END OF VACATION

Both Craig and I had high expectations that we would paint the office/hobby room, but gosh darn it, we just didn't get around to it. Too busy you ask? Nope.... too lazy, but then I guess that is what vacations are for. We so enjoyed just being in our little house, and enjoying the beautiful landscape around us, that we didn't do much at all.

Oh sure, Craig got reacquainted with his love of online Poker sites, and was even consistent with winning most of the tournaments he entered. I opened up an oven door for one of the first times in almost 2 years and baked Craig some cupcakes, and learned the fine art of using our new espresso machine to make all of our Starbucks favorites without leaving the house.

Yes, it was a great time away from the truck. Normally, we are ready to go back after a few days, but this time, I think both of us wouldn't have balked at staying a few days longer. But as I type this, we are back at the yard, me happily typing away on the computer, but Craig is sitting in one of the classrooms taking his yearly re certification class. Can you believe it has been one year since his return from his back injury? That time of stress and uncertainty seems like eons ago, and thankfully so.

I am proud to say that Craig and I were the first residents of Pend Oreille County to get to vote. Since our county is vote by mail only, I was hoping the ballets would have been waiting for us upon our return home. They weren't, so I called the Auditor's Office, and spoke directly to the Auditor herself, explained the situation, and she told us to come into her office on Tuesday, and that she would give us our ballets in person before they get mailed out to the rest of the residents. How's that for small town living?

While Craig is in class today, I'll be taking a drive down the road to the Wal Mart to load up the truck with our food supplies for the next couple of weeks. He shouldn't be in class too late this afternoon and I know we will both be wanting to hit the road again. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until tomorrow to get our assignment. Yes, vacation may be over, but we are just as happy to be back at work and seeing how much the landscape of our travels have changed while we have been off.

CHECKING IN

Day five of our ten days off, and nothing says you are home like the sound of gunfire in the morning. Either the shooters were really bad shots, or they were target shooting, but if the deer we had in our yard, when we came home late last night from Walla Walla had it's say, it would rather the shooters take up a more peaceful sport, like maybe becoming a professional TV channel surfer, like my husband.

Our first couple of days off consisted of stopping by a few stores on the way home and then getting reacquainted with our new home. It was nice that most of the seasonal residents had packed up and headed south for the winter. We basically have the entire area to ourselves and we are enjoying the solitude.

Thursday, we decided to head to Walla Walla, WA to pay a visit with my BFF Cori. We took a leisurely drive south and checked into a hotel for the night. Friday morning we hooked up with Mike and Cori and headed to Pendelton, OR to take an underground tour of the city. This tour took us into the lives of immigrants who resided underground, along with the more shady entertainment of bars and bordellos.

It really was amazing to see how people lived back then, but we also joked on the way back to Walla Walla, that a hundred years from now, people will be laughing at how we lived in the mid to late 1900's. We enjoyed a great lunch at a new restaurant in downtown Walla Walla, before heading back to their property to check on the building progress of the main house.

We stayed for a wonderful home cooked meal inside the guest cottage, where we all participated in preparing parts of the meal, with Craig enjoying the opportunity to flambe' the sauce. After the meal, we were given lessons on how to make the perfect espresso on the espresso machine that Mike and Cori so graciously gave us. It was getting late, but with the espresso flowing through our veins, we reluctantly said goodbye and headed back home knowing that next month I will be visiting again.

Right now, as we sit in our respective leather chairs in our cozy living room, the last of our first home made espresso still lingering on our tongues, the gun shots have stopped, the sun is out, and the temperature is a nice crisp 42 degrees. Life is good here in Usk, WA and we will be enjoying the rest of our time off. We may just decide to go exploring and see where the road less traveled will lead us.

A MIXED BAG OF GOODS

Don't mind me, I'm just tidying up a bit with some odds and ends before we take some home time for a week. I'll be posting while we are off with the things we have done and places we have seen, but now back to cleaning. A woman's work is never done!

We made our two deliveries yesterday morning and as expected, was told to return to the Fred Meyer DC and drop our trailer and wait for our next dispatch. We tried to take a nap, knowing that odds were the load would be a evening one, but sleep eluded us. We took to reading and watching TV to bide the time until the dispatch finally came through. A 10pm load headed to Spokane, WA for a 6am and 7am delivery.

Our ten hour mandatory break was over with at 7pm so Craig did his usual saunter up to the office to see if the load was ready early, and it was! We hooked up and scaled and started the trek east with a stop at the TA truck stop in North Bend, WA, as the reefer fuel level was sitting at almost empty. With a power nap calling our names, we pulled into the company yard at 2am and had no difficulties finding that sleep that had so deftly eluded us earlier.

