"MOODONNA"

Over the past two years, we have seen a lot of oddities along side the roadways of America. If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you have seen my posts on the World's biggest this or that. While this roadside oddity is not that large, and if you aren't paying attention, you might even think it was a real cow, this rusty sculpture has greeted me on our many trips northbound on Interstate 5 near Yreka. On a trip a few days earlier, it was raining so hard I couldn't get a good photo, but yesterday I was able to capture it. Now admittedly, my photo is not as clear as the one I found on the Internet, but I got it, and I also captured a photo of the dinosaur a few more miles up the road.

Legend has it, she gets her name because of her teats, as they remind the truck drivers, who named her after the singer Madonna, hence "Moodonna". The story behind the cow is that she is bawling for her long lost calf. Now I don't quite get the correlation between the two, I understand they are both female, and yes Moodonna sounds so much better than Moopam, as in Anderson, so hey, whatever, I'll go with the flow.

As I mentioned, up the road further is a rather large dinosaur. This was also created by the same artist, Ralph Starritt who resides in Yreka. If you are so inclined to look up some of his work on the web, you will see some absolutely beautiful detailed pieces that he has created.

So let me catch you up on what we have been up two the last couple of days. Just when you think you know what is going on, you get thrown a curve ball. After sitting in the Pilot parking lot for 10 hours waiting to hear about a possible load out of Fresh Express in Salinas, we get a message to bobtail to the Company yard in French Camp.

We had just enough hours left for the day to make it there, and fortunately, my Mother and Niece were able to meet us there with the loan documents that we needed to sign. SWEET.....get a short visit and take care of business at the same time.

We were told to hook up to a dry box van which was already loaded with old PG&E transformers, and take the load to Salem, OR. We left very early Friday morning, and used up our hours for the day, which got us to Canyonville, OR and the Seven Feathers Truck Stop, right across the freeway from the Casino. Too bad we didn't have the time to take the shuttle to the casino to check it out. Our main priority was taking showers and having a great salad at the restaurant, and get this, one of the few at a truck stop WITHOUT a buffet!

A short 10 hours later we were on the road again and made it to the consignee's yard at 3am this morning. With combination in hand to unlock the gate, we were backing into a spot when two more TWT drivers pulled in with trailers. We all dropped our trailers and are presently sitting in the lot awaiting to hear where we will be sent next. With only a few hours left of drive time we know wherever we go today, it won't be that far away.

RELAY ACCOMPLISHED

We made it into the Petro truck stop, just south of Medford, OR around 1630 with the directions to hand over the bananas to another TWT driver that was waiting for us. We found him and made the swap of trailers and decided, since we would have the time, to treat ourselves to dinner. It was nice knowing we had the rest of the evening to relax, because Craig had used all but 15 minutes of his available driving hours.

Wednesday morning we slept in and watched the local news. It had started raining when we pulled in the night before and it hadn't stopped. The weather forecast called for more showers all day, and for once they were right.

About 4pm we get a message to head to Fresh Express in Salinas as soon as we could, and knowing that we had 4 hours of driving time we decided to get at least 200 miles down the road before stopping to take a nap, and wait until midnight when our new driving hours for the day started. It didn't take long for the truck stop in Corning, CA, where we stopped for fuel and our nap, to look like Grand Central Station, with all the trucks trying to find a spot for the night. One lucky driver, who had been circling the lot, got our spot as we left around 12:30am

That time of night sure works out great when driving through the Bay Area on a weekday. Having the Interstate clear of commute traffic made for a nice easy drive into Salinas. We got the trailer washed out and dropped off at the yard by 6am, then ventured down the street to the Pilot, where we snagged an open spot and crawled into bed.

We only managed to sleep about 4 hours before we were both wide awake. Right now we are awaiting the dispatch on our load out of Salinas to see where it will take us. It seems these dispatches don't come in until the end of the day, so we have some time on our hands. We had mentioned that we needed to stop by the Modesto area to sign the loan documents on our park model house, so we are hoping to be able to accomplish that on this trip as well. I'll post again when I know where we are headed.

