Wednesday, January 07, 2009

BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR DRIVING

Shortly after I entered my last Blog update, we received a message regarding the two trailers with electrical problems. Seems there was a miscommunication between Road Service and Dispatch, and it was deemed that we needed to jockey both trailers to the Thermo King down the street to get repaired. We still had a flashing red light on our load, so off we went and about 45 minutes later, we had two trailers fixed and sitting at Fresh Express waiting to get loaded, and a green flashing light on our load. We hooked up, and with no need to scale, due to the light weight of the load (12,000), we called it a night in Salinas, CA. Up early, we knew we had to get the load as far as we could for a swap, in order for the 7am Wednesday delivery in Spokane, WA to be on time. Once the sun decided to show up, the day was sunny, with blue skies and a few clouds. What a change from last week and the storm we had to drive through in Idaho and Washington. I almost felt sorry for the driver who was going to have to take the relay on this load, but then remembered the same thing happened to us on Christmas, so it was a fleeting moment of sympathy.

Driving past Shasta Lake, we could see that the water level was finally on the rise a bit, no doubt from the snow/rain that has hit the area over the past couple of weeks. It wasn't until we crossed into Oregon that the skies turned a bit cloudy and it started to drizzle a bit. But what a nice surprise to be treated to a rainbow when the sun came out again, and we had clear roads and mostly sunshine the rest of the way into Chemult, OR where we were scheduled to make the swap with the other driver. We made the swap and are now in possession of nearly 45,000 pounds of frozen french fries destined to our friends at San Pedro Forklift in Long Beach, CA. The timeline on this load was a bit tight, so we went to bed early, knowing that we would have to be on the road no later than 3am today. The early wake up call would not be an issue, since Craig was up and ready to go by 2am, and with the added energy boost of a bottled Starbucks, we were headed south again.

This load will deliver Thursday morning at 9am, which should set us up nicely for a day of scheduled home time at our French Camp, CA company yard this weekend, where Craig has his sights and appetite set on some of my Mom's home cooking. We had to opt for a day off in California as the last time we saw our pickup in the yard in Spokane, WA it was buried under 5 feet of snow. That is one snow shoveling chore we can postpone for another day!

4 comments:

rosemary said...

i am having trouble bringing up the photos.....but am glad you hit some sun and will enjoy mom's cooking.

Mom said...

Beautiful rainbow.

Prince Roy said...

Greeting Craig and Diane:

I just discovered your blog recently, and I'm roaming the archives at present.

I really enjoy your blog--it ranks among my top three favorites. I appreciate that it stays true to its theme: life as a trucking couple. It offers an honest, realistic look at life on the road. Well-written, informative, great pictures--all I need to permit me a vicarious window to your adventures.

I'm glad to see the trucking profession is treating you well--there are many horror stories out there.

Like Craig, I have an ambition to drive OTR, but it may have to stay buried for several more years.

Anyway, all the best to you both, and happy trucking!

Unknown said...

Prince Roy

Thanks for being such a loyal reader of the blog and the nice comments you left. It has been a wonderful journey so far, and the fact that so many people are going along with us, makes it that much more enjoyable.

I would highly recommend, when you can find the time to fit it into your life, to at least take a year or two to be a truck driver and live your life out on the roads of America. What a grand time we are having, at least until the next adventure catches our eye.

Please continue to enjoy the blog, it give me great happiness to know that others enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it.

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