Damn, that alarm clock. Two hours flew by and just when the dream was getting really good too! Bleary eyed, we crawl out of bed and make our way into Spokane to make our two deliveries. By 9am we are done and headed back to the Company yard.

A few of you have asked me where I get some of my cartoons. If you are a daily blog reader like myself, or even if you aren't and would like to put a smile on your face, you might enjoy this site called Shoebox Blog, which is a division of Hallmark. They never fail to put a smile or at least squeeze a little chuckle out of me on a daily basis.

Lastly, I thought I would share this photo of a truck we saw heading down the freeway. This is one truck you would want to keep your distance from. Check out all the placards it has on it. As has been documented, driving truck is one of the most dangerous jobs you can have, why would you want to further complicate things?

And with that I think we will uncomplicate our life and take a week off. As of now, my professional navigator hat is off and will be occupying the passenger seat, keeping it warm until my return.

WHOO HOO!

Guess we won't be hearing that on anymore Washington Mutual commercials. Confidence level is not high for the bailout, but one thing I do know.........people gotta eat! We have been going non stop lately, and especially the last month, using up every available driving hour that we can legally squeeze out daily. Although I have been off the truck once for a few days at my Mother's house, Craig has been driving without a break now for almost 9 weeks. I think it's time for him to do some relaxing, and that is just what we are going to be doing when we start a week of vacation on Wednesday.

But, we still have a couple of days to work, and work we will. Right now, in the predawn darkness, and the rain in the greater Seattle area, we are headed to drop off some nice fresh produce in Puyallup, WA. Would you believe we were able to pick up our loaded trailer in Salinas on Saturday a full 6 hours ahead of time? We couldn't either! By, 12:30pm, we had hooked up to our trailer, fueled, and were happily headed north. We made it just shy of the California/Oregon border, and pulled into a rest area to get some sleep.

Sunday was a beautiful day as we made our way through Oregon. The skies were overcast, but seldom did it sprinkle or rain until we crossed into Washington. We stayed at our usual truck stop in Tumwater, WA, getting there just a bit later than we would have liked to. This truck stop seems to be the staging area for the trucks making their way into the ports in Tacoma and Seattle, and there were only a handful of parking spaces left. By the time we had used the facilities, not a spot was open and it was only 4pm.

We have the two drops this morning, no more than a mile apart from each other. It would be nice to get a load out of Fred Meyer again, but we'll see what we get. All they have to do is get us into Spokane tomorrow for a delivery and then we can start our vacation. WHOO HOO!

SITTING IN SALINAS

As we suspected, after using all of our available driving hours on Thursday to get to the Company yard in French Camp, CA, the load was handed off to another driver to take the rest of the way into Washington. But, we didn't realize it, until Craig went to pulp the bananas for temperature, and the trailer was gone from where we had dropped it. Good thing we thought ahead and filled out all the required paperwork when we unhooked from the trailer.

At least we were able to watch the VP debate, which significantly bored us that we were able to get a great night's sleep. So much so, that I awoke at 4:30am and decided to use the laundry facilities at the yard while it was still cool. We have been in 100 plus heat for the past 4 days and we are more than ready to head where it is cooler. After having some fresh hot coffee and our breakfast outside on the picnic tables, and with laundry done, we had the truck completely serviced along with the APU.

By noon, we were headed down the street to the grocery store to pick up a few items we needed and then treating ourselves to lunch at a great little Mexican restaurant which was next door and then grabbing an iced latte at the Starbucks before heading back to the yard. We only had 3 hours of driving time available to use on Friday and wouldn't you know it, they found a way for us to use those up. We were sent a message to bobtail to Fresh Express in Salinas for a load today. Since it was getting late in the afternoon, and knowing how Bay Area traffic can be like on a Friday, we quickly put things away and headed to Salinas.

We are currently sitting in the parking lot of the Pilot truck stop watching the non-stop truck traffic coming and going. We received our dispatch info a short time ago. The load doesn't pick up until 6pm tonight, but we have been lucky with having the loads be ready several hours ahead of time. We will be checking in later this afternoon and hope for the best. This dispatch will take us not only to the Fred Meyer's DC in Puyallup, WA, but also another small company just down the street for Monday morning deliveries. That should set us up nicely for getting into the Company yard in Spokane for our requested vacation time on Wednesday!