THE BANANA BOAT SETS SAIL

Sunday morning, when we left Corning, CA, I knew it was going to be a great day. Since it was a weekend, we knew the traffic would be light, and though it was also a holiday weekend, I think the gas prices kept most people at home. Also, I knew our routing took us right by Santa Nella, CA and a Starbucks with truck friendly parking. There aren't too many of those around, so you know of course, I have committed to memory, the ones that we are able to stop at.

We decided to stay in Lebec, CA Sunday night, as we didn't know of any places to stay once you get over the Grapevine. That would leave us almost 200 miles to get into San Diego to pick up the bananas. Monday morning, with hardly a car on the freeway we took off south. We located our shipper, tucked away within a residential area where cars lined the street up and down. We ignored the "No Trucks" signs, which always goes against my past law enforcement career, and waited our turn at one of the docks.

Three hours later we had our bananas and headed four miles further south to where we were told there was a truck stop with a scale. Well, they were right, there was a small fuel island and a scale, but the large bright yellow chain blocking the entrance made it clear that they were not open for business on Memorial Day. I begin to check the truck stop book for anyplace near our route for a scale and can't find any. Trying to suppress my anxiety, Craig does some calculations on the load and he thinks we will be okay. "Yeah", I say, "Right up until we cross that first scale in California and they gleefully write that ticket". But, what were we to do, we had no choice but to head north and hope for the best.

It wasn't too long before that weigh station came into view, and one without a PrePass, so we knew we would have to cross it. As Craig slowly crosses the scales, we both anxiously watch as the digital read out in front of us shows the weight. Steer axle was right at the limit, one hurdle down, drive axle crosses the scale as the numbers shoot upward and stop at just under the limit, and finally the trailer axles cross and they were well under the limit. WHEW......high alert status back down to Defcon 5. Now I can sit back and enjoy the views.

We needed to get as many miles as we could and made it to Lost Hills, CA before our driving hours were spent. t When we accepted this dispatch we knew we wouldn't have enough hours to make the delivery in Clackamas, OR by Wednesday morning at 7am. We are waiting to hear from dispatch where they will want to make the relay. If we go as far as we can today, we can make it to the Medford, OR area, then it looks like we will have to do a 34 hour reset, as we will be out of hours until Thursday at midnight.

So this banana boat is headed north, along with the dozen or so other trucks we saw loaded yesterday. Our temperature in the reefer has held steady at 59 degrees and all is good. Nothing left to do today but sit back and enjoy the ride, which is exactly what I intend to do!

YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS

"Yes, we have no bananas, we have no bananas today"

But come Monday morning, look out! We will be at the port in San Diego picking up 40,000 pounds of that delicious fruit from Dole. We are a bit nervous, as last week, there was a fleet message sent, that informed us of an entire load of bananas that was lost due to not maintaining the proper temperature. You can bet on us being on top of that.

We received this dispatch Friday afternoon about 4pm, after we had resigned ourselves that we wouldn't get anything until possibly Saturday, and had taken off our shoes. But we have come to realize, a dispatch won't come until you leave the truck or get completely comfortable. In any case, we were happy to have a 1300 miles dead head run to San Diego for the Memorial Day Weekend.

We decided to get in a little over a hundred miles and stayed in Pasco, WA Friday night. Up at 5am we hit the road, and since we had the time, thought we would find out if the Wal-Mart in Redmond, OR would be a regular stop for our grocery needs. The parking lot was a bit tight, but we parked near the loading docks and had a nice clear exit when we were done.

We couldn't believe our luck, as the cool weather we have had the last week seemed to have followed us as we made our way south. The wind was blowing and the rain was coming down as we drove through the Redding, CA area. With almost 600 miles under our belt, we pulled into the Flying J in Corning, CA. We would have stayed at our favorite Casino just a few miles down the road, but wanted to make use of our free showers at the truck stop.

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We plan on leaving around 6:30am Sunday morning as we make our way into the LA basin and stage for our 9am loading time at the port in San Diego. I hope all of you are finding a great way to enjoy this holiday weekend, and the next time you pick up that banana, it just may be one we special delivered right to you!

PLAY MISTY FOR ME

No Clint Eastwood, no psychological thriller, just a day that was misty from start to finish. We had a great night's sleep and headed out at 7am to get to our first shipper in Portland. It was a container business and we were to pick up 150 clean black barrels. Getting backed into the dock area, I had to don my ever fashionable florescent yellow, reflective taped vest, and ventured out into the roadway and risked life and limb to stop traffic so that Craig could swing out into the traffic lane to get backed up properly.

