ROCK & ROLL MOTHER NATURE STYLE

Craig is still limping along on limited driving hours, so when we left French Camp on Monday morning, he only had about 6 hours of driving time he could use. That got us as far as Weed, CA where we were shut down and biding our time by noon. It wasn't until we had parked that we noticed just how windy it was. We haven't experienced this type of wind since the days on the boat fleet and driving through Wyoming. We were rocked and jostled to and fro all afternoon and into the night, where it finally decided to start raining. We felt sorry for the flatbed driver parked next to us who was trying in vain to tarp his load with one of those thin blue plastic tarps. It was too painful to watch and I had to take refuge behind our curtain.

Tuesday looked brighter on the driving hours front, so off we went, rather early, which is our style. By 9am we had made it as far as Canyonville, OR where we decided to stop for a hot breakfast. Fully fortified, we continued our travels into Aurora, OR for fuel and then into Lacy, WA to GeeCee's truck stop for the night. It continued to rain off and on, but the wind had decided to take a break from punishing us any further.

While enjoying another episode of Dexter, my phone rang last night and it was a friend of Craig's who is a newly trained driver for TWT. Seems he was lost in the LA area trying to find his way to the company yard in Bloomington. Boy don't we know how that feels. I remember the first couple of times we tried to find it when Craig was new as well, so we were more than happy to talk him out of the neighborhood he was in and get him headed in the right direction. With him safely pulled into the company yard, we called it a night and grabbed some sleep.

This morning, up at 2am, we did our normal morning routine and headed towards Puyallup, WA to deliver the bananas at the Fred Meyer's DC. There were three of us there this morning making deliveries, and two of us remain to pick up loads later today headed to Spokane. That will give us an opportunity to swing by licensing and pick up the 2010 IFTA sticker and new registration for the truck. Then hopefully we'll get a load tomorrow heading us south to French Camp to start that R&R we are looking forward to.

WE CRACK OURSELVES UP

Craig and I have this conversation quite a lot and always come to the same conclusion.........that most people would think we are crazy if they could ever covertly listen to our conversations inside the truck on a daily basis. Truth be known, we crack ourselves up every day, and over stuff that every normal person would say to themselves "HUH"? We often wonder if other couples living this 24/7, confined to a small space relationship, suffer with this same phenomenon.

I wish I could give you examples, but I know they would fall short of even giving you a glimpse into our world, but I'll try just to say I told you so. Driving down the road, each lost in a made up little world in our minds, one of us will suddenly shout out "hey" eliciting one of two responses from the other, either another "hey" in return, or the "what"?, but in reality the original "hey", was just an acknowledgement of a "hay truck" passing us by. It never fails to crack us up and now I rest my case that #1.......you probably don't understand it, and #2.........we were just meant to be together.....crazy or not.

LOAD SWAPPING

We didn't have to wait long to hear about a load swap. Arriving at the Tyson Meat Plant in Wallua, WA Friday night, we went arrived at shipper and then dropped our trailer. We found out our load wouldn't be ready until morning and that suited us just fine, as we were going to just park in their bob tail lot and get some sleep. We were beeped shortly thereafter with information to swap our loaded trailer with another driver in French Camp on Sunday. Works for us, as Craig had just enough hours to get us there.

Saturday morning we get up and hook up to our loaded trailer. I send in our daily hours and then give the weekend dispatcher our eta to French Camp, as long as the roads are traffic are clear, not even thinking that there might be a problem. I always like to throw in that disclaimer because you just never know what you might come up against out on the road. We get a message back saying that he has heard the roads are bad on Highway 97 in Oregon.

Well that got me into action checking the road conditions, and wouldn't you know it, since 2am they were requiring chains due to ice on the roads. We knew we had a couple of hours before we would be on Highway 97 so I kept checking and finding the same information listed on the website. At Biggs Junction, where Highway 97 intersects at Interstate 84, we decided to park and check if anyone was saying anything about the road conditions.

Our first clue that things must not be too bad was that the parking lot was relatively empty, so it seemed to us that no one was staging there until the chains restriction was lifted. We also didn't hear any info from any of the drivers and saw that trucks were leaving the Pilot truck stop and heading south, the direction we would be going.

