1000TH POST

I've finally reached the milestone 1000th post on my blog.  Let the confetti rain down and the band play!  I don't imagine it is such a big thing since I have been posting since 2006......and it's only taken me 6 years to do it, but God willing I'll have another 1000 in me before we finish this trucking adventure of ours.

Tuesday morning we awoke to blue skies and mid 60 temperatures as we made our way south to San Diego to pick up a load of Dole bananas.  Remember me telling you about the off port site, tucked away in a residential area?  We had the pleasure of going there this time to pick up our load. 

It really isn't too bad after you have been there a few times.  There is a homeless guy, who I guess I can't really say is homeless, because he now lives on the grounds of the facility, and likes to make a few bucks by helping the drivers back in.  He really is a big help with the cars and buses that zip up and down the street on a steady basis, getting them to stop long enough to allow the drivers to back into the dock.  We're always happy to give him a few dollars every time we are there. 

On our way out of southern California, and to our eventual stop for the night at Wheeler Ridge, we were blessed with the most beautiful sunset we have seen in a very long time.  It just kept getting better and better as the sun set.  I managed to capture a few shots with my camera, and these shots are straight out of the camera with no editing what so ever.  Yes, it really was that amazing and a great way to end my 1000th post!

THE GOOD AND BAD OF L.A.

We drove into the bowels of LA Monday morning and the Industrial District.  No wide streets here, and cars lined both sides of the road.  We managed to find our first little "hole in the wall" receiver and eeked out a spot in front of their gate to park the truck until someone showed up.  A little before 7am, we saw a lone car pull up, and a small Japanese man exit the vehicle.  He waved to us as he walked into the office and Craig followed shortly thereafter with the paperwork.

With limited English, he pointed to the dock and proceeded to walk out into the street to aid Craig in his blindside back.  Craig had already told him that I would help out, but he stood his ground on the street, and with what I can only describe as the precision of a white gloved traffic cop in New York City, he executed hand signals to get Craig backed up in one continuous movement as I stood open jawed in amazement at just how perfectly he instructed Craig.

Once into the dock, as he walked by me, I took the opportunity to tell him just how fantastic his help had been, and with a big smile and a bow to me, he quickly went inside and had us unloaded in 10 minutes.  Now that is how a delivery should go and quite the opposite of how our last delivery would turn out to be.

First off, you got to love (not) appointments 8 hrs apart.  Our next delivery was only 17 miles away, so we drove to within 300 yards of the facility and parked.  On the off chance that they might take us early, Craig went ahead and walked to the guard who kindly told him to check back in at 3pm.

 Now, the only thing that would make this day work for us, is if we could get in a 8 hr break so that we would have hours on the book to get the heck out of LA after our delivery.  In hindsight, we didn't need to worry, as 3pm rolled around and we were told that the container our product was going to be offloaded into hadn't arrived yet from the docks.  All I can say is thank goodness for our broadband card and the Internet.

Finally, around 5pm, after squeezing into a dock which left no more than an inch or so to spare with the doors of the trailer open, we were being unloaded.  Happy to be free to leave, we had another 90 minutes of commute traffic to endure before we finally arrived at the company yard in Bloomington, CA and a well deserved night of sleep after a very long day!

BEFORE & AFTER OF BLACK BUTTE

Would you believe when we awoke in the morning it was 40 degrees?  Yea, I couldn't either.  What a strange winter this is shaping up to be.  We continued south and didn't run into snow or ice until about LaPine, OR.  We came upon a few drivers that weren't as comfortable driving on the snowy roads, and as soon as we could safely pass, we were well on the way of making it over the final summit on Hwy 97, near Chiloquin, and onto bare asphalt again.

As we neared the Mt. Shasta area, we could definitely see a difference in the landscape from the previous week.  Remember this photo of Black Butte?

Here it was as we made our way into Weed, CA where we took a nice lunch break and enjoyed a great meal at the Dos Amigos Restaurant.  Armed with plenty of leftovers to feed us for dinner, we continued south into Corning were we fueled up and called it a night.

Sunday morning we had our sights set on making it into Lebec, CA so that we could watch the playoff game between the Niners and Giants.  No surprise there, as once again the Giants took the game and will enjoy playing in the Super Bowl in two weeks.  We took to our beds to get some sleep before taking on LA in the morning for our two deliveries.