IT'S A BLUR

The last couple of days have been a blur of activity. We left Dunnigan, CA Sunday morning, thinking that we would get into the Long Beach area early and park at the receiver's address. We stopped in Santa Nella, CA at the Starbucks and noticed that one of the trailer tires needed to be looked at. This could put a damper on our great plan, but onward we went, with a phone call into road service and the TA truck stop in Buttonwillow as our destination.

Upon arriving there, they tell us it would take at least 2 hours before they can even take a look at it. That didn't set well with us, so we decided to take our chances with the Petro truck stop in Wheeler Ridge. I kid you not, we arrived and left, with a brand new trailer tire in less than 30 minutes! I was more than happy to fire off an email to their corporate offices telling them how great our experience was there.

So we were still on track to park at the receivers until we pull onto the dead end street and see very large signs stating no commerical truck parking allowed. This was a place we had not stayed before, so we weren't too comfortable throwing caution to the wind and taking our chances getting a ticket. So, we headed back to the little street we stayed overnight at in Vernon, which was about 10 miles away. After a good nights sleep, we took off in the morning to drop off the frozen french fries.

When we put in the empty call, we were instructed to drop off our pallets and head to the Company yard in Bloomington. Once at the yard, we had just enough time to use the restroom when we were beeped with our next assignment to pick up a loaded trailer a driver had just dropped in the yard and finish the run into Arizona. We quickly hooked up to the trailer, got the paperwork, and got as far as we could before our driving hours were extinguished, which left us in Tonopah, AZ.

Now this particular load had six, yes (6) drops all in greater Phoenix area at Fry's, they were 2 in Phoenix, 1 in Scottsdale, 2 in Mesa, and 1 in Casa Grande. The first drop was for 7am and the last scheduled for 12pm. Wouldn't you know it, we plotted and planned our route, and we were able to make all appointments ahead of schedule and were finished and celebrating with a Subway sandwich by 12:30pm.

Immediately we were dispatched again! Boy, freight must be moving because we have not had much time to catch our breath lately between runs. We needed to be in San Diego at 9am at the Port to pick up a load of bananas freshly off the banana boat. So, once again, we take off to get as far as our driving hours would take us and we ended up staying in Yuma, AZ last night.

Right now we are sitting at the Port, waiting to hear our truck number called over the CB so that we can get into a dock and get our bananas. We are low on driving hours, and as much as we would love to take this load up to my favorite place, Puyallup, WA, we will not have the hours to do that unless they change the delivery date. Since it has been changed several times before we even got dispatched on it, I doubt that will happen. Most likely, we will be handing this off to someone else to take the rest of the way to Washington.

ROADSIDE DINING

You know what they say. You want to know where a good restaurant is, just look at where the truck drivers go. Having traveled all over the country for over two years, I've seen tractor trailer rigs parked outside some questionable establishments, literally holes in the wall, but I thought to myself, surely it must be good if so many truckers are eating there.

There are a few places, over the past five months, that we have seen consistently since switching to TWT and staying mainly on the Interstate 5 / Highway 97 corridor. There is an authentic Mexican restaurant that looks as if a good gust of wind would blow it over in the town of Dorris, CA. A small cafe tucked into a main street so short, that if you blinked, you would pass right by it in Grass Valley, OR, but for our first little excursion into trying the local flavor, we took the chicken way out, and stopped at Bill and Kathy's in Dunnigan, CA.

This establishment has been around for ages, but the building has kept up with the times and upon walking up to the doors I wasn't second guessing my choice like I was in Texas when we stopped at the Route 66 Diner. (Click on the link to read all about it) No, Bill and Kathy's didn't scare us off at all, it is your basic roadside coffee shop/lounge, and so we sat down and perused their menu. All the basics where there, along with daily specials, and so we made our choice and waited for our food. The service was quick and friendly, and the food, though not fancy, was just like eating the best home cooked food you ever had. We were not disappointed!

This does bolster my confidence again to try some really out there roadside eateries in the future. The memories of Mama Bates at the Route 66 Diner have faded under the glow of the experience we had at Bill and Kathy's. And so I vow to bravely go where previous drivers have gone before and hopefully live to write about it.

THOSE DARN FROZEN FRENCH FRIES AGAIN

Yes, he does have bigger dreams, that of being a crisp golden french fry! We delivered our dairy products in Lakewood, WA at 9pm Thursday night, but it was not without a little adventure. Someone failed to indicate in the dispatch that there would be a "lumper" fee to unload the trailer and that it would be $205 to unload the 22 pallets and break them down. We only had about $160 on us, they would take a ComCheck, but after hours, it is hard to get authorization.