Once up to the dock, I watched the assembly line they had for barrels, as Craig watched two employees load the barrels one at a time. They had a system, as they laid out long sheets of cardboard, and rolled the barrels from the end of the trailer to the front of the trailer where the other employee would start stacking them. With paperwork in hand we ventured a couple of miles down the road to our second shipper.

Here we watched as a new employee was taught how to load with a forklift. We were picking up about 17,000 pounds of miscellaneous oil products. Everything securely in place, we drove through the greater Portland area on our way to the nearest scale, and were on our way. We enjoyed the drive on Interstate 84 along the Columbia River to the company yard for the night.

This morning we left at 5am to get into Sandpoint, ID for our first drop. It never ceases to amaze me the places the businesses want us to back into, this one with a huge sinkhole right in the middle of where we needed to be. But Craig was able to maneuver around it and get as close as he could for them to unload their products.

Our second drop, in Coeur d'Alene was a little bit easier and the customers were so friendly and nice, it was a pleasure to be there. I entertained myself by counting all 150 barrels as they were rolled off the trailer.

Right now, we are still in misty weather, hearing as it hits the roof of the truck, while sitting in the company yard. We aren't sure what if anything we will be dispatched on, especially since it is a holiday weekend. We are hoping for something going into California, but until we hear something, we'll just keep listening to the misty rain that keeps falling.

AFTER THE REST, BUSY AS BEES

We got into the relaxed mode Sunday and Monday and were up and ready at 7am Tuesday morning. Only problem was, evidently, there wasn’t anything for us to do. We were amazed at the number of trucks and trailers that were parked in the yard over the past few days. With seeing that, we knew we would probably have to wait for a dispatch. So, maintaining our relaxed mode, we settled in with our laptops and TV and waited. Just to be on the safe side, we even confirmed they had us available, which they did, so back to our idleness we went.

Finally, at abut 1pm we get a dispatch to go to the Tyson Meat plant in Wallula, WA about 150 miles away. We hook up the assigned trailer and start that way. The exchange at the plant went extremely quick, with us dropping our empty trailer and immediately hooking up to the loaded trailer that was assigned to our load. But now the dilemma of trying to figure out how we could best work out the delivery times.

See, when we received this dispatch, the load time had already passed, but the delivery times did not change. With our stop into the log department, during our 34 hour rest period, to have the split sleeper berth explained to us, we figured this would work best for this dispatch. Off we went to the Flying J to scale and then take a 8 hour break.

Up this morning at 2am, we headed off in the cover of darkness towards our three drops in the Portland, Oregon area. First stop, is at a Fred Meyer distribution center in Clackamas, OR at 7am. We arrive there in plenty of time and get unloaded right on schedule. Then up to Portland to a tiny little meat distributor. Traversing the tiny little car lined streets wasn’t much fun, or trying to back into the only open dock they had with very little room to maneuver. But we persevered and were on our way to our last stop by 10am, well ahead of schedule.

Our last drop, back in Clackamas, was right off the interstate and easy to find, but again, we are finding that except for the distribution centers, there isn’t much room to get around and park at these places. Finally our day was done, and we had to find a place to park before our hours ran out. We headed towards the Flyging J in Troutdale, just east of Portland. As we pulled in we received our next dispatch to head back to Portland in the morning for two pick ups headed to Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, ID. Thankfully, we don't have to be at our first shipper tomorrow until 8am and you will find these two busy tired little bees catching up on some well deserved sleep!

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Can I just say this has been a busy 10 days since I have been back on the truck with Craig. On the boat fleet, we would have maybe four or five dispatches a month. Since the transfer to the reefer division, 12 days ago, we have had 6 dispatches and have traveled over 4400 miles! We traveled during the day and lately at night. We have grabbed sleep whenever we can, and this morning, when we went empty and immediately were given a dispatch, we checked the driving hours and found out we would not be able to make it with what hours we had left. We really didn't want this 1000 mile trip to be reassigned, but we had no choice. We were left with taking a 34 hour reset, and now sitting back and catching our breath, we realized we were running on empty.

