John's old white truck, a little underpowered for the job anyway, has no heating (and thus no defroster) so I bundled up in many layers, onion-like, and brought along some kitchen towels for wiping the inside of the windshield. A bottle of window-cleaner and a stick (so I could reach most of the windshield while belted in) would've been a good idea, but it wasn't one I thought of until we were some miles down the road.
The trip to San Saba was some 85-86 miles. It took a couple of hours. All of it was cold, wet, and windy. Sir Loin, with the middle section of a long, mostly enclosed, cattle trailer to himself, was probably the least uncomfortable--he arrived dry and composed, and at home in the pasture he'd have been exposed to the rain and wind. We delivered him to the abbatoir, where he walked into the inspection pen without incident, and then we went to get pecans for John's father (San Saba is a notable pecan--producing area, and this year's crop, thanks to the heavy rains, was quite large) and for lunch, and then we drove back., another two hours, with the truck complaining (wheezing and groaning) every time we had to go up a long slope, of which there were many.
Also ran into the state inspector who was going to inspect Sir Loin to be sure he looked healthy and wouldn't contaminate the place with something dire. We had stopped back by the abbatoir because I wanted to pick up their business card and had failed to do it earlier, and the inspector was there but the proprietors were having lunch. He said "I can't do any business for you" and I said "I just brought a calf in this morning, and wanted to pick up a business card--could you just get one off the desk for me?" and he said yes, and he'd be inspecting my calf, and I said "He's a very nice calf and his name's Sir Loin the Luckless" and he laughed.
Today it's bright and sunny.