THE WILLAMETTE HIGHWAY

Here's hoping you all had a fun and safe 4th of July with lots of BBQ and cool drinks. It has stayed pretty warm here in Oregon over the past few days as I suspect is has in your neck of the woods too. After our 34 hour break in Weed, we took off very early Friday morning (3am) and drove into Salem to drop off the transformers. Upon arriving at the Consignee, they were closed, but we do have access to their gate code. We made quick time of scaling the load on their scale and then dropping it into an open dock. Within seconds we were told to bobtail to Aurora and pick up a team load out of the Fred Meyer DC in Clackamas first thing Saturday morning. We had showers on our mind, so we stopped off at the Pilot in Brooks, OR for a little clean up and then walked across the parking lot to a coffee shack for a little caffeine. Then it was off to the TA truck stop in Aurora where we got the perfect spot for people watching up close by the fuel island and store. That's one of the great things about bob tailing, you can literally park just about anywhere. I was able to get laundry done and we enjoyed our left over Mexican food we had enjoyed previously the night before in Weed at the Dos Amigos Restaurant. If you are ever in the area, you really should stop by there. The service was excellent, the portions huge, and the food was fantastic, and on top of that, we even had seats with the million dollar views of Mount Shasta through the window. Take exit 745 and it's right on the main street between the McDonald's and the truck stop. You won't be sorry.

We enjoyed a good night's sleep for once, and arrived in Clackamas at 7am to pick up the team load headed to Phoenix. Given the trailer number in the office we went in search of the load, hooked up, and sent in our loaded call. We were quickly advised to head to Klamath Falls, OR to swap loads with the team that would take it into Phoenix. Our routing would take us down Interstate 5 and then cutting across Oregon on the Willamette Highway (HWY58) to get to Klamath Falls. This is about the third or fourth time was have had the pleasure of traveling this highway, and I have got to say, as long as you don't have a very heavy load, (ours was only 22,000 pounds), it is a nice way to spend a few hours. You can't beat the scenery as you take in covered bridges, lakes and streams, mountains and pine trees to your heart's content.

As luck would have it, the other drivers arrived from the opposite direction at the same time we did and we went to work exchanging paperwork and unhooking and hooking up to our new trailers. And just like that we were back retracing our route through Oregon and made it back to Aurora before Craig's 14 hour clock ran out. Here's the beauty of it, this load doesn't deliver until Monday morning, so we will be able to get another 34 hour restart on his driving hours and have a boatload of hours available for the new week. Today will find us relaxing and maybe taking a walk down the street. I saw a sign for a berry farm and a BBQ place that just might be calling our name later today. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!