Chapter 20

In fact, I was coming to like just riding around with someone else driving and I decided to enjoy it while it lasted. Jerrilyn and the others could do the hard part and I'd still be in on the fun.

We were out of Texas in what seemed like no time and then the girls pulled in to what previously I would have thought of as a broken down truckstop. I did notice the price of fuel on the sign was 7 cents less than the one we'd spent the night at though. Of course I also noted we were twenty-five dollars to the bad over having to pay for the showers, but what the hell?

The girls pulled up into their fueling slots like pros though and at least I knew my job now. I got out and worked all the fuel stations, both pumps and satellites, while the girls went inside with a wad of bills. Once I finished fueling all three trucks I joined them. I had noticed though, while most of the place looked ratty - the pumps and satellites at the fuel islands looked almost new and the concrete and aprons at the long line of bays looked recent too.

One of the odd things about this truckstop to me was it sold beer. Not exactly what you'd first think of being available in a truck stop, but it didn't stop me from buying a six-pack of Lone Star Long Necks. The girls were walking around looking at the crap for sale, but I was pretty sure they weren't going to buy anything, and I was right.

We hit the road again and Jerrilyn told me we'd received an additional two cents per gallon discount because we paid with cash and we'd even had another cent knocked off for having three trucks buy fuel at the same time. Of course we'd bought six hundred or so gallons, but I figured it all added up.

Our next stop wasn't in Oklahoma City. It was at a toll station more than fifty miles past it. We all went inside to pay and Jackie asked about some type of electronic gadget to put on the trucks so the tolls could be mailed to our offices, or deducted from an account we could open with the state.

We went for the deduction method and the lady told us we could ignore the tollbooths from now on in Oklahoma. The little radio contraption she gave us would take care of everything until we used up what was in our account. She didn't think it would happen anytime soon since I gave her ten thousand in cash for the account.

Sure enough, when we left the toll road up near where we crossed into Missouri the radio hickey on the dash made a little sound, but we basically ignored it. There was a chicken coop just a mile or so on the other side of the Oklahoma/Missouri line, but the one on our side was closed. We'd had the word on it for at least fifty miles thanks to listening to the CB radio.

It wasn't clear sailing on up to Springfield though. There was a Petro Truck Stop three or four miles on up the road and we pulled in there. I noticed the price of fuel here was only a couple of cents more than it had been in Oklahoma and the place looked a hell of a lot nicer. We didn't need fuel though and I didn't want a shower either. It was late afternoon by now and I was hungry.

Apparently the girls were too, because we headed to the Petro, parked the trucks, and went directly to the restaurant. The place looked nicer inside than any I'd seen yet and I didn't even think it was funny to have a young woman seat us. I noticed a driver eating a big steak and was even more impressed to see it came on a pewter skillet-like dish and a smaller similar dish had beans in it.

I perused the menu after we had them though and sure enough I saw a picture which looked a lot like what he'd been eating. I ordered two of them for myself, and the waitress actually asked me if I wanted her to hold one until I'd finished the first. I said yes, and I'm sure she thought I'd probably forego the second one after I ate the first.

Of course I didn't, and in fact I had a little trouble attracting her attention when I was ready for the second one to be brought out. We didn't have to get up and physically assault her, but it was obvious she had forgotten completely about my second steak. With the business they were doing it was understandable though and I started thinking the waitresses were being worked too hard. I got over it when my next steak appeared.

Christine had brought the Blackberry to the table with us and she called my CB man to see if he'd be open in a couple of hours when we made it to Springfield. He told her if he wasn't, "Just beat on the door and I'll get up."

I paid the bill then and we took off. We were at my CB man's house in a little less than two hours and once again I had trouble getting Junior and his father to take the money. I was insistent though and we took off down Hwy 65 heading for home.

There were all kinds of things which had been delivered just inside the house, but Jackie and Jerrilyn didn't want to open them - they just stacked them out of the way with Christine and Selene helping. Of course there was a tour of the house for the new arrivals, but mostly I just wanted to get in bed and get a little sleep. I finally went on without them.

All was better the next morning. I knew they had come to bed during the night, but they were all up before me and I had a hellacious breakfast. They must have felt a little bit guilty about using me hard the day before, or was it two days. Anyway there was plenty to eat on the table when I got there.

Of course we weren't staying long. We headed right back toward Las Vegas within a couple of hours, but we only took one truck and left the other two at home.

I was relieved to finally get back to Binions. At least I got a break, and since the Arab gentlemen were still in DC, or at least still somewhere else, I had nothing to do, but rest. The girls didn't have it so easy, but at least they were settled on the other trailer for the upcoming trucks. It was a rather plain fifty-three foot box van.

Of course it couldn't be all that plain, so they ordered it with corrugated stainless steel sides, similar to the reefers. Other than this little eccentricity it was plain enough though. I didn't get into the discussion, but I did hear them talking about being able to just add a reefer unit if it turned out we needed another reefer later - as if we needed the first one. I supposed it meant the trailer had some extra insulation or something. I knew I'd probably end up pulling it, but it would be behind me and I didn't care.

Two days after we were back in Vegas the helper from Kuwait came to get the girls lined out for travel over there. They spent six days with him shopping for what to wear. I couldn't see what took all the time since when they modeled some of the stuff it looked like robes to me, except for that crap covering their heads and faces.