We love this show, and DVR all the new episodes while out on the road, to watch when we take home time. It is a fantasy of ours, to try and visit as many of the places that Guy Fieri showcases on his show that we possibly can. Having remembered that he once highlighted on his show, the Mad Greek in Baker, CA, how could we pass by the opportunity to stop there ourselves, and with an abundance of trucker friendly parking available, it was a dream come true.
We initially had a hard time finding it, oh sure, there are signs everywhere mentioning it's existence, but not pinpointing exactly were it was located. We pulled into one large parking lot, prompted by a sign we saw, only to find out where we needed to be was still further down the street.
Never daunted in our efforts to find this little gem in the desert, we pulled back out onto the main drag and pressed on. We glimpsed the building through some trees, and opted to park in another large empty lot about a half block away from our oasis of dining heaven. Finally arriving at it's door step, we saw that there was yet more ample parking in their parking lot for any future return visits.
Walking inside, you are assaulted with the smells, and a bit over whelmed with the vast variety of the menu items. But we had only one thing on our minds, the lamb gyro with a side of a fresh strawberry shake. From the reviews I had read online, the shakes were not to be missed, and by golly, as a lover of all things ice cream, I would not let them down.
After paying for our meal, we were advised to take a seat and that our meal would be brought to us. Looking around, the building does have a Greek theme to it, with an over abundance of Greek columns and Greek sayings painted on the walls and ceiling. It's just the right amount of kitsch to make it something you will remember long after you have left.
Very quickly we were presented with our bounty of goodness. A cool refreshing strawberry shake, and the mouth watering lamb gyro, served with a side of rice and yogurt dressing. It was a battle to finish that meal, but the war between mind and stomach was well fought. It really was delicious, with lamb so tender it practically melted in your mouth.
We left extremely full, but happy, knowing that we have at least crossed one location off our bucket list of diners, drive-ins, and dives. We only have about 200 more to go and still counting. At this rate Guy needs to slow down a bit, or we'll never get through all of them.
By 9am our time, we were rolling down Interstate 84 towards our fuel stop in Jermone, ID and shortly there after would be on the route, that was the longest day we have had on the road. It was not so much the time involved, as we have put in the same amount of hours many times before. No, it was that change of scenery I talked about in my previous post. We have been this way before, but we must have blanked out the memories, because I almost think I would have enjoyed a poke in my eye with a pencil more than the drive we had yesterday. I truly thought it would never end.
Once we left the town of Twin Falls, ID, and were well on our way on Highway 93, it soon came time for us to cross into Nevada. Anyone who thinks we are running out of land should take this trip. It reminded me of our days driving across Canada. Mile after mile of nothing. Now granted, there were moments of finding some things nice to look at. Some snow covered mountains, or a nice green pasture, but the majority of it was flat areas of nothingness. 
But, don't let me lead you astray, because some of the highlights of this trip were the multitude of stretches of road construction where the two lane highway was restricted to only one lane, with a pilot car to escort us through the construction. Obviously, Nevada does not have a shortage of money to spend on the infrastructure of it roadways. 
We also came across a herd of cows that had escaped their confinement, and made their way to the side of the highway. Time for a photo opportunity there and a blast of the air horn to scare them away from the road. Can't say as I blame them to want to expand their grazing area in search of something more exciting. 
We kept pushing ourselves to keep going as there wasn't much civilization around except for what might pass as a town here and there along the highway. For the life of me, I can't figure out why people live in these towns in the middle of no where, or what keeps them from moving away. With Craig's driving hours maxed out, we finally pulled into what was touted as a truck stop in Alamo, NV and let me tell you, we were happy to finally put an end to the longest day of the year.
While enjoying our Starbucks and continuing on our way to Wallula, the Qualcomm chirped with our load assignment. Reading the information I was surprised to see that after picking up a loaded trailer in our drop yard in Pasco, WA we would be taking it to Mountain Home, ID. WOW....it's been a very long time since we have had an assignment that would take us off our normal Interstate 5 routing.
It looked to us like they totally tore down the old place and erected a brand new store and a McDonald's. Connected to the facility was a large casino which also looked to have some truck parking. We left there this morning, after a peaceful night's sleep, wanting to make a return visit again in the near future to check out the casino. 
Our plan today is a stop in Boise, ID for fuel and then heading to the very first Fred Meyer store we ever went to many years ago when we were on the boat fleet. It's time to restock our supplies, and then due to time constraints with driving hours, will head directly to Marathon Cheese Factory in Mountain Home, ID, where we have it on good authority, from the directions in the dispatch, that they have overnight truck parking. Sure will make it easy for us in the morning with our 8am delivery, and no early wake up call.
