READY, AIM, FIRE

Where we live, we are surrounded on all sides by National Forests.  Craig has been longing to go exploring and find a place to do some shooting.  So last week, when he was home on time off, we took off in the pickup and drove deep into forest land, where there were no more pavement, and walked through vegetation to find a clearing to do some shooting.

You can see from the photos that the only thing we had handy to use as targets were paper plates.  They didn't stand a chance and were soon looking like Swiss cheese by the time we packed it in to go home.  It really is great to live in the area that we do, with so much of the outdoors to be enjoyed.  I hope we never take it for granted just how lucky we are to live where we do.

Only 44 more months for Craig before he can be home full time and not drive truck anymore.  Maybe sooner if I keep playing the lottery!

TIRES

We recently had to replace all four tires on our pickup.  They still had plenty of tread, but their age were showing with some cracks on the side walls.  No one wants to shell out that kind of money, but you do what you have to do.

What I don't understand, is being a company driver, not having to pay out of your own pocket for tire repair, and just ignoring tires that need to be replaced.  All too often, and especially lately, Craig has had to take time out of his driving hours to have trailer tires replaced.

I get that it is a pain, but to blatantly drop a trailer that is in need of a tire replacement, and leave it to the next driver to take care of is unacceptable.  There should be some type of reprimand for that lazy, thoughtless driver, but I know that is a pipe dream to ever think that this situation will change.

I'm just happy that Craig is diligent about his pre/post trip inspections, replaces tires that need it, and can handle the occasional tire blow out, which he had just yesterday, and live to tell me about it.  God help some of these drivers that aren't as safety conscious.

ISN'T IT SPRING YET?

I couldn't believe it.  I was on the phone with Craig this morning and was looking at some patches of blue skies outside.  As we neared the end of our conversation, I got up to look out the kitchen window and was shocked to see that it was SNOWING! No kidding, it was snowing and the landscape was quickly turning into a winter wonderland. 

If you didn't figure it out from my first paragraph, I'm staying off the truck for a few weeks to enjoy what I thought would be our fantastic springlike weather.  Thankfully, the snow didn't last long, and it was soon melted off when it turned into a more springlike rain.

Today is Craig's birthday.  With each passing year, we are counting down four more years until he retires from driving truck.  Until then, we are still mulling over a couple of other divisions at work that would keep him more local and home every week instead of every three weeks.

I've said this before, but he is my everything, and I couldn't be prouder to be his wife and partner as we continue our journey through life together.  Every day is filled with laughter because of him and I thank God that he brought Craig into my life  Happy Birthday Craig!  Love you to the moon and back again!

BACON

I love bacon.  I love cooking other things with bacon, especially green beans, brussel sprouts, or bacon wrapped asparagus.  I love bacon and eggs, bacon on baked potatoes, and bacon in spinach salads.  So when Craig and I decided to grab some dinner at Denny's last night, I was more than happy to look at their special "BACONALIA" menu.

 

I didn't choose anything off the bacon menu, instead opting for a healthier option.  I never expected, when the waitress came by at the end of our meal and asked about dessert, as I was saying "no", Craig vetoed that with a "we'll try the bacon brownie sundae".  I think the look on my face was priceless, as Craig started laughing.  I mean I love bacon, and have heard previously of chocolate covered bacon and such, but bacon, ice cream, and a brownie?   Hey, I'm game.

 

When the sundae arrived at the table, like a real trooper, I grabbed my spoon and dug in.  The first bite took me awhile to find the bacon flavor lingering in the background.  On the second bite, I made sure to get a good dose of bacon and it was then that I was sold.  Mama Mia......what a combo!  I will be hard pressed not to order this again, or any of their other "bacon" desserts that they are offering.  I'm just happy we don't eat there often, and that this is a limited time menu item.





JUST A COUPLE OF WINOS

We received a load assignment we haven't had in quite a while, and one that required four pickups and one delivery.  Usually it is the other way around.  After going empty in Santa Clara, CA on Sunday afternoon, we headed to Salinas, CA to stage for the first pickup in Castroville on Monday morning.