This rest period will allow us to go back to a more normal sleep pattern, do almost two weeks worth of laundry, get the truck washed, take a shower, and maybe enjoy a nice meal out. We are set to go back on the board Tuesday morning. We are also very pleased with the miles and detention pay we have received so far, and are enjoying a different side of the trucking business. We get a sense that we will be returning to a lot of the places we have been, as they seem to be a regular stop from talking to the other drivers. We like the routine of that, but with the occasional odd ball run thrown in from time to time, just to keep it interesting.

The drop in Spokane at the Fred Meyer store went very well, we were even treated to a very beautiful sunrise. Just one of the benefits of night driving, you get to end your day with a sunrise fresh in your mind before going to bed.

As we sat back today and relaxed, we both commented that we were very pleased with our decision to switch divisions, and even though we felt like the Jackson Browne song "Running on Empty", we do know that by tomorrow morning, we will be just as anxious to be back out on the road, and ready to take on our next assignment and see where the road takes us.

THE COOLER NORTHWEST

Can't begin to tell you how happy we were to head north and try and leave the valley heat behind us. We made it into Roseburg, OR yesterday and found that the heat was almost as bad there. As we walked across the parking lot to the store to get us something cold to drink, the heat radiating off the asphalt hit you square in the face. We had no worries though, because we knew as soon as we got into the truck to get some sleep, the APU would be turned on and we would have nothing but cool air to keep us in comfort.

One of the landmarks we passed yesterday was the sign in the photo. On one of the many passes and summits we crossed, we came upon this one, declaring it the highest elevation on Interstate 5. As we made our slow descent down the other side, I caught sight of Emigrant Lake, which is an 806 acre reservoir located just southeast of Ashland, OR.

Surprisingly, the hills here were just as brown as the hills we left behind in California. It wasn't until we traveled further north that the green lush scenery, I have come to love from the northwest, came into view.

After getting a good day's sleep, we awoke at midnight to begin the last leg of this trip and make our way into Puyallup, WA. Along the way we found an extremely truck/trailer friendly Wal Mart in Chehalis, WA and quickly stocked the truck with some food. Over the past week we had almost used up everything in our pantry, due to not being able to find either a Wal Mart, or the time to take away from driving to get it accomplished. Oh, and I was delighted to notice, as we made our exit, that there was a Starbucks right across the street. I struck gold I tell you!

An hour later we were pulling into the Fred Meyer Distribution Center and being directed to dock 222. This is a massive center with well over 300 docks. We watched as the yard drivers rushed around moving trailers to and from the docks. We only waited a short time before we felt the telltale sign that they were unloading our trailer. It is as if we are in the middle of an earthquake, because the truck starts rocking and jerking from side to side and forward and backward.

As soon as we went empty we were told to stay right where we were, as we got dispatched to have our trailer reloaded with both dry goods and produce, and then deliver it to a Fred Meyer store in Spokane. Since they will not be loading our trailer until 11:30pm tonight, we will take the opportunity to get some sleep. Thank goodness we have food!

FRESH EXPRESS IN SALINAS

We were on the road by 12:30am and couldn’t believe what good time we made into the bay area. Of course at that time of night, we were just about the only ones on the road, but even as it hit 5am and the commute traffic started, we found it moved along nicely. We made it to Full Bloom Baking Company in Newark, CA a full hour ahead of schedule. Now if only they had coffee and some of their fabulous looking pastries for us to sample while we waited for our 8am dock time.

Within minutes of putting in our empty call we were instructed to drive to Salinas, CA, to a truck stop the company has an account with, to have the trailer washed out. That could mean only one thing…..we were going to get some produce. Our next message told us to head to Fresh Express and drop our trailer.

Now I have seen Fresh Express items at the local grocery store, bought and enjoyed them, but to see where they are processed and the round the clock operation , with trucks coming and going nonstop was a sight to see. There were so many trailers already dropped in their main area, we had to drive around to the rear of the plant to a dirt field and drop our trailer there. We then went back to the main parking lot and found a little corner to park and try and get some sleep. That didn’t last long, as a couple of hours later, we were roused from our sleep to move our truck to make room for even more trailers.

