HIGHLIGHT OF HIS WEEK!

After the trials and tribulations that Craig had with that last load of meat, he was due for some good stuff to come his way.  He was happy, after a long drought, to get a load of bananas out of San Diego, and this time, instead of going to the Port, he paid a visit to his old friend Hector, at the secondary receiving location, tucked tightly into a residential area.  But with his luck changing, when he called to see if his load was ready, he was told to scoot right on in, which he did, and found absolutely no one else in the dock area, which made for an easy back, load, and departure.

Leaving San Diego at 5pm wasn't exactly the ideal time to head north with his bananas, but luck was still on his side, and he managed to get back to the yard to fuel, escape LA, and still make the Petro in Wheeler Ridge, CA before his driving hours ran out, or any real traffic frustration hit.  The memory of that meat load was fast becoming a distant memory as he crawled into bed and called it a night.

Wednesday morning held the promise of a great day, as he drove north and stopped in Lodi to fuel up.  As he was fueling, he noticed a Nor-Cal Beverage service truck parked at the store.  That is the company Craig worked at for over 28 years before leaving to live life out on the open road.  As he was walking in, one of his best buddies Tommy, was walking out, and he was really thrilled to be able to spend a few minutes not only with him, but two other guys he used to work with.  Craig got one of them to use his phone and snap a picture.  It really was the highlight of his week to be able to meet up again with these guys.

With all that running around in LA and dealing with traffic, it ate away at his driving hours more than usual.  With that in mind, after receiving the banana assignment, Craig knew that he would fall a few hours short of being able to deliver them in Puyallup, WA Friday morning.   He will only be able to make it to Wilsonville, OR where the company has a drop yard, and he will drop the trailer there late this afternoon, and then be out of driving hours until midnight Friday.  At least he will be able to bob tail over to the TA truck stop in Aurora, OR where he can have facilities at his disposal while recouping some driving hours.

On the home front, I have completed painting two walls up in the loft, and figured out where to stop at this  point with the new paint color in the kitchen.  Good thing, because I had pretty much used up the can of paint.  Next up on my project list is to paint and distress the cabinets in the living room.  I'm a bit nervous, because it really is a point of no return once I start, but with some confidence building from my BFF Cori, I will be giving it my all maybe this weekend.