-87 up to Newburgh. Then, apparently, the truck traffic splits enough where both I-87 to the north and I-84 to the east fall below parameters. The other two routes on the map in the Mid-Atlantic and New England are I-95 from Boston all the way down to Richmond (and a little beyond) and I-81 from Harrisburg all the way down to I-40. The only other busy truck route on the map is from about Scranton down to I-80 near Mountaintop, PA.

And, by the way, do you know of any other Interstate in the US where you can be in four states in less than an hour than I-81 between VA and PA?

Captain, I found these little tidbits of information interesting since I am on these interstates all the time, and I can pretty much confirm that these are areas of very heavy truck traffic.  I traverse the entire 323 miles of I-81 as it makes it's way through Virginia from Tennessee to West Virginia almost on a weekly basis.  It is weird how it affects me, and it still does the same thing each time I do it, but once I get to West Virginia, after making that long slog all the way through Virginia, all of a sudden it starts to feel like I'm really making some progress because almost immediately I have gotten through West Virginia and Maryland, and then I suddenly find myself into Pennsylvania.  It feels like all of a sudden I have entered some kind of a time warp or something.

Here are some facts about our interstate system that I had stored away, and almost forgotten until you jogged my memory about them.  I looked them up and decided, "Hey this would make for a fun little post of trivial interstate facts and figures."  So, here you go.  A treat for you geeky folks who are fascinated by interstate trivia...

• The Interstate System is officially named: Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and  Defense Highways.

• As of 2004, the Interstate System covered 46,837 miles.

• Spanning 3,020.54 miles from Seattle, Washington to Boston, Massachusetts, I-90 is the longest Interstate.

• The shortest interstate, I-73, runs 12.27 miles from Emery to Greensboro, North Carolina.

• Route I-95 crosses through the most states: 16, including Washington D.C.

• Only five state capitals are not served by the Interstate System: Juneau, Alaska; Dover, Delaware; Jefferson City, Missouri; Carson City, Nevada; and Pierre, South Dakota.

• As of 2004, there were approximately 14,750 interchanges in the Interstate System.

• New York has 29 Interstate routes, which is more than any other state.

• Texas has the most Interstate miles: 3,233.45 spread over 17 different routes.

• There are seven North-South transcontinental interstates: I-5, I-15, I-35, I-55, I-65, I-75, and I-95.

And then one of my all time favorite little facts about our highway system...

What is the only stretch of interstate where you're running both North and South at the same time?

It's near Wytheville, Virginia where I-81 and I-77 run together. You will be running I-77 North and I-81 South at the same time or vice versa.

Oh, here's one more that I just discovered...

The Eisenhower tunnel on I-70 in Colorado is the highest vehicular tunnel in the U.S., the longest mountain tunnel on the interstate system, and the highest point on the interstate system at 11,158 feet.

Spring Has Sprung

Several weeks ago I was up early in the morning to take a walk where I had parked over night at my customer in Bridgewater, New Jersey.  They don't start until around eight in the morning, and I was out taking a walk, enjoying the nice weather in the area until they decided to get started.  It was around six a.m. and for the hour or so that I was walking I am sure that I saw several hundred Geese as they were making their way back up North after they had spent their winter time down in the milder climates of the South.  I thought to myself, "Well, that means Spring is finally here."  (By the way, a bunch of Geese are not called a "flock."  They are known as a "gaggle of Geese" - a little fun and totally uninteresting trivia for your pleasure)

Last week I was back in New Jersey, and I had spent my available driving hours getting there a day early with the plan of taking my ten hour break there in Riverdale, New Jersey.  This would allow me to get on up to my final stop in Farmington, Connecticut that evening, and be the first in line to get unloaded Tuesday morning at Stanley Access Technologies.  That put me into position to be a day early on the load, and gets me moving on to another load quicker.  Incidentally that is how you want to dance this dance.  If you can consistently operate in this fashion you will be making opportunities for yourself, and you won't be one of the many drivers who does nothing but complain about how their dispatcher is not treating them right.  It worked out well too - my back haul load was an almost 2,200 mile run!

So, while I am taking my ten hour break in Riverdale I decided to take a nice walk in a nearby neighborhood that I often walk in when parked at this customer's property.  This walk only confirmed my previous suspicions that Spring had sprung!

The dogwood trees in this neighborhood are some of the finest I've seen, and they have more of the pink variety than the white ones in this neighborhood.

Check out these beautiful blossoms up close and personal...

Here are several of the best ones that I saw, and I could have taken more photos, but since the purpose of this blog is not about flowers I tried to stifle myself from going over-board.  One of the things I want you to realize though is that you need to have a life outside of being a truck driver.  Enjoy the different areas you go to.  Learn to take a little time out of the rat race and "smell the roses," or "taste the tacos along the way."  Haha!  More about that taco statement in just a little bit!

Here's a nice white one, probably the type most of us are familiar with...

This one is in a yard where I have gotten some really nice fall shots of the trees also.  Those of you who are familiar with some of my fall foliage posts may recognize the unique house where this pink Dogwood is located...

Those Spring time bulbs are up and blooming also.  I saw a good number of tulips and other early spring bulbs blooming and demonstrating all their pomp and glory in New Jersey.  It just makes Spring twice as much fun for me, because I have already seen all this stuff happening in the South about a month ago.  As an Over The Road truck driver you get to experience all the seasons two or three times each during the year.  Sometimes the winters can be brutal, and yet it somehow all gets made up for by the wonders of Spring each year.  Here's a few of the flower beds that I noticed as I was strolling through the neighborhood...

Okay, let's talk about that reference I made to Tacos...

I was recently in Tampa, Florida delivering a load of aluminum extrusions from the SAPA plant in Cressona, Pennsylvania to Alro Metals.  I go here fairly often and there is a place nearby called "The Taco Bus" that I have often wanted to try for lunch.  There is no way to park a big truck there, and because of that I hadn't figured out how to try it yet.  But, this day it was May the 5th - Cinco De Mayo, and I decided that I was going to make it happen.  My delivery appointment was for eleven a.m. and they had me unloaded by about noon.  I simply asked them if I could park my truck in their lot after they unloaded me, and walk up the road to The Taco Bus to get myself some lunch.  They jokingly replied that they would be happy to accommodate me as long as I brought tacos back for all the staff!

The Taco Bus has always been busy anytime I go by there, so I figured it must be good, and it was!

It is an intriguing place with both inside and outside dining areas, but the unusual thing about it is that you walk up to a School bus, and order your meal from a side window in the bus!  I guess the whole idea is that of the "street taco" that is so popular now days sold from a food truck.  And although I do not know the history behind the name of this establishment, it could be that they started out with a bus selling tacos from it - I would guess that is highly probable.  Anyway, here's a look at the place where I got some really good Carne' Asada Street tacos on Cinco De Mayo...

This what it looks like from the street...

Here is what you see when you get around to the side of the building where you are going to order your meal...

And, not only was the food good, they also seem to have a pleasant sense of humor.  I like folks who can laugh at themselves, and I think from this hand painted sign on the side of the bus, these folks know exactly how to do that...