We left at 7am for our 8am appointment, we only had 13 miles to drive, but since we missed the exit we needed off of Highway 101, we needed all of that time to find a road that would get us turned back around.  I secretly hoped that this little mishap would not be a sign of things to come.

As you can see from the picture, Castroville is the artichoke center of the world.  I wished we could have stopped at the many produce stands along the road, because they were selling artichokes 10/$1.  I don't know about where you live, but at home, the last time I bought an artichoke it was well over a dollar just for one!

We quickly loaded on the four pallets of miscellaneous types of wine, and headed the 15 miles to Watsonville to a little two dock facility in the middle of town to pick up one pallet of wine.  Then we headed north to a little town of American Canyon in the Napa Valley.  Into an industrial area where the streets were lined with warehouses from some pretty big name vintners from the area.

We pulled up to our shipper and right away ran into problems with a purchase order number.  After several phone calls we were finally told to just tell them it was a "rush order", and lo and behold that did the trick, along with an additional $35 fee for processing.  After our 8 pallets of wine were loaded on, it was now closing in on 3pm and we knew we would run into commute traffic no matter which way we went, so we chose the way we thought would be the path of least resistance.

The traffic was manageable, and we rolled into our last pick up of the day in Ceres, CA at 6pm at the fourth largest producer of wine in the United States.  We gave them the purchase order number and after much paper shuffling and phone calls, we were told that the load had already been picked up earlier in the day.  What the hell?  More phone calls, names and times written down, and as much info as we could get about what company picked up our load, and we were released by dispatch to leave the premises.

I gotta tell you, it was a long day, and with this last hiccup, I was so tempted to partake in some of that wine in our trailer!  We made it back to our company yard in French Camp and called it a night.  We now have two leisurely days of driving to make our delivery in Spokane on Thursday morning.  Cheers!

THE INTERNET IS A WONDERFUL THING

I live on the Internet.  About the only time I don't have the laptop in front of me on the truck is when I'm sleeping.  After all, what else is there to do while traveling up and down Interstate 5 to occupy my time and keep my mind busy.  I could never thank Al Gore enough for his invention....(insert sarcasm here).

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've asked Craig a question........like today, "Why is there netting over those orchard trees?  I don't remember ever seeing that before".   In a blink of an eye, or as fast as our Internet connection is, depending on where we are, I have my answer...... to keep the birds away from young fruit trees.

I use it to pay 100% of our bills and much to my dismay, create some, by ordering products that I come across on the Internet.  I can reload my Starbucks card and never fail to have at least one item in my Amazon shopping cart.  I play games for hours on end, have a multitude of recipes that I've saved to try once I get home, and of course, I can't forget Facebook.   It's how I keep in touch with what's going on with my friends and family.

I really don't know what I'd do without it and I hope I never find out!

12 YEARS

It seems like only yesterday, when Craig and I drove to Carmel to get married, but it was in fact twelve years ago.  For over half of those years, we have co-existed in a truck, with not more than three feet separating us for 24/7 & 365 days.  I'm sure a lot of couples wouldn't be able to do that, but there are a few I know that do, and I think they would agree, it's mandatory that you marry a person who is your best friend.

I know most of you are probably sick of hearing this same spiel every year on our anniversary, but there is not a day that goes by that we do not laugh and have fun.  All the romance in the world does not compare to being with someone who brings pure joy and happiness into your life every single day.  We've been  blessed since the day we met, and continue to be blessed by being able to create memories our on the road to last us a lifetime.

We were treated yesterday, by my twin Nieces, Jennifer and Stephanie, and Grandniece Gwendolyn, picking us up at the truck stop we were at and taking us into town for a bit of shopping and lunch.  It's nice that we have family along our normal routing to make these short times off the truck that much more enjoyable.

Today finds us with a trailer full of corndogs from Foster Farms, heading north to Clackamas for a Monday morning delivery.  The weather is great, our cupboards are full of food, and only 11 more day until our next home time, when we'll take a week off to open up the house, renew Craigs CDL, and get his annual DOT physical done.  Life is good!

