BUSY TWO DAYS

While Craig and Roy have been busy driving from one border to the other, I've been busy with my BFF Cori doing some creative things with some yard sale finds.  But first, let's get up to date on the trucking news.  Craig arrived at the Port of San Diego Monday morning, and by 2pm had a loaded trailer of organic bananas, scaled, and picked up Roy on his way out, as they headed to the company yard in Bloomington, CA.  Instead of battling Southern California traffic, they enjoyed a  relaxing afternoon and evening in the driver's lounge.

Tuesday morning, with only 6 hours hours of driving time left, Craig took off headed north to Puyallup, WA, but before too long, they were called to repower a load in which the driver had ran out of hours to deliver.  This meant that after Craig was done, Roy would drive as far as he could, and then at midnight, when Craig gained more driving hours, he would have to drive again to make a delivery in Portland, OR this morning, and then they would drive on to Auburn, WA for a Thursday morning delivery.

As the wheels kept turning on the truck and trailer, Cori and I were busy ourselves with several make overs of yard sale finds.  The first was this old beat up dresser, which we both saw great potential in, when we spied it sitting on the front yard of a home, showing all the years of use upon it's finish, and purchased it for $15.00.  By the time we were done with it, it looked like this:

We so enjoyed working with the burlap, that we decided to do a little variation of it on these end tables we found at a thrift store for $9.00 each. 

Have you ever had a sewing machine cabinet that you didn't know what to do with?  I found this one at the Sunday morning church sale, and thought it would make a great hall or entry table.  I gutted out some of the hardware inside the cabinet, and then glued down the lid,  Some black paint, some distressing, and for the cost of $5.00 you have yourself a sweet little table.

Now the next two items I didn't think to take a before picture, but suffice it to say, this little red chair, and the small foot stool look oh so much better now than they did when I purchased each for $2.00. 

Yep, Cori and I have been busy, and I think I speak for both of us, when I say we won't be doing much, but resting up the next day or two, but who am I kidding, there are a couple of non furniture craft projects that will no doubt grab our attention.

HE SAID - SHE WROTE

One of the problems of writing a blog primarily about our trucking travels, is when I'm not on the truck and have to rely on Craig to fill me in on the details, which sometimes can be like pulling teeth getting a few tidbits of information from him.  He is always wondering, when I am on the truck with him, what the heck I'm taking pictures of and has captured my attention.  I always tell him that the tiniest of things will catch my eye, or a passing thought brought on by a billboard or a bumper sticker, can prove to be great inspiration for a blog entry.  If you've forgotten, I've not been on the truck since August, so if the entries of late have seemed a bit bland, you know why.

If you remember, after Craig snagged what he thought was the simplest run into Arizona, they stopped to fuel up in Aurora, OR and went over their routing for the trip.  What surprised both Craig and I, was that on this particular run, they would veer off on Highway 89 out of Mt Shasta City,  something we have never done before, and weave their way to Arizona.  That particular route would take them the back way through Susanville, CA into Reno, NV and then south on Highway 95 into Las Vegas.  As Craig said to me, it was the first time he has ever been in Reno and Las Vegas on the same day, and with no time to stop and enjoy either one of them.

Shortly after leaving Las Vegas, Craig took back over the driving duties, and drove into Phoenix, AZ to begin the deliveries at the Fry stores.  The first two drops were quick and easy, and with them being about 3 hours ahead of schedule it looked like it would be a short day for them.  Right before getting to the third stop, Craig called ahead to let them know he was there, and then proceeded to squeeze his way into the dock area and then waited for the employee to come out.......and waited......and waited.

After about 45 minutes he saw an employee come out to talk to him.  Seems that they saw fit to build two Fry stores at the same intersection.  The employee directed Craig's line of vision to the corner where he saw the Fry's store that he was suppose to be at.  The employee stated that this happens at least a couple of times a week, and called over to the other store to let them know Craig was on his way.  After that little hiccup, the rest of the drops went well and they were empty and in possession of a new assignment by 2pm.