A SERVING OF SNOW WITH A SIDE OF ICE

We got about a good 6 inches of snow overnight in Spokane on Thursday, so when we awoke early Friday morning, we trudged our way into the driver's lounge to take showers and do laundry.  While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, Craig took the opportunity to start our pick up and head over to the Wal Mart to buy himself some snow boots!  Seems his feet didn't particularly like the loafers he was wearing while putting on chains on Snoqualmie Pass.

When all the housekeeping duties were completed, we took off for Wallula, WA to Tyson Meat to pick up our load.  It wasn't scheduled to be completed until Saturday  morning, but we had high hopes that it would be ready for us when we arrived.  Just as we hoped, it was loaded and ready for pickup, but what we didn't like so much was maneuvering around the snow piles and slush that had built up on the Tyson property.  Once hooked up to our loaded trailer, we couldn't find a place with bare ground to slide our tandems either.  Craig, ever the optimist, drove off anyway, sure that we would find some place with a patch of bare asphalt.

Needless to say, we spent way too much time driving around with no luck, and finally just took matters into our own hands, prayed for the best, and did a quick slide near an on ramp to hwy 395 and were thankful that traffic was light.  We had to laugh when we scaled out, as there had to be several hundred pounds of snow and ice built up on the scales, along with the ice that was clinging to our truck and trailer, but we scaled out legal and were on our way.

The roads were pretty good, however when we turned off onto Highway 14, along the Columbia River Gorge, the roads got a bit tricky with a major layer of ice on the road.  Earlier in the day, they were restricting commerical trucks, but had lifted the ban by the time we got there.  I'm not so sure they shouldn't have kept the restriction, or at least required chains as there was quite a bit of it where I was doing the white-knuckle death grip on my door and arm rest. 

With Craig's great driving skills we make it to Biggs Junction and our next hurdle.  The dreaded Pilot Truck Stop and trying to get fuel.  As usual, it was packed, and it took us just over an hour to make our way in and out.  We were looking forward to getting onto Hwy 97 where we knew the roads were suppose to be a bit better and they were.  With no real time constraints on this load, we decided to call it a night at the rest stop between Shaniko and Madras, OR and await to see what the morning would bring us.

I WORKED ON THE CHAIN GANG

Remember in my last post mentioning the possibility of putting on chains to get over Snoqualmie Pass?  Yep, right there I should have known I was jinxing Craig and in doing so, ended up joining the chain gang later that night.

The streets of Renton, WA were like a ghost town Wednesday night, as most people in the greater Seattle area must have headed the advice to stay home and not venture out onto the streets.  That made our trek to pick up our load that much easier.  However, with the load being over an hour late being loaded, and with the knowledge of the chain control over the pass still in effect, the 5am delivery appointment would not be made.

With enough fuel on board so that we could bypass the mess we knew that the TA in North Bend would be, we continued onto the chain up area to begin our work.  To be honest, the hardest part of it all was trying to open up the bags of the new chains that had been equipped on our new truck.  The freezing rain was pelting us along with a gusty wind, but within 40 minutes we had all the chains legally required installed and we were on our way.  At the bottom of the pass, it took all of 10 minutes to remove them.

We made the delivery at 7am and by 9am we were safely parked in the company yard in Spokane as the snow came steadily down.  Our next load assignment wouldn't have us leaving the yard until Friday morning, so we enjoyed the down time to catch up on sleep and watch as the snow piled up outside. 

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM OF THE CENTURY

It's a running joke between Craig and I.  Every time we close up the house for the Winter, it doesn't snow.  The two times I decided to try and stay at the house, once in 2008 when we broke the record for snowfall in a 24 hour period, and one again in November of 2010 where a 100 year old record was broken for snowfall, it's a guarantee that snow will be sky high.

So imagine my hesitation getting back onto the truck this winter, which measured by seasons past, has had the least amount of snowfall so far, and hearing about a major storm to hit the Pacific Northwest.  Of course, our first load would take us right into it's path and those poor souls in Seattle can blame me for the woes of snow driving on hilly roads.

These pictures were taken as we headed north, the proverbial "calm before the storm", as I marveled at the lack of any snow on Black Butte, and virtually no snow on the ground as we passed Weed, CA and passed over the Siskiyou Summit. We only managed to hit some rain showers as we decided to stop early for the evening in Aurora, OR and await the arrival of the storm and traveling when the roads would be less crowded around 1am.