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO

Early Saturday morning, after an all night drive into Spokane from Puyalllup, we made a delivery to  a Fred Meyer Store in town.  After a quick 2 hour nap, we were off on some home time, in which we would enjoy a staycation.  First, we headed up to the house to check on the snow levels, we haven't been there since the first of November.  We were happy to see that we didn't need to pull down any snow off the roof, and that there was only about 18 inches of snow on the ground.

We decided to stay the night, and in the morning we hit the local, and only, grill in our tiny town of Usk, and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast.  With stomachs full, we headed back into Spokane, and checked ourselves into the Northern Quest Casino and Hotel in Airway Heights.  We fully intended to have a nice four day staycation.

As you can see, this is a really nice place, with a spa like bathroom with full body spray shower heads lining the walls.  It felt as if we were transported to a vacation like setting without driving more than 10 miles from the Company yard.  It didn't take long for us to find ourselves on the casino floor and enjoying a little gambling and people watching.

We made sure to take advantage of all the special offers, played Bingo one evening, enjoyed $1 taco night, and registered for all the free money they wanted to give away.  You know what?  Sometimes your name actually gets called, as did Craig's, while we were playing Bingo, and off he went to claim his $500.00.  Nothing says FUN like winning that kinda of money!

By the time Thursday morning rolled around, we felt as if we had been away from the truck for at least a month, that is how rested and relaxed we felt.  We had a blast and enjoyed the first, somewhat vacation, in a very long time. 

With a phone call into the office at 8am, it didn't take long before we were sent to rescue a load from one of our trucks that had blown a couple of tires.  A few hours later, the load was delivered and we were sent to Tyson,  in Wallula, WA to drop our empty trailer.  We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see where we'll be headed next.

LIFE GOES ON

Things have calmed down since our run in with black ice.  Although this has been the mildest Winter we have had in awhile, we have put on chains more times in the last two months than we have the previous 7 years.  Go figure.

We've been doing a lot of night runs lately.  Makes it hard to take pictures and capture life out on the road, but I have managed to take a few here and there.  Have seen some magnificent sunrises and sunsets along the way.

We're currently sitting in Milwaukie, OR waiting to get unloaded before our 14 hour clock runs out and we find a place to park for 10 hours.  I'm hoping our string of night runs will taper off the rest of the week until we take some time off next week.

BLACK ICE

I hope to never have to say those two words again, and quite frankly, I've never been so scared in my life as I was Wednesday night.  We had finished up an overnight run into the Boise, Idaho area Wednesday  morning, and had gotten the usual 10pm load time at Americold in Ontario, Oregon for that night.  It had been extremely cold all day, starting out at near zero and hovering at 20 degrees throughout the day.  Our loading of the frozen fries went smoothly, and we started out on our 640 mile run to Pleasanton, CA for a Friday morning delivery.

The first 30 miles went great, with the exception of ice forming on the sides of the windshield, the roads seemed fine.  "Seemed" is right, because what we couldn't see was the smooth, clear sheets of ice forming onto the road as we approached our first hill.  It didn't take long for us to first feel the tires slipping and then lose traction as we slowly climbed.  Halfway up we could go no further and knew we had to put chains on.  Thankfully, on the secondary highway we were on, Highway 95, there were two lanes for uphill traffic, and by blocking the outside lane, there was still room for any other vehicles to pass safely by.

We quickly put on a set of chains on the drives and one on the trailer and continued up the hill.  We passed a couple of other trucks that were stuck on the road, and to be honest, we should have wised up that it wasn't going to get any better further up the road, but with no turnouts or places to pull safely over we continued on.  It didn't take too much longer before we were stuck again and had to stop to put a second set of chains on the drives.

We finally reached near the top of the summit when we again lost traction.  Looking ahead we saw at least 6 other trucks and cars in the same situation.  We were able to get as close to the side of the road as we could, and we assessed the situation and decided to stay put until some sand or daylight helped the situation.  Heck, even the DOT trucks were having a hard time staying on the road and getting sand on the roadway.

About three hours later, we could hear traffic moving by us, and we got up to assess the situation.  Finding the roads sanded, we drove to a flat area and took the chains off and continued onward.  The roads were fine for awhile........then the next major grade we came to the black ice appeared again.  We lost traction, truck sliding one way, the trailer the other way, and we had no choice but to stop and put on chains again.  By this time we were experts putting on chains and we had them on in 10 minutes flat and making our way up the grade, knowing full well that we were shutting down at the first available place to pull off the roadway.