Luckily, they let us drop the trailer and we took off down the street to the local AM/PM to the ATM to get enough to cover the cost. We quickly drifted off to sleep as they unloaded the trailer, and after 3 hours we finally got the knock on our door that they were done. At that point, we were glad we didn't decide to just unload the stuff ourselves.

A quick jaunt up Interstate 5 to Tacoma to fuel and then we headed back to the Company lot in Pacific hoping that at least one of the 4 spots they have were open. We were happy to see two spots still available and quickly backed in and went back to sleep. At around 7am we heard the beeping on the truck computer. At first I thought it was our next dispatch, but it was just our purchase order number for the reimbursement of the lumper fee and an apology for the mix up. No complaints from us, alls well that ends well.

It wasn't until 9am that we received our next assignment to go to Warden, WA, to Columbia Cold Storage to pick up our old friends, the frozen french fry. It was a four hour trip there and upon arriving early, they ushered us right into a dock for loading. About 20 minutes later we were done and this is the beauty of a small town.

After loading we asked where the nearest scale was. We were directed to go right down the street to Washington Potato. We pulled into their yard and found the scale with a readout board on the building. Craig goes into the office to inquire about paying for the use of the scale, and they tell him no cost unless we wanted a printout of the weights. Sweet, we adjust our trailer tandem, rescale, see that we are legal, and off down the road we go.

We were able to listen to the Presidential debate and watch a gorgeous sunset at the same time. We found a great little spot off to the side of the road on Highway 97 just past the Oregon border. We had a very restful night's sleep and today cool weather and sunshine are our traveling companions. With a planned stop in Chemult, OR for showers, our plans are to make it to Dunnigan, CA this evening to a little restaurant called Bill & Kathy's, with truck parking. We have heard a lot of good reviews about this place, so we are anxious to try it out and maybe enjoy some of those french fries we seem to haul around so much!

BANANAS

After leaving Canyonville, OR, we only had enough driving hours to get us to Tumwater, WA, home of Olympia Brewery, which I had mentioned in an earlier post. We stayed at a Pilot Travel Center and left this morning at 3:45am to get to our delivery location in Puyallup, WA. Our appointment time was 5am and we were immediately directed to our dock. It didn't take long to feel the jerking trailer as the forklifts extricated the bananas. Within 30 minutes we were done and had placed our empty call into the computer.

Five hours later, we were sent a dispatch to head over to the Company yard in Pacific, WA. We were instructed to hook up to a trailer filled with dairy products and deliver it tonight at 9pm to Lakewood, WA, which is only 29 miles away. Haven't heard yet if they have any plans for us after we drop, so we are hoping to be able to find a spot to park back at the yard in Pacific when we are done.

Right now we are enjoying overcast skies, a cool crisp breeze, and temperatures in the mid 50's. Craig is enjoying it so much that he is huddled under his sleeping bag taking a nap! Sometimes, life is tough eh?

BORN TO BE WILD

Check out this photo I took yesterday on Interstate 5. You know economic times must be bad when you see an ambulance company thinking outside the box to create additional revenue. Not only do they transport bodies in need of repair, they now also take the car as well. Now that is forward thinking!

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Just like the San Luis Reservoir, Shasta Lake is way down below normal too. I heard on the news while I was at my Mom's house that it is at 27% capacity. Looks like California might be heading towards another drought like they had in 1999.
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Our driving hours only allowed us to get as far as Canyonville, OR. Earlier, I had received a phone call from another driver who was going to meet up with us to swap loads. We exchanged information and then continued onto the Seven Feathers Truck Stop, which is right across the street from the Casino. It is a beautiful place, and as I told my friend Gina, there are mountains and pine trees as far as the eye can see.

Around 6:30pm, we met up with the other driver, and he took our lettuce and vegetables, and we took his bananas. Within minutes we went from 12,000 pounds to just about 45,000 pounds. This new load also gives us enough time to regenerate some driving hours and make the delivery Thursday morning at 5am at the Fred Meyer Distribution center in Puyallup, WA.

I heard Steppenwolf's song, "Born to be Wild" yesterday on the radio, and I thought the words rang true to the lifestyle that Craig and I have chosen. No, I don't think we were born to be wild, well, maybe Craig, but definitely not me, but I know there were people that thought I was absolutely crazy for every going on this adventure I'm on.
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It's been over two years now, and I can honestly say I couldn't be happier or content with my life. If anyone is considering it I would highly recommend it. If you have the right attitude, you'll have the time of your life seeing the country and maybe humming a little bit of "Born to be Wild" while you are at it.

Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

And whatever comes our way

STARTED AND ENDED IN FRENCH CAMP

Sometimes it feels weird. We can drive some days to our legally allowed hours and it seems like the day just flew by, and then there are days like yesterday that seemed like it lasted forever. The days are getting shorter. We start in darkness and most days end it in darkness. Yesterday, although we didn't have to be at the receiver until 9:30am, ever the optimists, we arrived an hour early, only to sit and wait that hour until they called us to the guard shack and then into the office to check in. The waiting game began again, and by 1pm we were once again back at the yard in French Camp waiting to hear where we might be sent.


As we expected, we were beeped to head to Fresh Express in Salinas. We love these dispatches as they are drop and hooks, and the weight is never over 15,000 pounds, which means no time wasted having to scale. If the trailer is ready, we can just hook up and get on down the road. The dispatch information said to trailer would be ready at 8pm. We left French Camp before 2pm and arrived at Fresh Express with a freshly washed out trailer just before 5pm. Again, being optimistic, Craig checked in at the guard shack and to our amazement, the trailer was ready.

Craig quickly drops our clean empty trailer in the back forty, and then proceeds to hook up to our loaded trailer. Now this load is to be at two different receivers in Portland, OR starting at 4:30am Wednesday morning. Doing the math, figuring out the driving hours and mileage, we quickly determined that we would not have enough time to make the first delivery appointment. We informed dispatch and headed back north.

Back through Pacheco Pass, and Casa de Fruita, a familiar landmark for anyone who has grown up in the Central Valley of California, we were shocked to see the water level at the San Luis Reservoir. As the shock quickly wore off, we debated on how far we should try and make it before the driving hours were maxed out. The setting sun, and the darkness that soon followed made our decision easier. With French Camp looming in front of us, we pulled into the yard 12 hours after we had left it earlier in the day, just in time to watch "Dancing with the Stars".

On a side note, I'm not too impressed with any of the so called "celebrities" they have on this season, so this won't be on my top 10 list of shows to watch. This morning we are headed as far north as we can get while dispatch tries to find someone to take it the rest of the way into Portland and make the appointment times. The only thing left to do now is sit back and enjoy the ride!

BACK TOGETHER AGAIN

This little stop off at my Mom's worked out real well. Short enough to get my hair cut and the grey washed out of my hair, but long enough to spend some quality time with my Mom and nieces. But I was so happy to receive the phone call from Craig yesterday, telling me that after his drop in Oakland, CA, he will be coming to the Company yard in French Camp, CA Sunday afternoon.


It worked out so well, that I was able to do our bi-monthly shopping on the way to the yard. We enjoyed a early dinner with my Mom and Niece, and then I got to work putting everything away and getting settled back in the truck. Ahhh, home again.

We have a very short delivery in the morning, just 5 miles away, and not until 9:30am. That will give me an opportunity to get back into our regular sleep pattern without having to get up too early. I'll be back when I know where we are headed tomorrow!

BACK TO HAULING BEEF

Craig made his delivery this morning in Auburn, WA and dropped off the juice at the Safeway Distribution Center. After unloading, he went to the Company's little drop yard in Pacific, WA to wait for his next work assignment. Around 12:30pm he was beeped with the dispatch to head to Toppenish, WA to AB Foods to pick up some beef. This load is scheduled to be delivered to downtown Oakland, but thankfully, it is on Sunday and not a weekday. That should help on the traffic situation, but I feel bad I won't be with him to help maneuver around and back into the tiny little business tucked within a residential area.

We tried to figure out a way for him to detour and pick me up prior to his delivery, but it was too many miles off the route. Best case would be for him to be sent back to the Company yard in French Camp on Sunday afternoon, but our guess is that he will be sent to Salinas, CA to Fresh Express. But you never know, so we will take it one day at a time and reassess the situation on a daily basis.

But right now, Craig is still sitting in Toppenish waiting for the trailer to be loaded. With any luck it will be ready by the time his mandatory 10 hour break is over. I of course, will be not so patiently waiting for when we can meet up again.

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW

Stealing a line from the play Romeo and Juliet, as Juliet says goodnight to Romeo, their sorrowful parting is also "sweet", because it makes them think about the next time they will see each other. Such is what I felt as Craig and I parted ways at the Loves Truck Stop just north of Modesto. My Mother was there to pick me up, and the joy on her face to see me, made the pain of leaving Craig again more bearable, but sad just the same.

I know, sappy isn't it? But we can't help it. Really, we are so compatible out there on the road, together 24/7, that we don't look forward to being apart. He is the Ying to my Yang, or is it the Yang to my Ying? You get the idea, but I can't delve too long on these matters, I had to make a phone call and get a hair appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. After that is completed, I can go back to yearning for my departed Romeo to return.

