Saturday, October 03, 2009

A CHANGE OF SEASONS

Since leaving the Central Valley of California last Tuesday, we have experienced, dare I say it......Fall. Of course it rained on Wednesday, after getting the truck washed, but oh the sweet relief of crisp, cool days, is a very welcome change. As we passed by Mount Shasta, we could see the start of her new winter coat of snow. Into Oregon, and the Rogue River National Forest, there was just a wee bit of snow starting to accumulate on the mountain range. Yes, as far as the northwest is concerned......Fall is in the house.

Going on the adage, that a watched QualComm never beeps, we decided to go inside the McDonalds down the street from the truck stop for lunch. Somewhere between bites of their new Angus burger, which by the way I would recommend, the computer was chirping away, and then , and only when the last of my french fries had been consumed, we walked back to the truck to see the red light brightly glowing.Our pickup was for 1pm, but we were pretty certain that the load would be ready, and it was time for a change of scenery anyway. Arriving at the Fred Meyers, we saw two other TWT trucks also picking up loads, and proceeded to hook up to ours and make the pre trip inspection of the trailer. With everything in order, we checked in with the guard, were handed our paperwork and we were headed north to Tacoma for fuel.

The load we were given was to deliver to Ellensburg, WA at 6pm and then Wenatchee, WA at 9pm. As we have become accustomed to, the stores have no problem taking the loads early, and that was exactly what we had planned to do. Along the way, as I always do, I think ahead to where we might stay for the night, knowing that there really wasn't anywhere in Wenatchee to stay. But before I could work up too much anxiety about it, we were beeped with a pre plan to head to Wallula, WA and the Tyson Meat Plant for our next load. We zipped into Ellensburg at 4:30 and unloaded the 19 pallets of clothes and home goods. While in the truck, I checked the Internet and found that they had a Starbucks inside the store. DING DING DING....we have a winner and grabbing some money, off I went to get us a nice caffeine boost to get us through the rest of the night. Happily sipping away on our coffees, we enjoyed the scenic drive into Wenatchee along Highway 97, until all we could see was the moonlit silhouettes of the landscape.

By 8pm we were unloaded in Wenatchee and making our way south to Wallula. Our load was slated to be ready by 3pm on Saturday, and when we arrived at 11pm, we were shocked to learn our trailer was loaded and ready for us. We dropped our empty in their lot and told them we would pick up our load when our 10 hour mandatory break was over with. We braved the pungent smell that only a meat plant can produce, and decided to stay on their premises for the night.It is now 11am, we have our loaded trailer, and have scaled out as perfect as we can on weights and are headed towards our delivery in West Sacramento, which is scheduled for Monday at 6:30am. We have been assured by dispatch, that we are still on track for our scheduled vacation time on the 7th, where we will start out spending a few days with our great friends in Walla Walla. Fall weather, vacation, and friends to share it with.......what more could you ask for?

2 comments:

all things bradbury said...

beautiful pics!....sounds like a nice vacation coming up!...good for you!!

John Isom said...

What great attitudes you seem to have. I have been off the road for about 2 years now as an ops manager but I think it may be time to go back out. I think this time my wife may go back to school. So this time it will be different as a solo. But it will be good for us both in the long run. getting where we need to go. Thanks for your blogging enjoy it alot

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