We managed to drive 190 miles in 9 hours, between that 3 hour stop and putting on chains.  There were way too many times we lost traction, too many times we could have lost our lives, and too many times we knew that we should have never left Ontario after getting our load.  I have no doubt, that by the grace of God we were saved from a serious accident, and have vowed to each other that we will never have another night like that again.  Thankfully, this time we were given the opportunity to live and learn.

ROCKIN' PNEUMONIA AND THE BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU

We made it into French Camp for our home time on Friday, Jan 4th just as we requested.  Got our rental car, and instead of heading to an Urgent Care Facility to have Craig checked, we successfully ignored all signs and symptoms of something wrong, and proceeded to go about our prescheduled plans.  Don't get me wrong, I stressed several times to Craig and we should go have him checked, but he's stubborn, and the doctor was the last person he wanted to go see.

We enjoyed some great times with our families, and by Wednesday, it was apparent even to Craig, that he needed medical attention.  Thursday morning, we were sitting in front of the Urgent Care waiting for the doors to open, and an hour later, with medication ordered, we were on our way to pick it up and get Craig on the road to recovery.

I'm happy to report, that Thursday night, was the first night in three weeks that Craig slept through the night.  What a relief, not only for him, but for me too, as I had managed to catch a cold while we were off.  We sometimes think it is so much better being on the truck and keeping all those germs out there in the world at bay.

Come Friday morning we were back on the board and waiting for our assignment.  It didn't come across the computer until 4pm, when we were told to hook up to a loaded trailer at the yard and deliver a load of Foster Farms chicken to Puyallup, WA on Sunday morning.  It sure felt great to be back out on the open road, and even better that road and weather conditions were clear with no signs of snow.  Now we begin the countdown for our next home time, and hopefully we will be clear of any illnesses to fully enjoy it.

WE KNOW HOW TO PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999

On Friday, December 28th, we had picked up a load of lumber in Mill City, OR, and headed south.  The load didn't deliver until today, and we were safely at the company yard in French camp Saturday night.  With Craig still not feeling too well, we happily rested at the yard on Sunday and then on Monday morning called into dispatch to see if we would in fact deliver.

It took most of the day Monday, but by 3pm, they finally decided to take us off the lumber load, and bob tail us to Fresh Express in Salinas for a load picking up on New Years day.  As with most new year eves we have spent while out on the truck, we knew we wouldn't be out celebrating like most of America.

Instead, we went all out and purchased a quart of eggnog, and by golly we threw caution to the wind, and drank the whole thing!  Then nestled in our beds all comfy and enjoying some computer time, we drifted off to sleep before 9pm.  Yep, we are the party animals, aren't we?

We did get up on New Years day and walk a few miles, first to the Denny's down the street for a nice hot breakfast, and then over to Fresh Express to check on our load.  We had hoped that it would be loaded early, but we weren't able to hook up to it until 3pm, which left us driving late into the night.

We are scheduled for a week off starting on Friday, but as with most times you ask for time off, it is a crap shoot if you get in on the day you want.  However, since we have some non-refundable reservations made, we have stressed to them just how important it is that we get back into French Camp.  We'll see how this all works out later today.  I know I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

GOODBYE 2012 - HELLO 2013

It's the last day of 2012, and like so many others today, I'm looking back on this past year and all that has happened.  2012 did not start out well for our family, as we lost our Mother/Omie on January 2.  There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of her and miss her dearly.  She would have so enjoyed watching her great grand daughter Gwen celebrate her first birthday and marvel as she learned to walk and talk.  Although she might not understand some of the decisions we all made in our lives, she was always our greatest supporter.  I take comfort in knowing that she is still looking out for us and sending her love to surround us.

Craig did one last go around with team driving, and I got to say, he had the best driving partner of the lot.  We both enjoyed getting to know Justin (Junior to Craig and I), and watching as he learned the ropes and became yet another great employee of TWT.  There isn't anyone around who loves chicken more than Justin and it has become a running joke between Craig and I every time the work chicken is said.