After suffering through over 110 plus temperatures, they were so very happy to see that they would be headed to San Diego this morning to pick up bananas.  Cool ocean breezes never sounded so good, so with Roy back in the driver's seat, they headed to Yuma, AZ where they would shut down for the night, crank up the AC and get a good night's sleep before Craig would drive to the Port of San Diego and  drop Roy off at the entrance since he doesn't have the credentials to have access to the Port.

They are set to deliver the bananas to Puyallup, WA on Thursday  morning.  I didn't have the heart to tell Craig that this week will be warmer than normal on his travels northward, but after 110 degrees in Arizona, I'm sure 80 won't seem that bad!

TEAM DRIVING CONTINUES

Craig managed to get some sleep while being bounced around in the bunk Thursday morning, so he was relatively alert and awake to make the delivery in Tacoma, WA at 2am Friday morning.  Shortly after going empty, and driving about 20 miles to the company yard in Pacific, the truck was finally shut down, and both Roy and Craig enjoyed some non moving sleep without any interruptions or beeping of the QualComm.

However, upon waking and doing a routine walk around of the truck and trailer, Craig noticed a small air leak in one of the air bags on the truck.  A quick phone call into road service not only informed them to head to the TA in Aurora, OR but also gave them a hint of what was in store for their next assignment, that they would be doing a repeat of another team load out of Clackamas, OR to the Phoenix, AZ area. 

So off they headed south, first to drop their trailer at the Fred Meyer DC in Clackams, and then onto the TA truck stop in Aurora to get the air bag fixed.  With all repairs completed, they then had the rest of Friday afternoon and evening to rest and recharge, while enjoying a hot shower, a hot meal, and getting some much needed laundry done.

This morning, Craig made sure that he was the first one at the front counter in Clackams to have his pick of the four team loads that were there for picking, and pick he did.  He perused the four trips, and snagged the one with four stops and the shortest distance between those four stops, and the winning load was two stops in Phoenix, one in Tempe, and the last one in Mesa, AZ, all starting at around noon Sunday afternoon.

Although this is almost the exact same run they had earlier in the week, except for the delivery locations, they will switch it up this time with Craig starting out the driving this morning and having the daytime driving duties, and Roy will have the pleasure of driving the night shift.  Craig tells me he is getting used to the whole team driving routine, but will certainly be looking forward to returning to solo driving runs when we both return to the truck after our vacation around October 16.

TEAM DRIVING

Well, if Roy wanted a taste of what team driving will be like, when he gets released from the training program and joins his Son in law out on the road, he is getting a good dose of it the last few days, and he hasn't even had to drive through the night, Craig has had that pleasure.  When they picked up the load in Clackamas, OR on Tuesday morning, the only reason the truck has stopped was to deliver at the 5 stops in Phoenix, AZ and then again late last night in Fontana, CA where they picked up a loaded trailer which is headed to Tacoma, WA by 2am Friday morning.

As I mentioned, Craig has had the job the last two nights of driving through the night, first Tuesday night, when Roy drove from Clackamas, OR to Corning, CA.  Craig took over in Corning and drove into the yard in Bloomington, CA and then Roy took back over driving into Phoenix, AZ and starting the first of the 5 deliveries.  It was during those deliveries that the pre plan started beeping, letting them know that any thoughts of sitting around and enjoying some down time would be just that....a thought, because as soon as the last delivery was completed, Craig would be taking back over and dead heading back into California and to Fontana to retrieve the loaded trailer waiting for them there.

I'm happy to report, that I received a text message this morning from Craig, stating that he made it safely into Lebec, CA this morning around 5am, where Roy took back over the driving duties again and Craig was going to try and get some sleep while he is bounced around in the bunk on pot ridden, poorly maintained Intersate 5.  I think at this point, both of them will be happy if the QualComm does not beep them today with yet another pre plan, and that when they complete the delivery very early tomorrow morning, that they can shut down and both get some quality non moving sleep.