I managed to take a few photos of the yard as we drove in to at least give an idea of what the yard looks like there. It is a much smaller facility than in Spokane, and the driver's lounge consists of just two couches, a TV and a coffee machine. There is a laundry and shower facility, as well as an outdoor vending and picnic table area. 
We left French Camp a little before 6am on Thursday and drove into Corning, CA where we waited in line to get the truck washed at the Blue Beacon Truck Wash. Onward we drove until Rice Hill, OR. We decided to stay there for the night and take advantage of showers in the morning. 
Then this morning, leaving Rice Hill and getting no further than 5 miles away, the engine light on the dash goes off. We check the flashing number in our handy dandy book and call into road service to let them know. Unlike the other times this light has gone off, they wanted us into a CAT dealer right away. We were directed to go into Eugene, OR where there was a dealer located right off the exit. 
They went about testing the engine and finally determined we needed a solenoid replaced. As Craig and I watched from the comfort of our seats in the truck, they put in the new solenoid and we were off and back on the road again to our fuel stop in Aurora, OR. From there we have just 150 miles to go to for our 8am delivery of the strawberries at the Fred Meyer DC in Puyallup. We don't know for sure yet if we will go all the way into Pacific, WA or stop at Gee Cee's in Toledo, WA. We'll just have to wait and see how we feel once we get going again after fueling.....some days you just feel like being lazy!
We were headed to Bonita Packing where we have been once before, and we knew they had a great parking area where we could stay the night until our 8am appointment Wednesday morning. We also knew we would enjoy cooler temperatures than the 96 degrees we saw flashing on a sign as we drove through Calabassas, CA. I watched as we drove further north on Highway 101 away from LA, as the temperature dropped from 96 to 66 within about an hour. Now your talking! That's my kinda weather.
Pulling into the staging area at Bonita Packing, we parked, rolled down the windows and let the cool ocean breezes linger through the truck as we enjoyed our dinner and then had a great night's sleep. Craig checked in at 8am and was told that the load would not be ready until at least 10am when the fruit came in from the field. Craig checked out their lounge area, and even found us a bottle of Starbucks to start our day out right. A little after 10am, the shipping office called Craig on the phone with a purchase order number problem.
It didn't take long to find out that the wrong shipper had been listed on our dispatch, and we quickly drove the 3 miles to Frontier Cooling, where we found another great facility with a large parking area. After checking in, we were assigned a dock, and 22,000 pounds of the sweetest smelling strawberries were loaded into our trailer. Oh the smell is just so wonderful every time we pulp the load to make sure the product is maintaining the proper temperature.
We arrived to find several open spots in their staging line, so we quickly backed in and then checked in at the guard shack. The waiting game began as we watched trucks all around us come in, park and then leave for their dock. Finally, after almost two hours, we were given a dock and made the journey around the complex to our dock and the wall of horrors.
I took some pictures so that you can see the variety of scraps against the wall, which is no more than maybe 20 feet from the nose of our truck. We were even given the dock by the fire hydrant this time, but with a little help of the guy next to us unhooking from his trailer, we made it in without so much as leaving any new paint on that wall. I did have to chuckle to myself when even the yard goat who was trying to put a trailer in near us, managed to hit the fire hydrant yellow poles with the trailer he was backing in. Even the Ralph employees are not immune to the parking nightmare.
We endured yet another two hours of waiting before the apples were off loaded and we were given our paperwork to leave. We were so happy, we were almost giddy pulling away from the dock and doing one last checkout with the guard. I found it somewhat ironic, as we were pulling back onto the freeway, that I noticed a Ralph's billboard proclaiming the love of their produce. The Devil made me do it, but I had to do a little editing of that billboard. At least it made me feel better!
Of course I had to do a bit of research, and was quite surprised to find out that Bimbo is the biggest Mexican food corporation and the largest bakery in the world with brands in Latin America, Europe, China, United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Go figure, I guess being a Bimbo isn't that bad after all! 
Sadly, today as we passed by where the tree should have been, proudly displaying hundreds of different types and sizes of shoes, including Craig's flip flops from last summer, all that was there was a pile of ashes and a burnt tree trunk. Obviously it was intentionally set on fire, as nothing surrounding it had been burnt. Curses to the person or persons who did this cruel act of vandalism and let's hope Karma comes back to give them a swift kick in the butt, with steel toed boots, and may they never find another pair of shoes that don't pinch or cause them blisters! 
