THE BANANA BOAT SETS SAIL

Sunday morning, when we left Corning, CA, I knew it was going to be a great day. Since it was a weekend, we knew the traffic would be light, and though it was also a holiday weekend, I think the gas prices kept most people at home. Also, I knew our routing took us right by Santa Nella, CA and a Starbucks with truck friendly parking. There aren't too many of those around, so you know of course, I have committed to memory, the ones that we are able to stop at.

We decided to stay in Lebec, CA Sunday night, as we didn't know of any places to stay once you get over the Grapevine. That would leave us almost 200 miles to get into San Diego to pick up the bananas. Monday morning, with hardly a car on the freeway we took off south. We located our shipper, tucked away within a residential area where cars lined the street up and down. We ignored the "No Trucks" signs, which always goes against my past law enforcement career, and waited our turn at one of the docks.

Three hours later we had our bananas and headed four miles further south to where we were told there was a truck stop with a scale. Well, they were right, there was a small fuel island and a scale, but the large bright yellow chain blocking the entrance made it clear that they were not open for business on Memorial Day. I begin to check the truck stop book for anyplace near our route for a scale and can't find any. Trying to suppress my anxiety, Craig does some calculations on the load and he thinks we will be okay. "Yeah", I say, "Right up until we cross that first scale in California and they gleefully write that ticket". But, what were we to do, we had no choice but to head north and hope for the best.

It wasn't too long before that weigh station came into view, and one without a PrePass, so we knew we would have to cross it. As Craig slowly crosses the scales, we both anxiously watch as the digital read out in front of us shows the weight. Steer axle was right at the limit, one hurdle down, drive axle crosses the scale as the numbers shoot upward and stop at just under the limit, and finally the trailer axles cross and they were well under the limit. WHEW......high alert status back down to Defcon 5. Now I can sit back and enjoy the views.

We needed to get as many miles as we could and made it to Lost Hills, CA before our driving hours were spent. t When we accepted this dispatch we knew we wouldn't have enough hours to make the delivery in Clackamas, OR by Wednesday morning at 7am. We are waiting to hear from dispatch where they will want to make the relay. If we go as far as we can today, we can make it to the Medford, OR area, then it looks like we will have to do a 34 hour reset, as we will be out of hours until Thursday at midnight.

So this banana boat is headed north, along with the dozen or so other trucks we saw loaded yesterday. Our temperature in the reefer has held steady at 59 degrees and all is good. Nothing left to do today but sit back and enjoy the ride, which is exactly what I intend to do!