BACK INTO THE BOWELS OF HELL

The delivery at the Winco in Woodburn, OR went according to plan, maybe a tad bit longer for the unload, but when you get paid to sit, that takes the pain out of it.  Craig was happy to have driven north into cooler weather, and even a down pour of rain or two over the last couple of days.  Oh, I haven't mentioned that they had to stop in Medford, OR to have two tires replaced on the trailer.  I think they are on track to have something fixed or replaced on every trailer they come in contact with. 

After going empty at Winco yesterday afternoon, they drove over to the TA truck stop in Aurora, OR where they received their next assignment.  Craig was already dreading the thought of it.  A  load out of Clackamas, OR this morning, destined for 5 stops in the Phoenix, AZ area.  No offense to one of our newer followers Pat, who is from Phoenix, but Craig would prefer to never have the pleasure of delivering in your State unless it is the dead of winter, and even that is pushing it.

Craig was hoping to have his pick of the loads going into Phoenix when they arrived at the Fred Meyer DC in Clackamas this morning, but it seems like another trainer got the jump on him while delivering a load of bananas earlier this morning.  Craig got the left over load, but honestly, I doubt the other load was any easier.  These team loads always seem to have anywhere from 3 to 7 stops, so considering they only have a 5 stop load, it's not as challenging as it could have been.

What will be a challenge is having both Roy and Craig drive their full amount of driving hours available to them.  They have had the luxury of what we call "lazy trucker days" of driving over the past couple of weeks, with both of them driving about 6 or 7 hours a day.  Well today, I joked to Craig that they will have to have their "big boy trucker" pants on as each will be driving their full 11 hours of drive time, and that I hoped they were up to the challenge.  As Craig said, as long as he has his diet Pepsi on board, it won't be an issue, especially since he is taking the night shift tonight.  Let's hope he has it on ice, he's gonna need it.

TWO CHAIRS FOR UNDER TWO DOLLARS

I really outdid myself on Friday when I hit a yard sale in Walla Walla, WA.  Granted the chairs themselves weren't too pretty to look at, but then hey, some mornings I don't look so hot either.  But I knew with a little face lift......no, not me, the chairs.....they could look their best.  So when I saw that they only wanted a dollar for them I picked out the nicest one and continued shopping.  When I was ready to pay, the homeowner inquired if I wanted the other one.  I really didn't, but when she offered it to me for fifty cents, I really couldn't turn it down.

Off I went to load my new found possessions into the pickup, and to Home Depot and JoAnn Fabrics I went.  I was excited to find a Chenille remnant with enough yardage to cover both seats at JoAnn's, and even more excited that it cost me only four dollars.  Then I drove to Home Depot where I purchased two cans of black flat spray paint.  Once I got them back home, I started the transformation process.  First I tightened all the screws to make the chairs sturdy again.  Then a quick sanding of the wood work, removal of the seat cushion, and a fresh coat of paint was applied. Already they were looking as good as new!

While the paint dried, I recovered the seat cushions and then distressed the edges of the chair to give it that shabby chic look.  I reinstalled the cushions and there you have it, a complete redo of an old chair bound for the dump pile all for around $5.00 a chair.  Now if only it was that cheap and easy to do something about a fantastic makeover on me!

IT'S ALL RELATIVE

I really didn't have a heat index leg to stand on while talking to Craig earlier today on the phone.  Here I was going on and on about how hot it was in Walla Walla, Wa (in the 80's), and how much cooler it was at home in Usk, WA (in the 60's), when he sends me a picture of just how hot is was in Arizona today.....118 degrees.  He definitely trumped me and put an end to my complaining as I lounged on the couch in the air conditioned cottage I'm staying at.  ahem......moving on shall we?

I'm beginning to think that Craig is on track to be in possession of every single trailer in the fleet in need of new tires.  He is on a roll lately, or is it just that he and Roy are some of only a few drivers that actually check tires?  You have to wonder, since once again, two tires on the trailer needed to be replaced.  So after leaving Tonopah, AZ, they headed to the company yard in Phoenix and had the tires in question replaced, then spent some time working on Roy's backing skills.  About an hour out from their appointment time, they headed over to the Fred Meyer DC in Phoenix and delivered the juice.

