THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

Words can not express the gratitude I have for each and everyone of you who were at the dinner. For those of you who were unable to attend, let me repeat what I said. They say you can tell a lot about a person by the friends they have. I would consider myself a very rich person. It has been an honor to work along side you for the past 16 years. I especially want to thank you for your encouragement and support you have given me as I made this decision to start a new journey in my life with Craig. I want each and everyone of you to know that no matter where Craig and I go on our travels, each and everyone of you will always remain in my heart. I love you all, don't every forget how special you all are to me, and how much better work and life was with you to share the journey with me.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, STAYS IN VEGAS

I had so much fun on the truck with Craig on Thursday going to Santa Rosa, I decided to rearrange some appointments and go with him on a run to Las Vegas. We left French Camp on Monday and headed towards our first fuel stop in Santa Nella. For those of you who are feeling the pain in your wallet over gas prices, check out this fuel pump after only fueling up a little less than half a tank!

As I have come to find out, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done on a daily basis, especially the daily driver's log.

Those of you who know me, know that I will be more than willing and excited to organize receipts, and keep the daily log. We also purchased a very nice GPS that gives excellent directions in those areas we are not familiar with. It came to our rescue several times on this trip and it was money well spent.

The following picture was on our approach into Las Vegas. We stayed at a TA truck stop, and although as Craig told me it was not the nicest of truck stops, I have to admit that the shower facilities were very nice.

I'd also like to add that we have made it our challenge to be able to find, and harder yet, find a place to park the big rig for our daily Starbucks fix. On this three day run we were able to do just that. Kudos to Craig for his driving, turning, and parking capabilities with this truck and trailer. When Starbucks makes a drive thru for big rigs we will be very happy!

I'll close with a photo of the boats we loaded up in Vegas. After we dropped off the blue one in Whittier, the large yellow one is destined for Isleton on Thursday. Sadly I had to leave Craig yet again, but hopefully for the last time. We will know more Thursday afternoon when he gets his next assignment as to the exact day and details of how we will meet up for our adventure of a lifetime.

A TASTE OF WHAT MY LIFE WILL BE

This is my first official photograph in my co-pilot seat in our new home. I was very excited to meet up with Craig again after almost four weeks, but even more excited to experience life on the road. We met up in French Camp and to our surprise, when we were going to get something for dinner, we ran into Curtis, the recruiter that had hired Craig. We went out for what is now a ritual among us, Chinese food, and had a very enjoyable evening catching up with Curtis. He even asked if we would be able to attend his recruiting presentation in the morning at the truck school where Craig had graduated and bring the truck to show the student drivers. We were happy to help Curtis out.

I spent my first night in my new bed, and as Craig had told me, it was quite comfortable, we even can fit on the lower bunk together! As most of you know the weather has been quite warm in the valley this past week and Wednesday was no exception. So Craig idled the truck and we had the air conditioner blowing. After a few hours and some icicles forming from the upper bunk, we shut the engine down and slept quite comfortably the rest of the evening.

In the morning we headed to the Western Pacific Truck School for the presentation. The students were intrigued with the truck and the boat we were hauling. They asked us a multitude of questions from how to drive in snow to how the dispatchers treat you. After about 45 minutes we were finally on the road to Santa Rosa to drop off the boat.

Okay, so ever since Craig started driving I have been fascinated with weight stations and what goes on there. Here is my first experience going through the scales.

Now I can't tell you that it was very exciting, but I did find it interesting, and I'm still not sure how it all works, but Craig safely passed through two of them without incident.

After a few hours we arrived in Santa Rosa. I can truly say that I am quite impressed with Craig's driving and how he maneuvers that huge truck and trailer around with ease. The boat dealer in Santa Rosa was on a very busy 5 lane street with a very narrow driveway which Craig had to back into from the street. I marveled at how Craig was able to stop traffic in both directions and back the truck and trailer right into that driveway without incident. The photo shows the boat getting unloaded off the trailer.