I enjoyed the sunset last night, as we made our way out of Los Angeles, and the sun cast it's color pallet upon the clouds. We made it into Wheeler Ridge for the night, cursed the heavens when not one, but four cattle trucks decided to make their homes next to us. Upon arising this morning, we were thankful that they had departed the premises and we went for a little walk to the Starbucks for a morning coffee.

It was then time to head towards Ripon, CA and the transfer of me from the truck to my Mom's waiting car. Craig will be in Corning, CA tonight, with a little under 500 miles to drive tomorrow to stage for his Friday morning delivery in Auburn, WA. We are hoping for a quick turn around from him to come back through California to pick me back up. Until then, using the words of Juliet, Goodnight, goodnight! Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.

FEELING CHUBBY

When we arrived in Buttonwillow, CA Sunday afternoon, one of the first things we did was walk across the street to the Starbucks. We took advantage of their nice air conditioned surroundings and the big soft club chairs, and sat back and people watched. It was interesting to say the least. As we were leaving about an hour later, Craig kept looking around until I asked him what he was looking for. He matter of factly stated, "I'm looking for the rest of the circus trucks". You now get the idea of how entertaining the people were that walked in for coffee.

As promised, after our showers Monday morning, I treated Craig to a nice sit down, hot, fresh cooked breakfast at the Denny's across the street. I say treat, but what it means was that I was more than happy to accompany him and partake in this special meal. He, of course paid. After all, I no longer carry a purse with me, so I like how that works out.

We drove only a few hours on Monday to get us into the Company yard in Bloomington, CA. On the way, with our bellies full, and our weight capacity almost to the limit, I joked to Craig as I always do when trying to lumber up a hill....."Feeling a little bit chubby today are we"? As we started up the Grapevine, the truck slowed to a crawl. Every few miles there were reminders to others to watch for "SLOW TRUCKS", of which we were definitely one of them.

At the yard, I took care of what dirty laundry we had and then we sequestered ourselves away inside the truck with the heat shields up and the AC blasting. Seems we hit the LA inland area in the middle of a hot spell. It was well over 100 degrees outside.

This morning, with only 12 miles to go to our delivery location, we were able to sleep in a bit. Having checked out our receiver's address on Google Earth, we knew it was going to be, well, let's just say it was a cozy docking situation. Every dock except one, was filled with their own trucks acting as cold storage units. We were lucky, in that when we arrived, we were given the open dock, as big and small trucks arrived after us to be unloaded, and they formed a nice little conga line off to the side to wait.

They filled up one of their trucks and then had to scurry to find another one to fill with the remaining frozen french fries that were still in our trailer. All in all, it took them only about an hour to get us unloaded and we were back enroute to the Company yard to await further instructions.

Our new assignment is to head to Tropicana to pick up yet another heavy load of almost 45,000 pounds of chilled juice which is to be delivered to the Safeway Distribution Center in Auburn, WA. It's a nice little 1200 mile trip that looks like it will lend itself to having Craig drop me off at my Mom's house for a visit and hopefully take care of the wide band of white hair that is growing from my scalp. I also think it's time to cut the hair short again. As thick as my hair is, I'll be willing to do my part to help make us just a little bit less chubby going over those hills when Craig comes back to pick me up.

BUTTONWILLOW, CA

Having arrived at Americold in Hermiston, OR Friday before noon, we were basically stuck there, since we started around midnight, and Craig's 14 hour clock was due to expire. Good news was that they would load us way before our 5:30pm appointment time and that we could camp out on their lot for as long as we needed. With the reefer humming we settled in for the rest of the afternoon and early evening, watching TV and playing on our laptops, before sleep finally overcame us.

I had thought we would get back to our normal driving routine, but Craig was up and at it by 3am and down the road we went to scale out the load of french fries at a near by truck stop. We were in luck as it scaled out perfectly for almost 45,000 pound of taters. With a fuel stop in Chemult, OR, it worked out good for a lunch break as well, and then it was off to our final destination for the day, Redding, CA.

We left this morning at a more reasonable hour of 5am, with one thing on our minds.....a truck wash. This poor truck hasn't been washed in almost a month and it looked it! With everything shiny and clean we continued south with driving hours that would get us only to Buttonwillow, CA. But I wasn't complaining, it has a Starbucks, and I promised Craig that after our showers in the morning, I would treat him to a hot cooked breakfast at Denny's which is across the street from the truck stop. Some days it pays to have not enough driving hours!