Fortified with a sausage mcmuffin with egg, we took off to find the roads seemingly okay. We could definitely see ice along side the roadways, but in our opinion the roads looked passable. We started seeing trucks parked off to the side of the road from time to time, and then came upon another one of our TWT drivers pulled over and standing by his truck. We pulled in behind him to see if there was any assistance that we could offer. Seems when they called for chains earlier in the evening/morning hours, a lot of trucks pulled off to the side to wait it out. This particular driver was sitting on a sheet of ice and couldn't get any traction to pull away from the side of the road. Craig tried to offer him suggestions on how to get himself unstuck, but he wanted to wait for a tow truck. Who are we to judge and off we went. We did encounter a couple of trucks that had chains on still that pretty much held up the flow of traffic until we could get around them. We couldn't understand the need since about 80 percent of the road was down to pavement, but as soon as we could safely pass them we were off and ended up staying at a rest stop in Grass Lake, CA for the night. This morning we completed our run into French Camp, CA and handed off our trailer and took possession of a trailer loaded with bananas that we will take into Puyallup, WA on Wednesday morning. That should leave us with one more trip south into French Camp to start our requested home time by Sunday the 17th. You think someone just might be ready for a little R&R?

PROCRASTINATION

I find the longer Craig and I are married, the more we seem to take on each other's traits. I find him to be much more organized and methodical, and me?? Well I seemed to have embraced his philosophy of " Why do what you can today, when you can put it off until tomorrow ". Such was the case in the yard in French Camp when I knew I should do laundry, but I so easily talked myself into putting off. In hindsight, it was a great move, because we ended up not sitting long at all before our next assignment came over the computer.

We were dispatched to Fresh Express in Salinas, CA to pick up a produce load with two deliveries in Clackamas and Milwaukie, OR. This was one of the few times we have been dispatched to Fresh Express and picked up the load the same day. Usually it requires you to drop the trailer the day or night before, then sit around the next day waiting for the dispatch information. Down side to the not sitting around thing was that Craig's driving hours were looking a bit on the slim side.

Having a couple of hours to sit and wait on the load once we arrived in Salinas, Craig crunched the numbers and worked it out on the computer with his driving log program, and with fitting in a split sleeper berth option, we would have just enough time available Wednesday night and then all day Thursday to make it to our deliveries this morning. With his hours still not looking too healthy, we were shocked when we put in our empty call, expecting to be able to sit the rest of the day in order to accumulate some hours on the book.

But as they say, if you're using all your hours, you're keeping busy, and with the beep of the computer we were headed to Wallua, WA to the Tyson meat plant to pick up a load of meat headed to Vernon and Oxnard, CA. It didn't take too long, especially with the short turnaround this load had on it, to figure out that we would in deed not be able to make it to the LA area by Monday morning. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what kind of swap or drop we end up doing on this load. Right now we're going to both procrastinate and put off checking to see if the trailer is ready early and grab us a good night's sleep first.

TRUCKER FRIENDLY FOSTER FARMS

We dragged our tired butts into the Petro in Corning, CA right on schedule at 6am and managed to fuel up the truck and reefer before finding a parking spot and crashing into bed. As is usually the case after pulling an all nighter, we only managed about 5 hours of sleep before we were both awake. With several hours on our hands before being able to leave, we decided to take showers and then use some Flying J coupons to get us something to eat.

Now this may surprise you, but if you haven't yet tried the fish tacos at the Flying J, you are really short changing yourself. I know, I know....it doesn't seem quite right, but trust me, if you can find one that is still offering their southwestern menu items which include the fish tacos and carnitas plate, treat yourself and enjoy. You can thank me for it later. With bellys full, Craig took a little nap while I continued my Dexter marathon watching on my laptop. At the appointed hour of 4:30pm, we took off for our delivery with a stop in Ripon, CA for fuel. Arriving a hour early in Livingston, CA for our appointment, we met up with the security guard at the gate who checked us in, and when asked if we could stay on their property after unloading, gave us two thumbs up to park wherever we could that was out of the way of the yard goat. What a change from most places where they can't wait to get you off their premises and on your way. Sure saved us the trouble of trying to find a place to park so late in the evening/morning hours when parking is at a premium at the truck stops.

We were unloaded by midnight and sleeping like babies soon after. Upon awaking this morning we advised dispatch of the 24 empty pallets in the back of the trailer and were directed to take them to Stockton to drop them off. We currently sit at the Company yard awaiting our next assignment. Guess I can't put off doing a load of laundry any longer. Might as well take advantage of a little down time while I can.