With that we had no choice but to head down the street to a jam packed Pilot Truck Stop, but we managed to find a spot and once again tried to get some sleep, only to be awoken again, this time by the computer telling us the details of our new dispatch. We quickly looked it over, saw that we would be taking fresh produce from Fresh Express to Puyallup, WA to a Fred Meyer Store. Looks like we will stay on our night driving schedule for at least a couple more days. With that we tried to get some more sleep before having to pick up a trailer at 10pm.

Right now we are once again the only ones we have seen for miles on the road, and it reminded us of some of our runs on Interstate 90 in Montana and North Dakota. If there is one nice thing about driving in the middle of the night in California, is that the traffic is very light, just like this load we are hauling, only a bit over 14,000 pounds. No worries with the weigh stations on this trip!

THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER, THE CANDLESTICK MAKER

The only tie in I have to the title of this entry is that after sitting at the Flying J all morning, we finally got a dispatch for a 2pm appointment, 7 miles away, to pick up over 44,000 pounds of flour. Said flour is being delivered to the Fall Bloom Bakery in Newark, CA.

We located the shipper in a large industrial complex in Spokane Valley, and waited as they fork lifted the load into our trailer. Then it was off to the Flying J again to scale the load. This time however, we weren't happy with the read out, as we were almost 2,000 pounds overweight on our trailer axles. We slid the trailer tandems as far back as is legally allowed in California and went around again to be reweighed. As Charlie Brown would say...."RATS" Still about 600 pounds over. With a quick call into our fleet manager, it was decided to drive into the yard and do the flour shuffle.

We first filled up with what fuel we were suppose to have and then reweighed again at the yard. Then it was off to find a parking space and Craig then went to work rearranging about 1,000 pounds of flour from the rear of the trailer to the front of the trailer. A quick drive onto the scales showed we were about 200 pounds under the 34,000 pound limit. With not much driving time left in the day, we made it about 70 miles down the road before calling it a night at a little Conoco Station on Hwy395.

Up and on the road by 4:30 this morning we were headed toward the Oregon border and our first weigh station of this trip. I held my breath as we slowly crossed over the scale and I watched the read out of the weights. First set of axles okay by 500 pounds, second set of axles, no problem there, only 32,600 and then the trailer axles...... exhale with a sigh of relief, we were under and got the green light. Even though we had scaled at the yard, it is always nice to know you are legal going through the official weigh station.

On our route down US97, up ahead I spot a tree. Now this tree did not have any leaves on it, but you couldn't help but notice stuff on the branches. At first I thought it was a flock of birds, but as we got closer, the entire tree was covered in shoes! Yes, that's right, shoes. From one of my earlier posts, I had commented on the traditions of shoes hanging from electrical wires and trees, but this wasn't just one set of shoes, but many. Makes you wonder way out in the middle of nowhere just how they got there and why.

With limited driving hours available today, we could only make it just outside of Weed, CA for the day, and will spend the evening at a rest area. We plan on waking up at midnight and hitting the road for the last 330 miles before our 8am delivery. Only problem will be the Bay Area traffic in the morning. Both Craig and I, being very familiar with the commute traffic, are of course hoping for the best. After all, the Baker does need his flour!

IT'S A LEARNING PROCESS

We left the rest stop in Federal Way, WA in plenty of time to get to the consignee in Renton, after all, it was only 15 miles away. Following the directions on our mapping program, we were able to find the street it was located on, but had difficulty trying to determine which business it was. Here is where we had an advantage when we delivered boats, as it is pretty evident you were in the right place by the mass amount of boats in the yard. At the handful of places we have loaded and delivered at, deciphering which loading dock among many unmarked buildings is proving to be not so easy.

So after one circle around side streets in this industrial area, we ended back at a crossroad and opted for the closest one to check into first. EUREKA! It was the correct one and we were directed to back into any of the open docks. For those of you who guessed what it was we were hauling, you were correct, it was French bread dough. Within an hour we were unloaded and parked down the street awaiting our next dispatch.

A few hours later we received it, and headed just 10 miles north into Bellevue, WA. We checked satellite images to see the area we were headed to and followed our mapping program. Again we managed to pass up the location because we couldn't see any markings, and thankfully, I was with Craig to try and find a truck route back to circle around, which can be a bit challenging. But we prevailed and made it back to the correct location and was promptly loaded with 41,600 pounds of soda. No guess work here, as we had a print out that listed every flavor of beverage we had on board.