We got through Portland and then as we crossed the border into Washington the snow was falling and the roads were more white than asphalt.  What also surprised us, was the amount of traffic that was still on the roads, and being more afraid of the four-wheelers than the weather conditions, we took it slow and easy, as we passed car after car spun out on the Interstate.

What normally would have been only a 3 hour drive, turned into a 4 1/2 hour drive which still got us into the Costco in Sumner, WA right on time for our scheduled delivery at 5am.  After our unload we drove the 10 miles to our Company Yard in Pacific to park and await further instructions as to our next load.  Thankfully, our next load is out of Renton, Wa tonight at 10pm, where we will once again hope to avoid traffic as we make our way over Snoqualmie Pass (hoping we don't have to chain up) to make our delivery in Spokane in the morning.

THE START OF OUR "NEW NORMAL"

Today begins the start of our "new normal" after a long 7 months of our lives being altered by the effects of cancer and the death of a parent.  I wouldn't wish parts of this on my worst enemy, but there were other parts of those 7 months that will be cherished as the priceless gift that they were.  Memories good and bad, but the bad ones are slowly fading, as the good ones rise to the surface like a rich cream that coat my brain with joyful images.

I slept last night in the truck for the first time in almost 6 weeks.  I can honestly say, it was the best sleep I have had in a very long time.  We spent a few hours yesterday cleaning and organizing the truck, then doing the grocery shopping and stocking the pantry and refrigerator.  My portfolio of paperwork was stocked with receipt books, load info cover sheets, continuous seal reports and comm checks.  I also made sure to stock up on new pens and can safely say, I'm ready to take back my responsibility for the mass of paperwork that is required on each load.

We will be heading out shortly to Livingston, CA to Foster Farms to pick up a load of chicken which will be delivered in Sumner, WA on Wednesday morning.  I'm happy to be back occupying the passenger seat again, taking photographs of our gypsy life out on the road, writing about our adventures, and finding peace in knowing that we have a very special guardian angel looking out for us along everysingle mile we drive.

REMEMBRANCE OF MOM

6-1-33        1-2-12

Some of you have noticed my absence in blogging world over the past month.  I've had the privilege of  taking a journey with my Mom as she traveled down her last days of living in her physical form here on Earth.  Most of us think that our parents will live forever, and the unexpected end of her life was hard to initially accept.  In the end, it was always in her hands and the loving grace of God as to when she would finally leave us.  That time came this morning as she peacefully slept at our local Hospice House.

Something moved me to go to her side at 6am, with one hand holding her hand, and the other placed softly upon her chest, I told her how much I loved her, and that she was free to go, and that I had kept my promise to never leave her alone while she awaited God's calling.  Her breathing slowed to a stop.  Her nurse was summoned, and at the moment I heard him tell me that indeed "She is gone"", there were other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:  "Here she comes!"

Welcome to Heaven Mom and let the party up there begin as you unite with the family and friends that have been waiting with open arms for you.  My love for you is unending and you will always and forever remain in my heart.

THE LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER

I can't believe it is going to be December 1st tomorrow.  This year has just flown by so very quickly, and just like the preceding years since we started this trucking adventure, we continue to enjoy our time spent together creating memories that will last us our lifetime.  You know what else I enjoy?  The great weather we have had so far.  Even though it is still considered Fall, we have yet to experience any snowfall to speak of on our travels.  Did I just jinx us?  We'll know soon enough as as Winter officially will arrive in three weeks.

After I got back on the truck, we continued with the transformer shuffle between Oregon and California for a couple more days, and then took a relay of a USF load out of our French Camp yard headed to Tacoma, WA on Thanksgiving morning.  Without the normal time constraints on this type of load due to the holiday, (it's normally a team load), we were able to enjoy the drive north with very little traffic on the Interstate.

We passed on our meal at the Casino in Corning, CA as it was way too early in the day for a Thanksgiving feast, and opted instead to take showers and continue our way north.  By 2pm, we were more than ready to enjoy a meal, which left us with the holiday buffet at the Petro truck stop in Phoenix, OR.  I was surprised at how busy it was, not from truck drivers, but from the local residents.  It wasn't home cooking, but they had all the fixings, along with prime rib, which we both enjoyed.

I passed on any dessert, hoping to enjoy a waffle ice cream cone at our destination for the evening in Canyonville, OR where we were planning on watching the 49'er game in the driver's lounge.  How disappointing it was to find that they didn't have any flavor of ice cream that I liked, and had to settle for an ice cream bar out of the freezer and on top of that, watch as the 49'ers lost to the Ravens.