While Craig was buy teaming, I got to enjoy for the first time in five years, living at our home for almost 8 months straight.  In that time, I managed to grow some veggies, and keep our plants and flowers thriving to the amazement of both Craig and I.  I was also able to do quite a bit of redecorating/painting of our home and we are both looking forward to being able to truly live there as Craig nears closer to his retirement.

Speaking of retirement, after a long six and a half years of waiting, I finally reached my retirement age of 55, and was so happy to start collecting.  Not only does it give us some breathing room financially, but takes the sole burden off Craig for supporting us, and we now have a much better health insurance plan than we have had the past 7 years.

We are looking forward to enjoying the last years of Craig truck driving journey, taking time to stop and smell the roses (mini trips during home times), and cherishing the opportunity to create memories out on the road together in the upcoming year.  May all of you be blessed, happy, and healthy in 2013....thanks as always for coming along with us on our journeys.  It wouldn't be the same without you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I couldn't let the day pass by without saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone.  Craig has been pretty sick since he had to chain up during that blizzard.  It really took a toll on him, and this is day 5 and counting of him not feeling too good, or having much of a voice.  I've been fixing him hot lemon and honey drinks the last couple of days and that always makes him feel better for a little while.

Since the blizzard, we have been lucky with good roads going back over the mountain passes again, no doubt with the help of positive thoughts and prayers from our loved ones.  We skated by once again very early this morning when we left Weed, CA at 3am as a new storm was fast approaching.  In celebration, we were able to stop at the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, CA where they have one of the best buffets that I have every eaten at.  I was able to load up on some fresh veggies, prime rib, and a piece of cheesecake......yum yum.  Made Christmas that much  nicer for us.

What wasn't as nice to see was the $2.00 senior citizen discount we got.  Since when did we grow so old?  I still feel like I'm in my 20's.  Oh well, we managed a little yule time cheer and donned some reindeer ears for a quick photo opportunity.  Craig of course had to act like he didn't want to, but we all know better.

We are scheduled to pick up a load in Modesto, CA Wednesday afternoon, and head right back up through the mountain passes again and deliver in Sumner, WA on Friday.  Some positive thoughts and prayers are always appreciated for a safe journey, and that Craig will not have to put on chains.......at least until he is feeling back to normal.

END OF THE WORLD BLIZZARD

I see that the December 21st arrived, and contrary to what the Mayans have foretold, we are still here.  Craig and I have been dealing with trying to deliver a load of frozen fries in a blizzard.  We thought we had avoided the bullet on Wednesday, when we received the load and headed to Warden, WA to the Columbia Cold Storage.  On our way, we ran into quite a bit of snow falling down, making it look very much like a winter wonderland.

Glad to have over 43,000 pounds of weight added to our trailer, we headed south, and as we had Pasco, WA in our sights, two things happened.  One, the snow stopped and we had bare pavement and clear skies, and two, the reefer stopped running.  We were in the perfect place to call road service and have them give us the go ahead to drive straight to one of our repair shops not more than a mile away.  Two hours later, the broken wire found on the reefer unit had been replaced, and we were once again headed south.

We hit Hwy 97 at Biggs Junction, OR and managed to drive a dozen more miles to a deserted weigh station, where we called it a day.  Waking to clear skies had my hopes high that we could possibly avoid any snow, but one look at the weather radar and we both knew that we would be facing a huge storm face to face.

The road between Bend and Klammath Falls was the usual winter snow packed road with a light snowfall.  Between Klammath Falls, OR and Grass Lake, CA the roads were bare and dry, and then, about 4 miles from Weed, all hell broke loose.  We had wind gusts up to 50 MPH and the the snow started falling.  Looking at the weather sites, the storm had been declared a blizzard, and Craig quickly pulled over to start putting chains on.

Every indication on the Internet had the roads still open going south, although they were completely shutting down traffic heading North from Redding and even up into Oregon on the summit, Grants Pass, and Canyonville area.  It was an anxiety filled ride for me, as I watched Craig do his best winter driving and try to avoid all the passenger cars on the road that were spinning out and sliding sideways.  We managed to get to the Lakehead Rest Area at mile marker 702 where we pulled into an open spot and decided to call it a night.  We only had about 90 minutes left on his driving clock and knew we would have issues finding something further down the road.

