Saturday, March 14, 2009

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THOSE BANANAS

Prior to the donation of the ice cream at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Riverside, CA, we had been given a dispatch to pick up bananas in San Diego. We were a bit disappointed, that we would have to go to the tiny hole in the wall, off site, loading dock in the residential area which we just love, (insert sarcasm here) to go to. Seems all the loads going out from the Port had already been given to others. Oh well, at least it was a good long run of over 1300 miles going to Puyallup, WA.

What surprised us most, was upon calling and confirming our bananas were ready for us, we pull up to the dock area and not see one other truck parked anywhere! Of all the times we have been here, we have never seen that, and what a joy it was having all that extra room to maneuver and back in. Although we don't collect as much detention pay here as we do at the Port, at least we were out after an hour and headed out of southern California well ahead of the commute traffic.

This time, we thought through our plan of attack, and took a route, although 20 miles longer, would no doubt save us well over an hour of frustration dealing with traffic. We wanted to get as far as we could so that Craig would have two relatively easy days in which to get to Washington. By sunset, we were at our favorite truck stop in Avenal, CA and calling it a night. Friday morning we took off again, with one detour to the Starbucks in Santa Nella, then to the company yard in French Camp where Craig and I parted ways, and he continued his drive into Weed, CA.

Today, Craig will drive another 450 miles to stage for his 5am delivery of the bananas to the Fred Meyer DC in Puyallup, WA. I'll be busy with my Mom making up some home cooked meals for him to replenish the cooler with when he makes his way back south later in the week and we can meet up for a few minutes. That's the main thing about truck driving, gotta keep moving to make money!

3 comments:

adozeneggs said...

Diane,
No, we don't eat all the extra cookies! Usually we give the rejects and extras to the garbage men, our UPS driver, the postmistress, our assistant (who has 4 children), and we ship some to my Dad while he's in FL. We use the perfect extras to send as tasting samples to event planners or potential clients. Finally, if a client wants a design sample (as opposed to a free tasting sample) we charge a fee and send it to them.
Hope you're enjoying your time out of the truck!!
L

Mark Krusen said...

Diane,
Was that a picture of Craig driving away after he left you off? That was the worst part of the whole trip when I had to wave goodbye to Cindy for a week or so. Enjoy your time with your Mom and friends.

Unknown said...

Mark,

It was indeed him driving away, and I have to say, there was a tear or two shed as he went off down the road.

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