What about this El Paso Place?

dolphin

Seasoned Expediter
New to Expediting and have heard a lot about Laredo, but not much about El Paso.

I was offered 2 loads out of SC this week and decided to take the MI load so I could be closer to home.

Interested in your comments about El Paso. Hard to get out of like Laredo? Didn't see too much choices to deadhead too.

Texas is a long, long, long state. :eek:

Thanks.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Given that choice, I would have taken the Michigan load too. El Paso is not always difficult to get out of, but when it is, you are a long, long way from any other express center. Look at the map. If you were in El Paso and needed to deadhead someplace else, where would you go and how far would it be?
 

AMonger

Veteran Expediter
I've been to El Paso and gotten right out. Then I think, "This is great! I'm going to come here every chance I get." Then the next time, I get stuck there for a week. So there's no telling.

It's not that far from Laredo to SA or Houston, but it's a long way from El Paso to anywhere.

I found that it's nicer to stay at the truck stops on the west side of town at exit 0 than the Petro/Hook/Loves. There's frequently a stiff breeze out west.
 

purgoose10

Veteran Expediter
I've been to El Paso and gotten right out. Then I think, "This is great! I'm going to come here every chance I get." Then the next time, I get stuck there for a week. So there's no telling.

It's not that far from Laredo to SA or Houston, but it's a long way from El Paso to anywhere.

I found that it's nicer to stay at the truck stops on the west side of town at exit 0 than the Petro/Hook/Loves. There's frequently a stiff breeze out west.

Everything A Monger say's. Everyother time I've gone I have to d/h to Dallas. A good 500 mi.
 

AMonger

Veteran Expediter
My last time in El Paso, there was a hiker/homeless guy with a big dog. He was hanging around the truck stops for days. I was avoiding him because I figured he was looking for a handout. Turns out he was looking for a ride east. He was indeed a hiker who had, he said, hiked for thousands of miles around the country, but like Forrest Gump, had decided he was tired and was going home. But it's so far from El Paso to civilization, there was no way he was going to hike it. It was a very hot summer and he would have needed more water than he could carry, among other things. I don't know what became of him.
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
It's not that far from Laredo to SA or Houston, but it's a long way from El Paso to anywhere

Whenever I deliver to a place that is a long way from anywhere I ask for some extra money up front before accepting the load. This alleviates some of the pain to get back to anywhere.
 

RoadTime

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I love the ride to El Paso. I would much rather go there then Laredo anyday. I have not been there in over 6 months, but would go again without question. Everytime I have gone I got right out, but that may have changed, but I'd still go :cool:
 

21cExp

Veteran Expediter
I love the ride to and from El Paso too, and often go exploring around there, down US Rts 90 and 67, down through Valentine, Marfa, and Marathon and, as often as I can, all the way down to Ojinaga and Terlingua in the Big Bend area.

Big Bend has some of the most remote and magnificent landscape in the United States. The Borderlands...very unique and interesting place. It's where I get my av from. If you are at all intrigued by North American history, the mingling of cultures and the clashes of class, it's a fascinating place.

One of the best ever Mexican restaurants is in El Paso too; Los Bandidos De Carlos & Mickey's, at 1310 Magruder St, not far off Montana Ave. Been there since the 40's I believe, and is a real treat on Sunday morning for brunch if stuck in El Paso for the weekend. Amazingly good food, wandering musicians, and all the free Horchata you might want. Just as great or better as a dinner place.

Not far north from El Paso is Las Cruces NM, and the ages old town of La Mesilla with one of the oldest town squares in America, and where Billy the Kid was tried and hung. Low slung, thick adobe-walled buildings, and another fantastic Mexican restaurant with very cool open courtyard and tons of historical furniture and artifacts. Well worth a little side trip from El Paso, it's less than 50 mi one way.

http://southernnewmexico.com/Articles/Southwest/Dona_Ana/LaMesilla/LaMesillaNewMexico-thelas.html

Also up that way, only 90 mi from El Paso, is White Sands National Monument. Not sand really, but 275 square miles of the world's largest gypsum dune field: http://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm . Really beautiful, amazingly white.

And that in turn is very close to Alamagordo NM, of Holloman AF Base, White Sands Missile Range, and past atomic testing fame, etc.

Whether all of that sort of thing helps make it worthwhile to deliver to remote places like El Paso is up to you.
 
Last edited:

HighwayRover

Seasoned Expediter
We broke down while loaded and had to be towed 150 miles into El Paso. After we switched out the load to another truck we were towed to the Volvo dealer there for repairs. Meeting the other drivers in the "driver's lounge" gave me an uneasy feeling about the place. They all had a horror story of some sorts about the dealer where we all were.

Long story short, when the bill came due it was twice what any other dealer would have charged. I called all over the country getting estimates from other Volvo dealers on the parts alone using the part numbers from my bill. This dealer jacked up everything by at least another 50%-75%. After 4 days to fix the truck, it took us another 3 hours to negotiate the bill down to what any other Volvo dealer would have most likely charged in the first place. What a nightmare!

If you have a Volvo: Don't break down in El Paso!! Pay the extra and have your truck towed anywhere else!

Other than that... we love El Paso! The What-a-burger's have green chillies on their burgers!
 

cranis

Expert Expediter
Driver
ABQ NMis only a few hours too. was working in ABQ and only 4 hours to El paso to visit son stationed there. And grandchildren
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
I love the ride to and from El Paso too, and often go exploring around there, down US Rts 90 and 67, down through Valentine, Marfa, and Marathon and, as often as I can, all the way down to Ojinaga and Terlingua in the Big Bend area. ....

Very impressive, 21cExp. You take the paid tourism aspect of expediting to a high level. Diane and I like to think we have seen the country. Reading your post, I realize that when we leave expediting, we are going to wish we saw the country with the effort, perception and insight you do.
 

21cExp

Veteran Expediter
Very impressive, 21cExp. You take the paid tourism aspect of expediting to a high level. Diane and I like to think we have seen the country. Reading your post, I realize that when we leave expediting, we are going to wish we saw the country with the effort, perception and insight you do.

Well hey Mr Phil, that's quite a compliment. Thank you.

I could write a ton more about that part of way west Texas. The old cattle men's railroad town of Van Horn and its wonderful old El Capitan hotel...the Sandhills up around Monahan, all the movies that have been made in the area, from Tommy Lee Jone's Cannes Film Festival winner Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada to the Coen Bros No Country for Old Men, to Wim Wenders' cool movie Paris, Texas (with Harry Dean Stanton, Natassia Kinski and Dean Stockwell, with music by Ry Cooder).

And so much more, about any place one visits, really.

But I particularly love it out there.

Thanks again for the nice compliment.
 
Top