MIDDLE EAST CONNECTION

Craig and I have XM Satellite radio in the truck to listen to every day. We have been listening quite extensively to CNN and FOX lately as the war in the Middle East goes into its third week. Little did we know that we would somehow be connected to it, almost like in the game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but we do not need that many steps. After we dropped off the Genie in Kearney, Nebraska, we had to wait a day for our next assignment. We were told we could wait around for a load going to California or we could go to Pipestone, Minnesota to pick up a load of boats and head to Baltimore, Maryland. We of course chose to take the load of boats, over waiting for something to come up going to California. After all, we do not have a real pressing need to get back, other than to deal with some paperwork with DMV and depositing some checks.



Therefore, off merrily we went towards Pipestone. We arrived just as the sun was setting over this quiet little town in southern Minnesota.


We spent the night parked in their yard to get an early start with the loading of the boats. When we received the paperwork, I scanned the details and saw that we were to take the boats to Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay. Okay, still no connection yet, but then I looked at their final destination and it was to Herzliya, Israel. I could not believe it. With all this talk about the war on the radio and here we were delivering boats headed to Israel. I brought up the map program on our computer and found out that Herzliya was about 50 miles south of Haifa where most of the bombing was taking place. I guess life does goes on, and something as small as a pleasure boat ride in the Mediterranean Sea can bring some happiness to those caught up in the crisis in the Middle East.

So off we headed to Baltimore, through Chicago, which Craig hated, but at least we did it late enough in the evening so the traffic was not too bad. With a stay in the Company yard in Gary, Indiana we kept heading east, with a gleeful stop at Starbucks at a roadside plaza. With a boost of caffeine coursing through our system, and the high humidity, equate that to frizzy hair and no easy access to my flat iron, we entered Ohio and then Pennsylvania.




Up early on Friday morning to beat the rush hour traffic in Baltimore we headed toward the dock. We found it easily, but going through all the hoops to actually enter the dock area was a test to the patience of many a truck driver. We had to get a gate pass, then checked through one guard area to be told to go see Mr. Massey to get further clearance. Then with all the proper paperwork in order we were told to go to dock twelve and that someone would meet us there.


As before in quick order Craig and I had the boat trailer unassembled and put away all within 90 minutes. On top of that we didn't have to wait for our next assignment, it had been sent to us the day before. Just as short drive to our next stop, Easton, Maryland.