MR. HANDYMAN

We left French Camp, CA at 2:30am Thursday morning and headed north. With a stop to pick up some diet Pepsi for a caffeine rush, we were thankful to finally see the sun start rising in the east. It was an uneventful drive until we were in no man's land, between Redding and the Oregon border, when Craig noticed that the reefer alarm was flashing red. We found a place to pull over and went to investigate. No matter what he did to try and reset the reefer, it would not restart. Now, this was going to be a problem, because the Synergy drinks, that we carried within our trailer, are filled with living cultures of microorganisms. Yes, folks, live little creatures swimming around inside each and every bottle, and they needed to be kept refrigerated. Hard to do when the reefer refuses to cooperate.


A phone call is placed into road service to advice them of the dilemma and give them the alarm codes. They tell us to stay put, as the temp inside the trailer continues to rise, and they call into the Carrier reefer service line. A couple of minutes later we receive a phone call back saying that one of the fuses needs to be replaced. We would have to go 100 miles out of our way to the nearest service center in order to get it fixed. Couldn't we do it ourselves, Craig asks? They say it is entirely up to him, but if he would do that, they would be most appreciative, not to mention it would make our lives much easier than having these drinks rot in our trailer as we travel 100 miles away.


So Craig gets out his screwdriver, I get out our little step stool, Craig goes about removing the faulty fuse and replacing it with a new one, as he has me be the look out along the Interstate for wayward cars and trucks. Now, I'm thinking to myself, what would I do other than scream that there is an oncoming moving projectile at us. It's not like we had anywhere else we could move to get out of the way, but I stood guard, as if my steely gaze upon the drivers would divert them away from our path.

The new fuse worked, and the reefer hummed back into blowing it's cool air onto those pesky little microorganisms before they went to that big bacteria pond up in the sky. Off we went and made it as far as Coburg, OR where we attempted to get some sleep before getting up this morning and on the road by 12:30am. We arrived safely to make our delivery in Ridgefield, WA, and am happy to report that under black light examination all living things were still alive and kicking. On a side note, I read on the Internet, that people swear by these drinks. Drop me a line if you have ever tried them.


Right now we are headed to Hermiston, OR to Americold Storage to pick up our old friends, the frozen french fry. I'm very happy to say that after we pick up these fries, we can get back to a normal drive during the day and sleep at night routine. Thankfully, we will have more than enough time to make our delivery in San Bernadino, CA, Tuesday morning at 7am.

SMALL CRISIS

Yes, it was a small crisis, but nothing that money can't fix. My broadband card went haywire yesterday and I couldn't connect to the Internet. GASP! Deep breath, don't panic, exhale, now I feel better. Yes, it has been over 24 hours since I have been connected to the world, but that was all changed with a stop at the local Verizon Wireless store this morning.

Thankfully, after our delivery in Vernon, CA and with no time left to go anywhere, we were able to go around the corner and find parking on the street. We stayed there until 9am Tuesday morning, when we had a dispatch to go 2 miles away and pick up almost 45,000 pounds of energy drinks. We only had 9 hours of drive time left on Tuesday, so after getting the trailer scaled, and barely squeaking under the 80,000 pound limit, we headed towards French Camp, CA and the company yard. We pulled into the yard last night at 8pm, and had exactly 45 minutes left of driving time until Thursday. Well, didn't this work out great? After a good night's sleep, my Mom came to the yard and picked us up this morning and we have spent the day relaxing, enjoying my Mom's great home cooking, and oh yeah.......getting my wireless connection problem fixed.

So we head over to the Verizon store and they say we can either call customer service and have them trouble shoot the problem and then mail out a new card, or update with a new card and after the rebate pay $20 and be back on the Internet as fast as I could install the new card. I think you know which option I went for. So I'm happy to report I'm back on line, happily typing away and enjoying the last of our little down time in Modesto. My Mom will take us back to the truck tonight. We have an early start in the morning to make Ridgefield, WA by 4am Friday morning. But I have no complaints, my small crisis has been taken care of and I'm ecstatic to be back on line once again.

SUCCESS!

We did it! After weeks, months of trying, we finally accomplished what we have failed miserably at......we took a nap, and boy did it feel good. You know the kinda nap I'm talking about. The after Thanksgiving dinner, belly full, pants undone, lying on the couch kinda nap, but without the full belly, the pants being undone, and laying on the couch, but you get the idea. We were ready to lay down the minute we got unloaded and got the trailer parked and unhooked. We bob tailed over to the truck parking at the Fred Meyer DC, the temperature was in the high 50's/low 60's, the sky was overcast, a slight breeze was blowing, and we opened all the windows and were both asleep within seconds.