They had been given a pre plan to pick up a meat load at Sara Lee in Tolleson, but after receiving a phone call from dispatch, the assignment was tweaked just a little bit.  They still were going to Sara Lee and picking up the pre plan trailer, but would then take it only as far as the company yard in Phoenix where someone else would deliver it.  Then they were sent right back to Sara Lee to pick up another meat load which will deliver in Woodburn, OR Monday morning.  By the time they got done shuffling the trailer and hooking and unhooking, they decided to stay put in a staging area at Sara Lee until this morning.

The last time I talked to Craig, they were just hitting the California border, after once again finding not a tire issue, but an air leak on the trailer shortly after leaving the Sara Lee compound.  It was a quick fix and they were in and out of the truck stop repair bay in record time.  Craig will drive into the company yard in Bloomington, CA early this evening, and then Roy will take over the driving and most likely get them either to French Camp or Corning.  Then it will be a relatively easy day Sunday driving and staging just south of Portland, OR for their delivery on Monday.

IT'S TIME FOR A BEER

Just what the doctored ordered tonight........a nice cold one.  Okay, who am I kidding?  It was more than one, but less than four, but who's counting?  All I know is that it tasted great, and the pizza I had with it was the crowning moment, because anyone who knows me, knows just how much I love pizza!  The reason?  A full day out in my friend's garage tackling projects, of which only one of them I managed to take a "before" picture of.

Yep, that is one ugly footstool, in which someone decided it needed caster wheels on the legs, and a God awful stained fabric for the seat.  What to do, what to do.  Some light sanding, spray painting 101, a little distressing, a nice light sage green burlap purchased at the fabric store, and some stenciling, and you got yourself a fine looking new refurbished footstool for the grand total of $15.00 for the footstool, fabric, and paint.  That is what I call a successful make over.

I'm also working on a redoing some frames, four 8x10's purchased for $3.00 with non reflective glass, which will be the new home for some scenic photographs, and hung on a wall in our home once I return in October.  A stool which will get a new coat of paint, and a new padded seat, and a chalkboard with some added bling to spruce it up.  If that isn't enough, I plan on hitting some yard sales over the next three days to see what else might need a new lease on life.

As far as the travels of Craig and Roy, they spent the night in Ontario, OR Tuesday night, then drove the boring back way through Nevada yesterday, stopping in Alamo, NV for the evening Wednesday.  Tonight finds them in Tonopah, AZ where they will have until 4pm tomorrow to deliver the juice to a Fred Meyer DC in Tolleson.  Then they have a pre plan to pick up a load of meat at the Sara Lee Plant and deliver it into Clackamas, OR Monday morning.  We think from here on out, they just might be kept pretty busy, but without the benefit of a nice cold one to enjoy.

AT LEAST ONE OF US IS BUSY

Most of you will probably think that busy person is Craig, and you would be wrong!  After enjoying two days at home, it was time to get back back to work.  We called ahead on Monday to see what if any load assignment was awaiting Craig and Roy's return on Tuesday.  I know I was hoping it would be a late afternoon start, and groaned out loud when I heard Craig say they would be there bright and early for an 8am load time in Spokane. 

That meant that I would have to get the house cleaned the night before, and then both of us wake up super early to take showers and then hit the local Wal Mart to get food supplies for Craig.  I'm here to tell you, waking up at 3am and having to run around to get stuff done, and then drive the 70 miles to the yard is a whole lot harder than just rolling out of bed and starting your day's drive just three feet away!  But we accomplished all that needed to be done and was loading up the truck when Roy arrived with his groceries as well.

After saying our goodbyes, not as hard this time since Craig will be back in three short weeks to start vacation time, the boys took off to Johanna Beverage Co. in Spokane to pick up 25,000 pounds of juice to take to Tolleson, AZ.   They were hoping to be able to pound out the miles and get it into Arizona early, since they are not qualified to run as a team, but were sadly informed that as of yet, there was not a load out of Arizona for them.  So it will be a slow drive into Arizona for a Friday afternoon delivery.  Here's hoping that things may change between now and then.

