12 YEARS

It seems like only yesterday, when Craig and I drove to Carmel to get married, but it was in fact twelve years ago.  For over half of those years, we have co-existed in a truck, with not more than three feet separating us for 24/7 & 365 days.  I'm sure a lot of couples wouldn't be able to do that, but there are a few I know that do, and I think they would agree, it's mandatory that you marry a person who is your best friend.

I know most of you are probably sick of hearing this same spiel every year on our anniversary, but there is not a day that goes by that we do not laugh and have fun.  All the romance in the world does not compare to being with someone who brings pure joy and happiness into your life every single day.  We've been  blessed since the day we met, and continue to be blessed by being able to create memories our on the road to last us a lifetime.

We were treated yesterday, by my twin Nieces, Jennifer and Stephanie, and Grandniece Gwendolyn, picking us up at the truck stop we were at and taking us into town for a bit of shopping and lunch.  It's nice that we have family along our normal routing to make these short times off the truck that much more enjoyable.

Today finds us with a trailer full of corndogs from Foster Farms, heading north to Clackamas for a Monday morning delivery.  The weather is great, our cupboards are full of food, and only 11 more day until our next home time, when we'll take a week off to open up the house, renew Craigs CDL, and get his annual DOT physical done.  Life is good!

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO

Early Saturday morning, after an all night drive into Spokane from Puyalllup, we made a delivery to  a Fred Meyer Store in town.  After a quick 2 hour nap, we were off on some home time, in which we would enjoy a staycation.  First, we headed up to the house to check on the snow levels, we haven't been there since the first of November.  We were happy to see that we didn't need to pull down any snow off the roof, and that there was only about 18 inches of snow on the ground.

We decided to stay the night, and in the morning we hit the local, and only, grill in our tiny town of Usk, and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast.  With stomachs full, we headed back into Spokane, and checked ourselves into the Northern Quest Casino and Hotel in Airway Heights.  We fully intended to have a nice four day staycation.

As you can see, this is a really nice place, with a spa like bathroom with full body spray shower heads lining the walls.  It felt as if we were transported to a vacation like setting without driving more than 10 miles from the Company yard.  It didn't take long for us to find ourselves on the casino floor and enjoying a little gambling and people watching.

We made sure to take advantage of all the special offers, played Bingo one evening, enjoyed $1 taco night, and registered for all the free money they wanted to give away.  You know what?  Sometimes your name actually gets called, as did Craig's, while we were playing Bingo, and off he went to claim his $500.00.  Nothing says FUN like winning that kinda of money!

By the time Thursday morning rolled around, we felt as if we had been away from the truck for at least a month, that is how rested and relaxed we felt.  We had a blast and enjoyed the first, somewhat vacation, in a very long time. 

With a phone call into the office at 8am, it didn't take long before we were sent to rescue a load from one of our trucks that had blown a couple of tires.  A few hours later, the load was delivered and we were sent to Tyson,  in Wallula, WA to drop our empty trailer.  We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see where we'll be headed next.

LIFE GOES ON

Things have calmed down since our run in with black ice.  Although this has been the mildest Winter we have had in awhile, we have put on chains more times in the last two months than we have the previous 7 years.  Go figure.

We've been doing a lot of night runs lately.  Makes it hard to take pictures and capture life out on the road, but I have managed to take a few here and there.  Have seen some magnificent sunrises and sunsets along the way.

We're currently sitting in Milwaukie, OR waiting to get unloaded before our 14 hour clock runs out and we find a place to park for 10 hours.  I'm hoping our string of night runs will taper off the rest of the week until we take some time off next week.