We dropped the trailer in Tacoma on Friday and then headed to the yard in Pacific to pick up an empty to take to Draper Farms in Renton, WA.  We stayed in their parking lot for our 10 hour break while the trailer was being loaded and headed out just after midnight for our run into Spokane for delivery in the morning.  As soon as we dropped that trailer and hooked up to an empty, we were dispatched to Wallula, WA to Tyson Meat for a load destined for Castroville, CA on Tuesday morning.  Yadda, Yadda, Yadda............ load delivered and here we sit in Salinas waiting for a load out of Fresh Express.

We have just about 7 days left before we are scheduled for some home time which looks like we will take in Modesto, with Craig going back out in the truck solo while I stay in town during my Mom's third round of chemo.  We're hoping to take in a movie or two, enjoy a nice dinner, and update my phone before I get back on the truck around the 17th, and we can enjoy the Christmas/New Year holidays together in our home on wheels.

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

I know it's been awhile since I last posted.  I've been in Modesto, CA again this past week helping my Mom out as she goes through her second round of Chemo and 6 weeks of every day radiation.  She has three more rounds of Chemo to go, and we are hoping by mid February 2012, she will be completely done and able to start living a normal life again.  I'll be back again in December for round three.

Craig has been on a two week dedicated run between Salem, OR and Marysville/Emeryville, CA.  It's a PG&E account that keeps you moving non stop, and is actually a great little money maker miles wise.  We were sweating it a bit with whether or not he would be able to get back down to French Camp, CA to get me back on the truck before Thanksgiving, and it looks like either tomorrow night or Sunday morning will be when I meet up with him again.

I saw that they had some heavy snow going over the Siskiyou Moutain Pass this morning, and Craig, ever diligent during winter weather, made his escape over the pass before the storm hit at 3am this morning.  It looks like there will be a break in the storm system for him to make a hasty retreat back over tomorrow sometime.  You gotta love when it can work in your favor, and dread it when you are stuck putting chains on.  But, that is the life in trucking during the winter.

The next time I post, I hope to be able to tell you all about our Thanksgiving.  We are counting on hitting one of the many Casinos along the west coast to partake in a great hot meal.  Neither one of us wants to think of what the alternative will be, but it's already in our pantry in the truck if we have to resort to it.  Let's hope for the best, shall we?

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON

I was off the truck for a week staying at my Mom's in Modesto, and hitched at ride back on the truck in the very early morning hours Thursday.  In fact, so early, that Craig drove into Modesto and onto one of the major streets (truck route approved) just a couple of blocks from my Mom's house.  My niece was so very kind to drive me to where he parked, in the parking lot of a high school, at 3am in the morning.  We quickly loaded up my belongings and were back on the highway in record time.

We made a delivery of chicken parts to a Foster Farms plant in Porterville, CA and the made our way to Salinas, CA for a Fresh Express load.  On our way to our first delivery smack dab in the middle of Portland, OR (thank goodness it was an early Sunday morning appointment time), we had the opportunity to experience our first snow of the season.

It started out mild and meek just outside of Weed, CA and as we neared the Siskiyou Mountain Summit, it gathered strength.  All in all it wasn't too bad.  Oregon DOT were out in force to sand and plow the roads, and no one was driving like an idiot.  I'm sure we'll see lots of idiots in the months ahead of us driving during all the winter storms we will most likely encounter.

Craig's driving hours are looking very slim over the next three days.  We are no in possession of a dry van, and will be picking up some transformer parts from PG&E in Marysville, CA and taken them to Salem, OR.  It's a nice little run that will fit perfectly into what hours Craig has left to drive.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I didn't stay out too long on the truck before getting right back off again.  I've been in Modesto, CA since Thursday morning, when Craig dropped me off on his way to LA.  It's been fun having a few days here without a doctor appointment to go to with my Mom, but that will change starting today.  Her first round of Chemo went pretty good, and we'll have a follow up appointment with that doctor this afternoon.  Then on Wednesday a visit to the radiation doctor.  That appointment will determine if I get back on the truck right away or stay a bit longer. 

I spent the better part of yesterday taking pictures of one of my twin nieces, and then on the other niece's daughter Gwen (my grand niece) for her first Halloween pics.  Of course we also had to carve some pumpkins.  These don't even come close to the pumpkins I used to carve when I went all out for Halloween back when I lived in Modesto.  I'll be passing out candy tonight and hoping to see a lot of cute little kids instead of the posse of adults that were out the last time I was here on Halloween.