BEEN A BIT LAZY

I've been a bit lazy the last couple of days when it came to posting a blog entry. Probably has something to do with the last couple of runs we have been on. Plenty of time, no rush, and just kicking back and enjoying the ride. Not that much activity to talk about, but I can at least keep you up to date on what we have been doing.

We left French Camp, CA rather early on Saturday morning, like 3am early, just like the night before. It wasn't because we needed to, but wanted to. We had our sights set on hitting the Wal Mart in Anderson, CA and wanted to get there as early as we could to avoid the crowds and having a easy go of parking the rig. It's also nice to have the store mainly to yourself to wander around and then have no lines at checkout.

After shopping, it took me awhile to figure out where to put everything, but I think we have enough provisions on board to last until Craig takes some well deserved home time around the 17th of January. We then continued our trek across the border into Oregon and called it a day in Medford. Sunday, we only had a little over 250 miles to go to our staging destination in Aurora, OR. We made it there by around noon, and watched the rest of the day and into evening as every imaginable parking spot was taken.

This morning we delivered the bananas in Clackamas to the Fred Meyer DC and then immediately was dispatched about 40 miles away to Woodland, WA to the Columbia Cold Storage to pick up some frozen food. This load will be delivered in Livingston, CA tomorrow night at 10pm. Our appointment time in Woodland was at 12pm, but we called ahead to see if we could show up early. No problem, they said, but as it turned out we weren't fully loaded until 2pm.

That left us with a decision on how to handle driving the remaining 700 plus miles and still get in a mandatory break. We decided to stay at the shipper until we had an eight hour break and then take off for some good old night driving. With a two hour break factored in during the night for a power nap, we figure to make Corning, CA by 6am Tuesday morning. Then it will be off to Livingston to make the delivery at 10pm. Looks like our days of having easy daytime runs has come to a screeching halt.

IT WASN'T AS IT SEEMED

Telling you we spent New Years Eve in San Diego most likely congers up images which I can guarantee you will not even remotely resemble what our evening was like. First off, we were up at 2am on Thursday morning having to tackle the last two of our seven drops on this ice cream load. And on an unrelated rant while I'm at it, I ask you this.......of all the places we went, why is it the two places where there were only one and two pallets coming off the trailer, it took them nearly 3 hours each to unload and complete the paperwork?? But I digress....where was I? Oh yes, New Years Eve.

Wednesday night we were beeped with a pre plan to pick up bananas at the Port of San Diego. No big surprise there, except that they were only loading trailers from 8am to 12pm. With our last of the seven drops being at 8am, and with a 120 mile drive to the port, we knew if anything went askew, we would most likely be without a load over New Years Day.

Arriving at our last drop an hour early, we checked in and waited for their 4 pallets to be unloaded. Little did we know when we retrieved the paperwork, that they had left the 4 empty pallets inside the trailer. That facilitated going about 3 miles down the road to drop the pallets off before we could head to San Diego. But really, no worries, as we were empty, had the pallets dropped off, and headed south by 8:45am......plenty of time to get to the Port before noon.

Unlike when we drove into the LA area on Wednesday afternoon, where it was bumper to bumper traffic, the drive into San Diego was relatively traffic clear and we sailed into the harbor by 11am, and that is where we stayed as we watched Craig's 14 hour clock start ticking down. The later it got, the more it was clear that we would have to find a spot to stay for his mandatory 10 hr break and that we would not be leaving San Diego until the new year had fully rang itself in.

By 4pm we were finally loaded and rolling down by the harbor to find a parking space which would be free from any possibilities of getting another autograph from the local police. We found such a place amongst the many other trucks lining the street and settled in for the night, which basically meant we were both asleep by 7pm with nary any celebrations to be had or heard except for Craig's watch to unexpectedly start chirping at midnight. We both muttered a "Happy New Year" and rolled over to get a few more hours of sleep.

By 3am we felt the highways just might be safe to travel and were happy to see that the cabs and limousines far outnumbered the cars and trucks that were out on the roads. I guess people are finally getting smart about partying and not driving. We decided to stop in Wheeler Ridge for showers and a hot breakfast and then continued into the yard in French Camp where we called it a night. Here's hoping your New Years celebration was a bit more exiting than ours!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

January 1, 2010......This year will start our 5th year of trucking. Wow, time sure does fly by when you're having fun doesn't it? It's really hard to phantom all the places we have been and the sights we have seen over the previous 4 years. But all it takes is some time to sit down and peruse through the blog to have it all come back to me like it was yesterday.