As far as the busy person in the family?  That would be me!   I drove into Walla Walla where I met up with my friend Cori who will be leaving for a few days to take care of some business in California.  I will be helping take care of her kids during the day, while her husband is at work while she is away.  During the rest of the time, we have projects lined up as far as eye can see in their three car garage.  We hit the ground running yesterday as soon as I got there, hitting three thrift store and picking up four pieces of furniture to work our magic on to add to the growing list.

Thankfully I have the use of their guest cottage while I am there and will be able to rest and recuperate during the evenings.  I am so excited to get busy on these projects and get them over to her retail space to sell.  I'll be sure to post updates and photos of what we'll be doing over the next three weeks, and I promise not to forget to keep you informed about Craig and his whereabouts too!

ENJOYING TWO DAYS OF REST

Craig and Roy finished up their four deliveries Saturday morning well ahead of schedule, and were ready to vacate the truck and start some days off by 10am.  I thought I had left the house early enough to coincide with their arrival, but with their super fast unloads, Craig ended up waiting about 30 minutes for me to come pick him up.   I was so happy to be reunited after four long weeks, but not so much for the big bag of dirty laundry that came along with the reunion.  But I'll put up with dirty laundry for exchange of a couple of days spent with Craig.

It didn't take long for the spoiling to begin.  After taking care of the laundry issue, I went about preparing a dinner of grilled sirloin steak, baked Yukon potatoes with bacon and cheese, coleslaw with home made dressing, and garlic bread.  A nice bottle of wine topped off the evening.

Today I'm hoping that all the spoiling will be paid off, by Craig installing a new ceiling light in the living room and two wall scones in the bedroom.  I may push my luck by asking to have a roman shade installed, but that may take the tempting of some home made fudge which is cooling as we speak.  Needless to say, we will enjoy a couple more tasty meals before we both pack up, Craig to go back out on the road and finish up training Roy, and as for myself?  After dropping off Craig Tuesday morning in Spokane, I'll make my way south to Walla Walla, where no doubt you will be treated to several posts of projects that my BFF Cori and I have on our list of things to do.

BASIC UPDATE - NOTHING EXCITING

I really don't have much in the way of an interesting update.  They made it into Corning, CA on Wednesday  night, and then drove all the way into Pacific, WA on Thursday evening.  It did take Craig awhile to inch his way through Portland, OR, as is usually the case when you try and drive through there anytime after 3pm on any day of the week.  But once he crossed over the Columbia River and past Vancouver, WA it was clear sailing into Pacific.

Their drop this morning went smoothly.  While waiting to get unloaded, Craig was called by his dispatcher, asking if he could go help out another TWT driver that was having some problems with the new electronic QualComm.  Craig was more than happy to help out, but it seemed like the driver, new to TWT but not to driving, with over 20 years experience, wanted to talk war stories more than he wanted to learn anything.  Craig tried his best and thinks he finally got some info passed along and was happy to beat a retreat back to his truck.

Their assignment came through shortly there after to drop the trailer there at the Fred Meyer DC, which appeased the yard goats who were chomping at the bit to take the empty trailer and put it in a dock.  Their dispatch was to pick up the load at 9pm and head into Spokane, WA for three drops and one in Idaho in Coeur d"Alene.  As luck would have it, their trailer was ready at 3pm so they took off driving, planning to get into Spokane by 10pm and catch about 6 hours sleep before heading out to make their four deliveries.

It looks like, if everything goes as we hope, that they should be back in the yard somewhere between 10am and noon.  I'll be there ready to take Craig home for a couple of days, and I know Roy is also looking forward to spending a few days with his family as well.  The training coordinator has already told Craig to plan on keeping Roy until his scheduled vacation on or around October 7th.  During those three weeks, they will run as close to team driving as they can, to get Roy accustomed to what it will be like when he gets cut loose to team with his son in law.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

After driving truck primarily on the west coast for over two years now, Craig has learned a trick or two on how best to get around LA.  As with the previous trainees that he has had, Roy was taught just how miserable it is to drive from San Diego, through LA, and over the Grapevine, staying only on Interstate 5 as suggested by the routing given by dispatch.  Craig always makes sure they see for themselves just what a headache it can be, and then afterwards, how advantageous it is to take secondary freeways instead.