Craig made his delivery in LA and was then dead headed all the way to Salinas, CA to Fresh Express to pick up a load yesterday afternoon.  It'll be a short trip, as he only has to go to Woodburn, OR and the WinCo to deliver on Tuesday morning.  With any luck, I'll be able to get back on the truck either on his way down or on he way back up later this week or weekend.  Hope y'all have a "spooktacular" Halloween evening!

BACK TO WORK WE GO

Our home time, as usual, went by way too fast.  It is my most favorite time of year, when all of the summer folks head back home and the year round  folks start having get togethers.  I would be hard pressed to say which season is more beautiful up here, Fall or Winter, and it was with a heavy heart that we packed up and headed back to the truck yard Friday afternoon.

Very early Saturday morning we headed to Wallula, WA to pick up a load of boxed meat.  This particular load had three deliveries, two in Los Angeles and one in Phoenix, AZ.  We were loving the miles attached to it, but as we waited for our trailer to get loaded, we watched as the clock ticked and with every minute, went the chance that we would be able to deliver it on time.

Three hours after it was suppose to be ready, we finally got the go ahead to hook onto it, and after fueling and scaling, we had to send the message that if we were to keep this load, it would deliver late.  We got as far as La Pine, OR for the night, and first thing in the morning we were beeped with the message to swap loads with another driver in Redding, CA.

Now normally this would not be an issue, but I was slated to be dropped off in Modesto to visit my Mom and take her to a couple of doctor appointments.  Unfortunately, the new load we were assigned, headed us back north instead of south.  I really hated making that phone call to my Mom, but I had no other option.  Our new load is from Fresh Express and will deliver in Auburn, WA Tuesday morning.

All along our drive today we saw the billboards for the Mega Millions and PowerBall Lottery, so when we stopped in Chehalis, WA for the night, we made sure to get us a couple of quick picks for each draw........you never know, trying to figure a way for me to get south may not be a problem after Wednesday!

HEADING FOR HOME

Love this time of year.  It's still much too warm for my liking in the Central Valley of California, but at least further North, it is starting to get a chill in the air.

Our last couple of trips required us to do the dreaded "night driving" again, but thankfully, last night we were able to sleep.  We are currently in Livingston, CA with an empty trailer awaiting the load that will take us North and HOME!  Yes, it's been over three months since we have been home and we are so looking forward to a couple of days there enjoying the below freezing temperatures in the morning and the chilly 50's during the day.

We also need to close up the house for winter in the event that we don't get back there until Spring.  With the plans of Craig dropping me off in Modesto every month while my Mom continues her recovery, we just aren't sure that we will be back before Spring.

Hopefully the next time you hear from me, it will be from my favorite chair in front of our fireplace enjoying a glass of wine!

NOW THESE ARE SOME LOYAL FANS

The one thing we have noticed, over the years of traveling Interstate 5, is that Oregon loves their College Football.  Without fail, on any given Sunday, you will no doubt notice them flying their college flags from their windows, and in the case of the Oregon State University fans, a beaver tail from the back end of your vehicle.

Yes, last Saturday, the Interstate was filled with cars, trucks, and an orange and black bus, occupied by people all wearing orange and black.  The trucks were loaded down with grills and ice chests, the cars had OSU stickers plastered all over them, and you just can't miss all those flags flapping from atop the roofs of the vehicles.

I had to look up OSU's record so far, and sadly they are 1-4, but the losing record did nothing to damper the fighting spirit of the loyal fans on the way to a Saturday afternoon game of football.

THE EMERALD CITY

We ended up getting a Foster Farms load out of Livingston, CA last week after our marathon 6 drop assignment that finished up in Madera, CA.  The load delivered to the WinCo in Woodburn, Or and then in Sumner, WA at the CostCo.  Before we were unloaded, we were beeped with our next assignment that would take us to Stanwood, WA to the Twin City Foods for a 43,000 pound load of frozen vegetables. 

I have to say that we have really enjoyed the weather the past few days while up North.  Overcast, rainy, and cool temperatures.  Just right for leaving the windows open at night.  I'm sad to say that with this present load that we are on, we are headed South, and already have hit the warmer conditions in the 80's.