Awaking this morning to our snow covered truck, we took survey of our surroundings, checked the Internet, and was even able to talk to a CHP officer that was driving through the rest area.  We slowly took off, only to be stopped at a chain inspection area, where we were told a big rig had spun out near the bridge and that truck traffic would not be allowed through for at least a couple of hours.  With that we pulled off to the side of the road and presently await word on when we will be allowed through.  We know from looking at the radar, that we only have about 15 miles to go to hit rain and be out of the snow........at least for today

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

I know it's been awhile since I last posted.  Seems all we have been doing lately is night runs.  Trying to sleep during the day, starting our driving day at 10pm and finishing up about twelve to fourteen hours later.  For at least the time being, we finished up our last night driving Thursday morning in Pleasanton, after leaving Reno, NV at 10pm the night before.  After a staying at the yard in French Camp and resting up, we hit the road early Friday morning headed to Clackamas, OR.

We had picked up a loaded trailer of bananas and made our delivery this morning at the Fred Meyer DC.  When we weren't beeped with a new load after we went empty, we decided to head over tot he truck stop in Troutdale, OR to wait it out.  With only 4 hours of driving time left on Craig's 70 hour clock, we knew the odds of us getting anything today would be slim.  With that in mind, we took off on foot to the outlet stores down the street.

We enjoyed walking and window shopping, although I couldn't resist a pretty new pullover sweater at Eddie Bauer.  It rained off and on while we enjoyed the chilly, overcast weather.  Finding nothing else to purchase we headed back to the truck stop to our truck.  We were dispatched on a new load that doesn't pick up until tomorrow, and delivers in Vernon, CA on Wednesday.  Looks like we'll be enjoying some "normal" driving hours for at least the next few days.

RESURRECTION OF THE "SHOE TREE"



 

Since being back out on the truck, and traveling Highway 97 near the town of Shaniko, I always think about the "Shoe Tree".  I wrote about it previously here and here.  It was a sad day indeed when I saw that it had been intentionally burned down, but much to my delight, a new "Shoe Tree" has been found. 

It is located in the same general area as the original tree, but on the other side of the highway and by a large turnout area, so it is easy to stop to take a closer look at it and take some pictures.  I wasn't quite ready to part with my summer flip flops yet, or they would have found themselves joining the other foot attire that was dangling from the branches.

I really hope that this new tree catches on and that it will soon have as many shoes, boots, sneakers, and flip flops as the original tree had.  I'll be happy to check out it's growth each and every time we travel near Shaniko, OR.

And to those party poopers who burned down the original shoe tree?  Well, let's just hope they stay away from this one.  I'd love to see it grow and get fat with shoes for many years to come.

SCENIC WILLIAMETTE HIGHWAY

It's not often we get routed off our usual Interstate 5 / Highway 97 corridor, but that is exactly what happened yesterday.  We had picked up a load of Tyson Meat in Wallula, WA after we dropped the bananas in Auburn at the Safeway DC.  Looking at what hours Craig had available on is 70 hour clock, we knew we would not be able to make the delivery in Riverside at 0300 on Monday morning.  After advising dispatch of the situation, we took off south to await to hear what the plan for a swap would be.

A few hours into our drive and we were beeped with a message to swap trailers in Chemult, OR and take a load of bananas to Puyallup, WA.  With a delivery at 0500 Monday morning, and only 355 miles to drive, it fit in perfectly with the driving hours Craig had, leaving 90 minutes left to spare.  It also gave us the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful drive along the scenic Williamette Highway, also known as State Route 58.

It had been quite awhile since we have been on on this highway, and it didn't take long to start enjoying it's beauty.  The fall foliage was on display, along with many rivers, streams, waterfalls, and lakes.  Of course there is never an opportunity to pull a big rig over for a photo shoot when inspiration hits, so I did the best that I could from the front seat of the truck.

All too soon, the 87 mile connecting highway between Hwy 97 and Interstate 5 was traveled, and we drove onto the Interstate and left one of the most beautiful drives  in Oregon behind us.