THE LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER

I can't believe it is going to be December 1st tomorrow.  This year has just flown by so very quickly, and just like the preceding years since we started this trucking adventure, we continue to enjoy our time spent together creating memories that will last us our lifetime.  You know what else I enjoy?  The great weather we have had so far.  Even though it is still considered Fall, we have yet to experience any snowfall to speak of on our travels.  Did I just jinx us?  We'll know soon enough as as Winter officially will arrive in three weeks.

After I got back on the truck, we continued with the transformer shuffle between Oregon and California for a couple more days, and then took a relay of a USF load out of our French Camp yard headed to Tacoma, WA on Thanksgiving morning.  Without the normal time constraints on this type of load due to the holiday, (it's normally a team load), we were able to enjoy the drive north with very little traffic on the Interstate.

We passed on our meal at the Casino in Corning, CA as it was way too early in the day for a Thanksgiving feast, and opted instead to take showers and continue our way north.  By 2pm, we were more than ready to enjoy a meal, which left us with the holiday buffet at the Petro truck stop in Phoenix, OR.  I was surprised at how busy it was, not from truck drivers, but from the local residents.  It wasn't home cooking, but they had all the fixings, along with prime rib, which we both enjoyed.

I passed on any dessert, hoping to enjoy a waffle ice cream cone at our destination for the evening in Canyonville, OR where we were planning on watching the 49'er game in the driver's lounge.  How disappointing it was to find that they didn't have any flavor of ice cream that I liked, and had to settle for an ice cream bar out of the freezer and on top of that, watch as the 49'ers lost to the Ravens.

We dropped the trailer in Tacoma on Friday and then headed to the yard in Pacific to pick up an empty to take to Draper Farms in Renton, WA.  We stayed in their parking lot for our 10 hour break while the trailer was being loaded and headed out just after midnight for our run into Spokane for delivery in the morning.  As soon as we dropped that trailer and hooked up to an empty, we were dispatched to Wallula, WA to Tyson Meat for a load destined for Castroville, CA on Tuesday morning.  Yadda, Yadda, Yadda............ load delivered and here we sit in Salinas waiting for a load out of Fresh Express.

We have just about 7 days left before we are scheduled for some home time which looks like we will take in Modesto, with Craig going back out in the truck solo while I stay in town during my Mom's third round of chemo.  We're hoping to take in a movie or two, enjoy a nice dinner, and update my phone before I get back on the truck around the 17th, and we can enjoy the Christmas/New Year holidays together in our home on wheels.

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

I know it's been awhile since I last posted.  I've been in Modesto, CA again this past week helping my Mom out as she goes through her second round of Chemo and 6 weeks of every day radiation.  She has three more rounds of Chemo to go, and we are hoping by mid February 2012, she will be completely done and able to start living a normal life again.  I'll be back again in December for round three.

Craig has been on a two week dedicated run between Salem, OR and Marysville/Emeryville, CA.  It's a PG&E account that keeps you moving non stop, and is actually a great little money maker miles wise.  We were sweating it a bit with whether or not he would be able to get back down to French Camp, CA to get me back on the truck before Thanksgiving, and it looks like either tomorrow night or Sunday morning will be when I meet up with him again.

I saw that they had some heavy snow going over the Siskiyou Moutain Pass this morning, and Craig, ever diligent during winter weather, made his escape over the pass before the storm hit at 3am this morning.  It looks like there will be a break in the storm system for him to make a hasty retreat back over tomorrow sometime.  You gotta love when it can work in your favor, and dread it when you are stuck putting chains on.  But, that is the life in trucking during the winter.

The next time I post, I hope to be able to tell you all about our Thanksgiving.  We are counting on hitting one of the many Casinos along the west coast to partake in a great hot meal.  Neither one of us wants to think of what the alternative will be, but it's already in our pantry in the truck if we have to resort to it.  Let's hope for the best, shall we?

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON

I was off the truck for a week staying at my Mom's in Modesto, and hitched at ride back on the truck in the very early morning hours Thursday.  In fact, so early, that Craig drove into Modesto and onto one of the major streets (truck route approved) just a couple of blocks from my Mom's house.  My niece was so very kind to drive me to where he parked, in the parking lot of a high school, at 3am in the morning.  We quickly loaded up my belongings and were back on the highway in record time.

We made a delivery of chicken parts to a Foster Farms plant in Porterville, CA and the made our way to Salinas, CA for a Fresh Express load.  On our way to our first delivery smack dab in the middle of Portland, OR (thank goodness it was an early Sunday morning appointment time), we had the opportunity to experience our first snow of the season.

It started out mild and meek just outside of Weed, CA and as we neared the Siskiyou Mountain Summit, it gathered strength.  All in all it wasn't too bad.  Oregon DOT were out in force to sand and plow the roads, and no one was driving like an idiot.  I'm sure we'll see lots of idiots in the months ahead of us driving during all the winter storms we will most likely encounter.

Craig's driving hours are looking very slim over the next three days.  We are no in possession of a dry van, and will be picking up some transformer parts from PG&E in Marysville, CA and taken them to Salem, OR.  It's a nice little run that will fit perfectly into what hours Craig has left to drive.