It's always nice to drive south on Interstate 5 through Seattle, except of course when you hit commute traffic, but fortunately we were able to bypass the traffic and enjoy the picturesque scenery of the Emerald City.  We are looking forward to one day soon, using our home time to take a trip to Seattle and explore the area for a few days.

The load of vegetables are headed to Riverside, CA for a delivery this afternoon at the Fresh & Easy warehouse.  Since we are delivering so late in the day, I'm sure we'll continue to enjoy our streak of being able to sleep at night and drive during the day. 

LET'S TALK TRUCKS

I've been asked by a loyal reader to write about the various trucks we have driven/lived in over the past six years and since I don't presently have anything very exciting to write about, I'll be happy to respond to his request.

Our first truck was a Freightliner.  I remember the day Craig received this truck.  He was just released from training and had to wait for it to be returned from the dealer after having some work done on it.  It had previously been driven by a driver who quit, and quite frankly, the truck was a pig sty and reeked of cigarette smoke.  As we worked together trying to clean it up, I kept trying to calm myself down, wondering to myself if selling everything that we owned, and doing this trucking thing was such a bright idea.  But Craig promised me that by the time I would join him, in about two months, that it would smell better and look in tip top shape, and he didn't let me down.

Over the next two months, Craig "frebreezed" it every opportunity he had, and installed a refrigerator, microwave, and TV.  What more would we need?  There was ample room in the sleeper, and we were more than comfortable living in it except for the time it leaked while we were in New York and had to find a way to stop the rain from coming inside.

Being a novice OTR truck driver, we had no comparison to other trucks as far as power or handling, but most of our loads were light when we hauled boats, and when we did have a back haul with a Genie or some other type of equipment, we didn't seem to notice it being inadequate.

When Craig hurt his back in Texas July/2007, our Freightliner was left at a tiny truck stop in Fort Stockton, TX and driven back to the yard by a team driver.  When Craig was cleared to return to work in October/2007, we were assigned an International that had been left by a driver near Roseburg, OR.  We drove up there to retrieve the truck and I was happy to see this truck was somewhat clean, but it had the tell tale smell of cigarettes.  I left Craig with the truck and drove back to California, where I loaded the remainder of our items and met up with him in Spokane a few days later.

The International had windows up by the bunk, and more room in the sleeper.  I remember joking with Craig that it was so spacious we could dance. In this truck we had room to make a small office area on top of one of the cabinets, where we installed a scanner/printer, which we put to good use with all the border crossings we did delivering boats.  It drove very much like the Freightliner and we enjoyed living in it until we made the decision to change divisions and go to the green side of the company TWT.

Finally, on our third truck, we had one that had not been used by a smoker! It was a Peterbilt, and from what we heard over the years, is that die hard truckers swear by a Peterbilt.  I can't say that we will be one of those people.  It was extremely hard to get used to the cramped driving compartment, and as an added shock to my system, I had to deal with no cup holder for the passenger seat.  Oh the horrors of it all!  We couldn't fold up the top bunk without folding Craig's mattress in half and making it like sleeping in a taco shell, so we kept the top bunk down which meant hunkering down under it whenever I needed to fix meals.  Storage was adequate, and with the use of computers and phones to watch movies and TV, we no longer needed to use any space for an actual TV.

The long nose made for some tricky maneuvering and tested Craig's skills at many of the Shippers and Receivers we were dispatched to.  We also didn't think it had that much power going up the hills either.  The one thing we absolutely loved about it???  It had an APU which provided us with wonderful AC when the weather was hot and warmth when it was cold.  We could put up with any other inconvenience as long as we had that APU.

Which not leads us to our latest truck, a Kenworth.  What a blessing to be assigned a brand new truck with a cup holder for both of us and an APU.  The trucking Gods were looking down upon us.  This truck has the new PACCAR engine and Craig has noticed a big difference in performance.  First it gets much better mileage per gallon than any of the other trucks.  We average about 9mpg where we were only getting 5-6mpg with the other trucks.  It takes the hills with power and the turning radius is fantastic.  The fifth wheel is not adjustable, but we haven't found that to be an issue with scaling.

The driving compartment is even tighter than the Peterbilt, and I have joked with Craig that the truck designers should really check with me before designing the inside of another truck.  The lower bed is much bigger than any of the other trucks, which leaves very little room to stand up and move around.  Trust me, there is no room for dancing in this sleeper area.  I do love that the storage areas have doors instead of curtains that snap, and are so large that I have not been able to completely fill them up, no matter how much I have bought at Wal Mart. I would have liked to see less windows, as it causes the sleeper area to get much too warm.  We end up keeping the covers on the windows all the time.