This was a quick trip as it was only going under 300 miles to Spokane, but it gave me an opportunity to enjoy the ride on Interstate 90 through Snoqualmie Pass with the snow still up on the mountain tops. With nary a minute to spare in driving hours, we made it into the company yard for the night with our sights set on a 5am delivery appointment. Up early, with hardly any traffic, we made it to our delivery location, albeit, with a slight detour due to road construction, but at least this time we pulled right into the correct yard, thanks to adequate markings.

Right now we are sitting a few miles away at the Flying J Truck Stop in East Spokane and waiting to hear where we will be sent next. After posting this, I think we will both take advantage of this down time and catch a few Z's and work on my reference guide for the places we have been to in the event we are ever sent back again. It's a learning process, that's for sure!

HEADING NORTH TO WASHINGTON

We slept in a bit Saturday morning, before arising and taking showers at the company yard. If Friday was any indication of how warm it is going to be getting in the Valley, I was more than happy to be heading north. Yes, I know, at least it is a dry heat, but hot is hot just the same.

We decided to stop at the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning for a lunch break. We split a sandwich while we played $10 on a dime machine. It lasted as long as it took for us to finish our lunch, but we made sure to refill our free soda cups before leaving the casino. In retrospect, I guess they weren't so free after all.

We stopped for the night in Medford, OR and I was already looking forward to a good nights sleep. I know there are people that need absolute quiet to sleep, but for me, the sound of the reefer unit running is like a sweet lullaby to me. I have always preferred to have some sort of white noise in the background when I sleep and now I have the perfect arrangement.

We decided to leave very early this morning, 4:30am to be exact, and get into the greater Seattle area by early afternoon. The drive was nice, with lots of greenery in view, and while driving through Portland, we passed right by the Portland Aerial Tram and the waterfront. The area was quite busy with people out and about doing Mother's Day activities.

Crossing over the great Columbia River, we passed into Washington State for the first time since becoming residents there. I asked Craig if he felt like he was home, but he just gave me one of those looks that said, "are you crazy?", it was either that, or maybe he was just hungry, I get the two confused.

We decided to stay at a rest stop which is only 15 miles from our delivery location in the morning. As always, we will be anxious to know where our next load will take us and now, with the added question of what exactly will we be hauling. The bill of lading on this load says "Frozen French BDGH". We aren't sure exactly what it is, but if anyone out there knows, drop us a line! I'll have Craig try and find out in the morning when they off load it from the trailer.

I'M BACK IN THE PASSENGER SEAT

How happy am I? Ecstatic is more like it. I am back in the passenger seat again and boy does it feel great. I found out the loan documents will not have to be signed until we are two weeks away from getting the park model delivered, so with that, my Mom drove me out to the company yard in French Camp, CA and dropped me off. It had been a long 3 1/2 weeks apart, and we were both so very happy to be back together again.

After loading my stuff back in the truck, Craig said that he was told to drop is trailer last night, to let another driver take it so that the 7am delivery time would not be missed. We had no sooner started putting stuff away when we received a dispatch to go to Fresno, CA to pick up some frozen food headed to Renton, WA. We got to work planning out the routing and and working out the pickup and delivery appointments. I have my work cut out for me figuring out the different computer system and paperwork, but I have no doubts I'll get the hang of it in no time at all.

When we arrived at the shipper, we were the fourth in line for an open dock. Here is where we are liking the new division. As soon as our appointment time comes around, we are on the clock with detention pay, unlike when we were waiting for the boats to be loaded. Sure makes sitting around a whole lot nicer, and profitable too!

After we were loaded, we pulled in behind two other trucks under the freeway overpass to check the load and lock the doors. As one of the drivers was pulling away, we heard this loud scraping noise and two big blasts of air blowing dirt up in the air. We didn't think much more of it, until Craig stepped outside and noticed that the driver ahead of us, had been too close to the curb and had dragged his drive wheels and rims across a jagged piece of metal and popped both tires. Let's just say we were very careful pulling away from that curb.