In Wenatchee, at the Columbia Cold Storage, the thought of having some type of parking area must have eluded the designers of this facility. In fact, the dock that we were assigned to, when backed fully into it, the nose of our Peterbilt was completing blocking one lane of traffic. Thankfully, there wasn't but a few cars every now and then, so it didn't seem to be an issue. We only received a couple of pallets of sliced pre-packaged apples and one pallet of boxed apples there. 
Our next stop was Selah, WA at the Monson Fruit Co. Along the way there we enjoyed the views and the multitude of fruit stands that dotted the roadway. We picked up another 10 pallets of apples here and then drove twenty miles to our final pick up location in Cowiche, WA.
Now you would think that such a tiny little town would not need to name so many of their streets like this: Old Cowiche Rd, Cowiche Mill Rd, North Cowiche Rd, Cowiche City Rd with all of them in the same numeric sequence. The details on the dispatch and even on the directions for the business just indicated Cowiche Rd. So when we couldn't find it on our first pass, Google Earth pin pointed it to be Cowiche City Rd just a couple of blocks from where we were. 
They loaded on another 10 pallets of apples and with a payload close to 41,000 pounds we headed into Yakima, WA to scale out at the GearJammer Truck Stop. Finding the weights on all axles to be legal, and having no reason to push it and drive any more for the evening, we called it a night. We have just under 1100 miles left until our delivery in Compton, CA on Monday. I think we just may have to stay in Weed, CA tomorrow night for a little visit to our friends at Dos Amigos Restaurant.
While he was sitting idle awaiting that 9pm load, I was spending the day with my BFF Cori at the Farm Chicks Show in Spokane. There we enjoyed a day filled with wonderful junk finds and treasures. A few even made it home with Cori. I stuck to just buying some great home made peanut brittle as a treat for Craig when he came home, although, if truth be known, and I had an abundance of money and space in my home, I would have taken a few items out the door myself.
As Craig finally left Puyallup for Spokane, I had managed to do some grocery shopping and stock the house and fall into bed to get some sleep. Around 5am I was up and getting ready to head into Spokane to pick Craig up after his delivery. I was one happy girl when I saw him pull into the yard and drop his empty trailer. As happy as I was to see him, I wasn't so happy to see the dirty laundry bag. But I'll take the good with the bad if it means spending a few days at home with Craig. 
Our plan is to enjoy some home time and not go back out on the road again until Thursday. We'll call in on Wednesday to make sure the requested work was completed on the truck and to ensure we have a load assignment for sometime Thursday. Til then, you'll find us enjoying some well deserved time at home together doing absolutely nothing........that is until it's time to tackle that darn laundry bag!
This little chest, (drawers removed prior to taking photo), we found at a thrift store on a day they designate as "furniture day" with 50% off the listed price, which made this chest only $24. How could we walk away from it? It just screamed for a make over. So we painted it black and then shabby chic'd it up. We both think it would make a perfect TV stand for a nice flat screen.
The next piece we made over was an end table we found at a church rummage sale for only $15. With a little paint, some elbow grease, and some new hardware it turned from this:
To this:
We also painted this desk Cori found a couple of months ago for $50. After painting it, we did a technique on the door fronts using a stucco paste and a lacy stencil. Then we distressed it and did a glazing of the entire desk. It still needs to be finished off with some finishing wax, but the overall process was fun and challenging.
Needless to say, it has been a fun and busy two weeks during my stay in Walla Walla. We are already looking forward to my next visit and finding more fun projects to work on and then sell in her retail space. Until then, we are off to Spokane to get inspiration from all the vendors at the Farm Chicks Show tomorrow.
Case in point this morning in Vernon, CA where Craig was at his second of four stops on this run. As is the case 99% of the time, Craig was well ahead of his 5am appointment time along with several other drivers. Having been given a dock and waiting as they unloaded him, another driver shows up at 6:15am for his 5am appointment and starts yelling at the receiver about other drivers being in the dock before him. He further ranted about being late for his other stops. 
It doesn't take a mental genius to figure out what happened next. The receiver, in a tone that got his message across, informed the driver to get back in his truck and wait until someone would come out and tell him to back into a dock. As the driver was leaving the office area, the receiver said to Craig, "I wasn't going to charge him the $90 for being late for his appointment, but now I am". Craig happily took his signed paperwork, wished the receiver a good day, and left for his third drop. I just may have to take to carrying some jars of honey for those drivers that just don't get it.
In Walla Walla, WA we took a day off from junking to do some reorganization of a large walk in pantry. We started by taking everything out of the pantry and trying to find space for it elsewhere, before taking stock of what we had and making a game plan.
This little project took us most of the day yesterday, but what a feeling when we were done. But don't worry, I still have one or two more projects to share with you before I leave for Spokane on Friday!