So you're probably asking which one we like best, or you're completely bored with this post and couldn't care less, but I'm going to tell you anyway.   Ideally, if we could take a little bit from each one that would be the perfect situation, but we can't.  The one truck I would prefer would be the International because of the room and spaciousness that it gave us, and in the category of performance, I would have to go with the Kenworth and the new PACCAR engine.   

FIELDS A PLENTY

I can't begin to tell you how super awesome it is to not be driving at night this past week.  Of course I know that can change with our next dispatch, but for now I'm enjoying sleeping at night.  Since getting back on the truck with Craig, we have yet to be sent any further South than the Central Valley of California, which is a bit strange, but then being sent to Chicago our first run out of the gate was even stranger.

I've been a bit slow on grabbing the camera to take photos, as there have been a few things that have caught my attention, like the dock hand at one of our many drops (6) yesterday, who was making like Superman on a stack of Corona beer cases while the other dock hand pulled him into the store loading area.  He was even humming the Superman theme as he rolled on by us.

What I have been able to capture is the agricultural diversity of the Central Valley, and it's many crops growing along our route.  By no means was I able to snap a picture of all of them, it proves a bit difficult when driving by at 55mph, but I did manage to get a few.  It makes you stop and realize just how blessed we are to live in a country that can produce such a variety of great things to eat, and the cotton to make the clothes we wear.

Presently we are sitting in Madera, CA awaiting our next dispatch to beep us over the QualComm.  If we had to guess, we will either be sent to Salinas, Ca to Fresh Express or to Livingston, CA to Foster Farms.  Time will tell, and until then we'll just sit back and enjoy our down time.

A WEEK OF NIGHT DRIVING

It's been a long week.  Never really adjusting to the east coast times we kept when we traveled to Chicago, we managed to find ourselves still on the night shift when we picked up our load at Fresh Express last Wednesday.  Craig did have fresh hours, since we ended up doing a 34hr reset in Salinas, but with the time constraints of a tight delivery schedule to three different locations, it mandated us starting our driving on day one at 4pm and driving until almost 3am. 

We made it to a rest stop about 60 miles into Oregon, where we thankfully found an open spot and camped out there until after 5pm when we once again started our day with a 2am delivery in Tacoma, followed by a 5am delivery in Puyallup, WA.  There is where we had to hand off out load to another driver who had just delivered some bananas.  It was after 7am when we finally got the green light at our dock, and Craig's 14 hour clock had run out.

We ended up trying to sleep amidst the noise of the yard goats zipping around with trailers and the constant beeping of them backing into docks.  We knew we would have yet another night of driving as all the loads coming out of the Fred Meyer DC are overnight loads into Spokane.  Our dispatch on the QualComm awoke us mid day with a pickup at 8pm and a delivery at 5am.  At least we would have a couple of hours to stop off at the yard to take showers and do a load of laundry.

After the unload, we were given a dispatch to pick up meat at Tyson in Wallula, WA so we zipped over there to their yard to drop our trailer before Craig's driving hours ran out.  We managed to catch some sleep before picking up our loaded trailer at 7pm and once again, driving through the night to get as far as we could. With a few stops for a caffeine boost and to eat, we finally arrived in Redding, CA around 8am.

We finally managed to fall asleep around noon, only to be rudely awakened by the sounds of the Thunderbirds doing fly bys at the Redding Air show at 4pm.  Damn those planes are loud, but we were able to go back to sleep and make our departure at 1am for our first delivery in Oakland, CA at 6am.  We arrived an hour early and much to our surprise, we were flagged down by their yard supervisor to come directly into the yard and back into a dock.  By 6am we were unloaded and making our way towards Modesto for our last delivery.

Since we had so much extra time, we decided to stop in Ripon, CA at the truck stop for some breakfast before making our final leg into Modesto.  We're sitting in the Sysco lot now awaiting to hear which dock they want us to back into, and then we are both hoping to catch a break and get back into a somewhat normal schedule.  The only photo I have been able to capture this past week was this sunset in Wallula, WA before we left.

SIGHTS FROM THE LAST FEW DAYS

I really don't think I need any words to go with this post. Sit back and enjoy the sights we have been blessed to look at over the past few days.