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!