Roy had that lesson yesterday when they left San Diego after picking of their load of bananas.  They left around 10am and by 4pm finally made it to Wheeler Ridge, CA and their first fuel stop of this load.  They called it an early night, and spent the night there relaxing with their computers and some TV watching.  Craig's not sure what he did, but he reconfigured some of the antenna wires, and he is now getting some pretty decent reception on our little TV we have inside the truck.  Should work out very well with the new fall season starting in a couple of weeks!

With about 1000 miles left to drive, they will split the driving duties over the next two days, with each of them driving about 5 hours a day.  Roy started out driving first this morning and got as far as the yard in French Camp, where they stopped to scan in paperwork, and then spent some time with Roy learning another lesson on fine tuning his backing skills.  They made good use of the large back lot of the company yard to do some normal and blind side backing.  Craig is getting him ready for his mid term testing when they come into Spokane for home time this weekend.

Craig took over the driving duties from French Camp, and will get them into Corning, CA and their next fuel stop.  They will stay the night there, take showers, and then drive a little over 600 miles tomorrow and stage in the company drop yard in Pacific, WA for their delivery at the Fred Meyer DC in Puyallup Friday morning.  Then if all goes as planned, they will get a load out of the distribution center and have an overnight run into Spokane with a delivery to a local Fred Meyer store either late Friday night, or early Saturday morning...........then let the home time begin!

LUMPERS: THE BIGGEST RACKET IN TRUCKING

I've said this before, but they might as well call lumpers extortionists for the amount of money they charge.  On Sunday morning, at their first stop in West Sacramento, after checking in, Craig was informed on what the lumper fee would be.  At that point in time, Craig wished he would of thought about getting a ComCheck when they received the dispatch on Friday afternoon, but then, they had the two bad tires to deal with, and being a self confessed "can only do one thing at a time male",  any thoughts of thinking ahead would have been my job, but I was home and not on the truck, so that left Craig in a bind.

Needless to say, when he was told the fee would be $250.00 he had to do some quick thinking.  Luckily, Craig worked in the West Sacramento area for almost 30 years, so he knew there was a mini mart not too far away.  Off on foot he went, and arriving at the ATM machine, then finding out it would only spit out $200.00 dollars.  Needing more money, he went on the hunt for another location with an ATM and found one at a gas station further down the road, but their ATM was not working.

Never one to give up, he spied a WalMart down the street and headed there, only to stumble across a credit union with a working ATM.  Loaded down with enough funds to pay off what we are calling "the new west coast mob", he slowly made his way back to the truck in plenty of time to pay the fee and then wait around a few more hours while they unloaded their portion of the meat from the trailer.  By 1pm they were finally on their way with a quick stop in French Camp, CA to scan paperwork, and then continue south to Wheeler Ridge where they stayed the night.

Craig had the early morning duties this morning, arising at 2:30am and driving into Bell Gardens, CA for the last delivery of this dispatch.  Here he found the lumper fee a bit more reasonable, at only $40.00, which he was able to pay from what was left over from yesterdays run on the ATM's in West Sacramento.  You can see from the pictures that this particular receiver was tucked away off the street, and Craig had no issues finding it or backing into the dock.

 Immediately after going empty, they were given a dispatch to pick up a load of bananas in San Diego Tuesday morning.  We both agreed that it was a great load, no only because it would allow them to avoid the heavy holiday traffic leaving LA today, but also will have them delivering in Puyallup, WA on Friday morning.  We are pretty confident that they will then get an overnight load from Puyallup into Spokane Saturday morning, which fits into Craig's plan for some home time before heading back out until vacation time in October.  You can bet I'll be waiting for him Saturday to whisk him home!