I couldn't close this entry without showing you Craig hard at work.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time out on the road and can not wait until I am on the truck for good June 1st.

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME

Craig is loaded with 3 boats headed to San Diego and Santa Rosa, California. As of tonight he is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. With each day he is getting closer and closer to where we can meet up again. The plan has solidified to what we expected, with him coming through French Camp on Wednesday evening, picking me up and take me along for the ride to Santa Rosa. Then he will have four days off so that we can put together our folding bicycles that we purchased a few weeks ago. The bikes will give us some mobility while we are at the truck stops to be able to go into the towns along our route to check them out. It will also give us some exercise too! We are just about 18 days away from me joining up with Craig. Got my bag packed and I'm ready to begin our new journey together. I'll report again from my official co-pilot location in the "passenger seat"

CHECKING IN WITH AN UPDATE

Not much to report over the past few days as Craig has had the pedal to the metal, but never over the speed limit, on his way to the east coast. He has been doing most of his driving at night, hence no pictures to post. He is due in New Jersey this morning to unload the Genie S-80, them turn around and pick up a load of boats. Now get this, his next load is coming back to California. He will probably be in San Diego by Tuesday night and headed to Santa Rosa by Wednesday. We think he may be given a few days off and if that is the case, I will hitch a ride with him as he goes through French Camp to Santa Rosa. Then ride with him back to French Camp for his down time, It is already coming up on four weeks that he has been out since the last time we spent time together. We are still trying to figure out the logistics of how I will meet up with him at the end of the month, but I'm sure it will all work out just fine. I'll post more details and information as soon as I hear from Craig.

JERSEY BOUND

Craig has been in Spokane for the past 34 hours resetting his driving clock for his trip to the east coast. The Genie equipment, a Genis S-80, pictured above, was waiting for him and after some adjusting to meet weight regulations he is set to go. He plans on leaving Spokane this evening around 5pm and head to his first stop which is in Miles City, Montana, then to Rogers, Minnesota, either Fremont, Indiana or West university, Ohio, and then finally to New Jersey by Wednesday.

It's going to be a lot of driving putting that many miles down between today and Wednesday, but for those of you who know Craig, he has plotted and planned a very efficient route. He finds that he quite likes driving at night when traffic is light and on those few times when a wrong turn it taken, not so hard to get back on the right track.

As of today we are 25 days away from me joining up with him in my co-pilot seat. We are very much looking forward to being together again. I'll try and post some pictures of his journey east as he sends them to me.

RUN, FOREST, RUN

Okay, imagine for a minute you have driven through the night. You crawl into your comfy bed for some good sleep. You're dreaming of the open road and where you'll be headed next. Outside your window a rain storm. Then, "BAM" , no not Emeril waking you to a home cooked meal, but the truck, the place you call home, being rocked by yet another "BAM". You scramble to put some clothes on. As you peer out your window you see a big rig start driving away. Here is when Forest Gump jumps into action. Out the door he flies, running after the semi truck that was trying to squeeze into the last parking space at the truck stop, and might I add, not very good at backing up. Must have flunked that portion of truck school. Craig, aka Forest, runs after the truck, across the yard, along side the driver's door yelling at the driver to stop. He did. He never realized that he had hit our Blue Boy. Soaking wet, but with the information he needed for his accident report, Forest, uh, make that Craig surveys the damage.

See, life on the road is a continual adventure. Today finds Craig at Richland Center, Wisconsin unloading two of his boats. If you are looking at this picture below:

and wondering what boats? I thought the same thing. Two of the boats are shrink wrapped in white, I can spy those, but the other three are camouflaged and a bit harder to decipher.

After a quick unload he will be headed to Hudson, Wisconsin for the evening before heading to Malta, Montana for his last stop on Thursday morning. Then it's a guessing game as to where he will be headed next.

As Forest says, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get" and that's quite alright with us. After all, Craig and I are like Forest and Jenny, we go together like "peas and carrots".