We made it back into the company yard in French Camp and called it a night. I have to say, the living quarters are, well, much more cozier than our last two trucks, but I can certainly see where we can make the most of it. With a new mattress the bed is the best so far, and hey, as long as we are back together again, don't tell anyone, but I'd take any accommodations they give us, we're just happy being on the road together.

LUMBER IN A REEFER?

Get this, Craig goes in and meets his fleet manager (dispatcher), and gets his first assignment....... a load of lumber. I know, who would of thought, but that is the beauty of a reefer from a company point of view, you have the best of both worlds. When not hauling something that needs refrigerated, you can turn off the unit and haul just about anything. Talk about heavy, Craig was at the limits of his weight capacity at just under 80,000 pounds

I had asked him how the new truck handled that heavy of a load, compared to the other two trucks we have had, and he was impressed with the power the Peterbilt had going up hills with such a heavy load. What he isn't impressed with is the lack of room, especially in the cab area, but as I told him, look how much easier it will be to hold hands.

The load of lumber was picked up just outside of Coeur d'Alene, ID, and took Craig by the St. Joe River. As you can see from the sign, the St. Joe is the highest navigable river in the world at an elevation of 2307 feet, and I have to admit some pretty darn good scenery to look at as well. Craig was able to get some great shots from his cell phone, but I sure wish I could have taken some with my good camera.

After scaling, and having to do a little adjusting with the fifth wheel, Craig was off and headed to Hollister, CA. He had to put in as much driving as he could yesterday as he has a delivery date on Friday morning. Unfortunately, since his pick up appointment wasn't until 12pm, that meant he drove until almost midnight last night.

He hopes to be able to make it into French Camp, CA late tonight, and getting me on board with him, but we are still trying to complete the final details of our financing on the park model and I may need to stick around a few more days. No matter what, we will at least meet up and spend a few quality hours together before he heads out, with or without me, and it is safe to say, I'm hoping it is with me! I'll have my bags packed just in case.

PHASE 2 IS UNDERWAY

Craig pulled into the Company yard late Monday night, after a day of border crossings and delivering of 4 boats in Surrey. By the stroke of midnight, he had managed to do laundry and take a shower, before he officially leaves the boat fleet and transfer over to the refrigerated division. The anticipation must have gotten the best of him, as he was only able to sleep 6 hours before he was awake and ready for action. He officially checked out of his big blue truck, and was given this:

He has been busy transferring what he had in the old truck into the new one. What is great about this truck is that it has an APU, which means we will be able to run the A/C without idling the truck. What makes this so very, very, important to us, is that in California, it is against the law to idle the truck for more than 5 minutes every hour. Those of you not familiar with the heat that comes to visit in the summertime in the central valley of California, wouldn't know to appreciate this little device as much as we do. We will put up with having a little less room in this Peterbilt, in order to enjoy using that APU.

It seems that after receiving his new log books, some training on the reefer unit, and getting the all important green TWT baseball cap, that Craig looks to be dispatched in the morning on his first load with the new division. We are hoping that his journey will take him south and that he might be able to pick me up along the way, and then, just maybe, I'll be able to get back to what I enjoy most............Observing life from the passenger seat, and sharing it all with the company of my husband!

HE'S ROUNDING THE CORNER, AND HEADING FOR HOME

Well, not really home per se, but the Company yard. After Craig left Texas, he had to stop in New Mexico to get a tire replaced on his drives. It didn't slow him down much as he drove through some snow flurries in Colorado on his way to Utah and spending the night in Green River, UT. His sights were then set on Jerome, ID and the Blue Beacon Truck Wash, but not without doing battle with the shrink wrap on the boats. He has been fighting the winds since he left Texas and has already gone through one roll of tape and is working on his second. After the truck and trailer were clean, he ended up spending the night in Caldwell, ID, just east of the Oregon border.

Tonight he is at one of my favorite truck stops, not for the facilities, but for views and nice cool weather, North Bend, WA on the Snoqualmie Pass. It is usually hard to find an open space there, but with it being the weekend, it's not as busy as it is during the week. Craig's plan is to drive to Ferndale, WA tomorrow and stage just a mere 25 miles from the dealership in Surrey, Canada, and deliver his last load of boats Monday morning.

Craig took the opportunity to take pictures of this load for sentimental reasons, I just wish I could have been there for this historical event.