TIME OUT FOR NEW TIRES

Other than having to stay up all night and drive to deliver at three stops, Craig had a pretty easy go of it Thursday night and early Friday morning.  His first two stops in the Tacoma, WA area were places we have been to before, the first at McLane at 1am, and the second at Colonial Fruit and Produce which was only a few miles away, but the appointment wasn't until 4am.  But as I said, we have been to these places before, and knew that Colonial would be more than happy to take their one pallet early, and Friday morning would be no exception. 

Craig hung out after they took their pallet off the trailer for about an hour or so, before heading into Auburn, WA to the Safeway DC, where they have a large staging area where you are allowed to arrive 3 hours ahead of your appointment.  After checking in, Craig crawled into the bunk thinking that he would be able to grab a couple of hours of sleep, but 15 minutes later there was a knock on the door, and he was backed into a dock shortly thereafter.

By 8am they were unloaded and headed to the company drop yard in Pacific, WA where Craig would get some more sleep and wait to see what their next assignment would be.  Around 2pm they received their new dispatch information and Roy went about doing a pre trip inspection of the truck and trailer, and that is where he saw a tire in need of replacement, and while checking the air pressure on another trailer tire, he found a slice on the inside of the inner trailer tire as well.  A quick phone call to road service and they were on their way to the TA truck stop in North Bend, WA for two new tires.

A couple of hours later, they were back on the road driving to Wallula, WA to drop their empty trailer and see if the load they were picking up was ready.  It wasn't, so they parked in the staging area and went to sleep.  Craig was up at 4am to check on the trailer, and finding it ready, hooked up, scaled, and was on the road driving his half of the driving duties for the day.  With a stop in Biggs, OR for fuel, and a break to take in the sights of a barge going down river, he was back on the road to La Pine, OR where they would switch up drivers.

This load has two deliveries.  The first will be tomorrow morning in West Sacramento, CA at Tony's, and the second Monday morning in Bell Gardens, CA.  With Monday being a holiday, I'll be surprised if they get a new assignment until Tuesday, but there may be a loaded trailer waiting for them in the company yard in Bloomington.  Then begins the countdown until they come into Spokane, WA for a couple of days off and a little bit of spoiling.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

This tag team driving sure does get you places.  I was talking to Craig Tuesday morning in Idaho, and by 5pm that evening, they were in French Camp, CA doing laundry.  Roy is doing great in his training program, they are already well over a week a head of schedule on the tasks he needs to get proficient at.  Both Craig and I are wondering if he will be cut loose at the mid term testing, or if he will stay with Craig until October.  I guess we'll find out in about 10 days when they are scheduled to come into Spokane.

Wednesday morning Craig had a easy go of it driving into Pleasanton, CA well ahead of the commute traffic at 4am.  The place he delivered to was one of the friendliest places he has been in a long time.  Everyone was cheerful and friendly, had the trailer unloaded within an hour, and allowed him to stay on the property as long as he needed until his next assignment came in.  If only all shippers and receivers could be like that!

It didn't take long to get the word to head to Salinas, CA to Fresh Express and get the trailer washed out and dropped at their yard.  They bob tailed to the Pilot where they had a relaxing morning/afternoon until the QualComm started beeping at 2pm.  Their load was for 3pm, so they headed right over, and the trailer was ready and sitting on the line for them to hook up to.  Craig spent a little time going over the process of the routine and paperwork, since this will be a place that Roy will return to many times in his driving career.

Roy had the duties of driving them out of Salinas, and heading north, with a stop first at the yard in French Camp to scan some paperwork, and then onto Corning, CA where they fueled up and spent the night.  This morning they are grabbing showers and then will do the tag team driving with Roy starting out and driving to the halfway point to Tacoma, WA and then Craig taking over and driving to the first two stops in Tacoma starting at 1am tomorrow morning, and then onto Auburn, WA at 7am for their final stop.  At this point I've stopped guessing where they might be sent, especially with the long holiday weekend ahead, so I'll just be sitting this one out and waiting to see what the weekend brings.