While eating lunch we received a phone call from dispatch saying to hook back up to the trailer we dropped and head to the Flying J in Pasco, WA. We were to meet up with another driver who was having some mechanical problems and swap trailers. We would be taking a loaded trailer of boxed meat, and I use the term "meat' loosely, because along with the ground beef, we are also carrying beef tongue, oxtail, honeycomb tripe, and heart.

With not hooking up to the trailer until 4pm, and having used up all of our 14 hour clock, we had to sit and put in our mandatory break. But, with this load having to be delivered by noon today, we would be doing some night driving and using all of our 11 hours of driving per night/day for the two days it will take us to get to Vernon, CA and King Meats.

Presently, we are battling the sun in our eyes, after having been on the road since 12:30am this morning. We are hoping for the best with LA traffic and if we are lucky, will have just one hour after we drop to get somewhere to park for yet another mandatory break. It's always a good thing when you use up all of your 70 hours of driving time and we will have just 8 hours left to use until Thursday. We foresee a 34 hour reset in our future, the only guessing game is where it will be. I think I'll take a nap and sleep on it later today.

AN ACTIVE DAY

We were up early yesterday morning to start driving towards our first delivery of the day at Pepsi-Cola in Corvallis, OR. Just shy of 100 miles into the day and we were unloading two of the 9 pallets of chilled juice we had on board. We had a little difficulty actually finding the correct location. Sure, the GPS and mapping program said we were in the right place, but the open field proved them wrong. With this being the first time anyone had delivered, there were no directions available on the truck computer. So, off on foot Craig went, but he didn't have to go far, looking down a dead end street he saw the Pepsi trucks and we knew where to go.


It was somewhat of a tight fit getting into this little place. It looked more like a Pepsi vending machine graveyard than a distribution center, as most every spare space around the buildings were occupied by vending machines in need of a little tender loving care. It took longer to get situated into the dock than it did to off load the 2 pallets we had for this location, but we were off and on our way towards Clackamas, OR.

The remaining 7 pallets were dropped off at the Safeway distribution center in Clackamas, OR and at a Core-Mark in Milwaukie, OR. As soon as we were empty we were told to dead head to the Fred Meyer distribution center in back in Clackamas and drop our trailer. We were then to bobtail south to Salem, Or and meet up with another driver to repower his load as he had run out of hours. With starting as early as we did, we were also dangerously close to running out of hours ourselves, but were able to hook up to our new trailer, loaded with banana for the Fred Meyer DC in Puyallup, Wa, and head to the nearest truck stop in Brooks, OR.

This load is suppose to deliver at 5am this morning. It is now near 3:30am as I write this, and we still have some miles to go. We may not make it right at 5am, but we will be close, and we had forewarned dispatch yesterday, when they gave us this load, that with the 10 hour mandatory break, we would most likely be there between 5am and 6am. All I know right now is, once we get there, it's nap time!

BREATH OF FRESH AIR

I didn't make it over to the Starbucks last night. As we pulled into the truck stop in Santa Nella, CA , Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for Vice President was just starting her speech. We turned on the the TV and sat back to watch. No matter what your party affiliation might be, you have to agree, she is a breath of fresh air from the "good old boy" politicians we normally hear. Craig and I were discussing just the other day, how much more we are informed about world events and politics, since being out on the truck and listening to talk radio and the news for most of the day. Of course we have to counter balance that with some Simpsons and Family Guy watching at night!

We left Santa Nella this morning and made it into the Company yard to fuel up, refill our water jugs, and drop off our last trip packet. Then it was off to Anderson, CA for a stop at the Wal Mart to finally refill my food pantry. It has been two weeks since our last stop for food, and I have felt like Old Mother Hubbard going to my cupboard lately. I have to tell you, the prospects of what was left, well, I'm glad we didn't have to indulge, and that they can stay in the cupboard to collect dust for another day to use in case of an emergency.

We are on somewhat of a tight schedule. We are making Rice Hill, OR our home for tonight, with an early wake up call to make it for a 7am delivery in Corvallis, OR just under 100 miles away. The trick is going to be getting into Rice Hill within our 14 hour limit, but early enough to be able to leave early enough in the morning to make our delivery appointment. Thank goodness for those math classes in school, with trying to figure out miles per hour, distance, delivery time, and then doing the calculations. Since Craig has the love of numbers, I leave most of that to him, except for throwing in the "what if" scenarios. With any luck, we'll have clear sailing tomorrow for our three deliveries.