Whale Beached on South 1st

Today, I was planning to pick up a friend on South 1st (an arterial route south from downtown) near Barton Springs when he called telling me to “look out for the beached whale on South 1st”. Since Austin, much less South 1st, is 200 miles away from the Gulf of Mexico, yet he told me to trust him and I’d understand later.

Sure enough, as I’m driving to pick him up, at about 800 South 1st Street at a steep driveway, there was a Blue Whale Moving Company truck stuck, partly blocking the southbound lanes of South 1st. The driveway was too steep for them to make it up, but the back grill of the truck prevented them from reversing out of the driveway.

From the time my friend told me about it until the last time I drove by the beached whale was three hours and it didn’t seem like it was going to be moving anytime soon.