This past year, once again Craig managed to have to take some time off from work due to an injury. Thankfully, this time it was only a boil and he healed after just one week off. Craig also managed to take on the responsibility of training and is holding steady at 50% success rate, but then when you have only had two trainees so far I guess that isn't saying too much.

Over the past year I published my 500th post and reached over 81,000 hits on the blog, and had a few new followers who have joined us on our journeys. We found out just how much snow can accumulate at our home, especially when no one is there to keep on top of it, and how to break into our own home when the doors wouldn't clear the decking after they swelled.

We hauled our fair share of potatoes, bananas, and apples up and down Interstate 5, had way too many trips into the San Francisco Bay area for my comfort level. Any time we are able to look back on the past year and say "we haven't been hit or hit anything" is a good thing.

Nothing especially stands out in our minds this past year, other than having what we think is the best job and lifestyle around. We remain happy in what we do and even more so with our relationship and our plans for the future. I guess what I'm really saying is that if 2010 is as great as 2009 was, we will count ourselves to be very blessed in deed. We both wish all of you the very best that 2010 has to offer!

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW?

In light of this being the last day of 2009, I thought I would share with you some photos I took of an old building while in Fresno, CA on Wednesday. I wasn't really noticing anything out my window, as the truck was jostled around, while all that creamy delicious ice cream was being off loaded from the trailer. Then I finally focused my eyes on the building across the railroad tracks from me and I saw this: I've always had a love of taking pictures of trees and old barns, and now I find myself attracted to these old buildings as well. I'm sure there are some stories to be told from the walls that still hold them up. So as we bring in the new year, I'm going to make it a habit to seek out these old buildings and take their photo to at least keep it's history alive in my archives of pictures.Here's hoping you all have a safe and happy New Year's Eve wherever you might be!

I ALMOST FORGOT

I was so busy telling you all about the new scanner and the Heaven on Earth restaurant, that I almost forgot about the current trip we are on. The dispatch on this trip actually came over the computer as a pre plan on Christmas Eve. Was nice to know that after we dropped the bananas in Clackamas last Saturday, that we would know what we would be doing for the week to come.

This load has seven, yes that's right, seven drops and to top it off, we are hauling my favorite food item........ice cream. Yep, a little over 25,000 pounds of the stuff and here I am not even getting as much as a spoonful to eat. That's just not right! Anyway, we picked up the ice cream in Eugene, OR on Sunday morning, and from there our first two deliveries weren't until Monday, with the first being in Medford and the second in Ashland, OR.

Medford went smoothly and then we arrived in Ashland. I'm so happy Craig just happened to call ahead to ask if we could come in earlier than our appointment time, and then asked about the best approach to get to their store. Following their directions we smacked head on into what has got to be the tiniest alley way to turn into and get out of that we have had the displeasure of experiencing. We first had to wait for a small garbage truck to finish his business in order to make our approach. With about six inches to space on each side of the truck and trailer we inched our way towards the store's back door.

There was already another smaller truck making a delivery, so we waited patiently for our turn. We only had 2 pallets of ice cream to drop here, and after inching our way forward, Craig went about helping them off load, while I was able to squeeze out of my door and check to see what loomed around a very tight corner. What I saw was yet another truck making a delivery and several miscellaneous items scattered about that would no doubt be in the way of us making a clean exit.

By the time the items were removed from our path, Craig was ready to make the move to round the corner. Thankfully, we made it and then after waiting for the other truck to leave we were free and clear to make our escape. From there we drove to Dunnigan, CA to stage for the first of our next two deliveries in Rocklin and Oakland, CA.

In Rocklin, there were 3 pallets coming off, but they somehow managed to make it drag out for over two hours to take those pallets off, but detention pay softened that wait and we were off to Oakland for our next delivery of just 1 pallet of ice cream. This receiver was just off Interstate 880, but tucked so tightly into a residential area, with cars lining the street, not to mention, other big trucks trying to make deliveries, it was hard to find an open space to maneuver.

But as luck would have it, after checking in we got a dock right away, and with the nose of our truck blocking half the street, they quickly off loaded that one pallet and we were left to try and figure out how to make a safe exit. Both plan A and B were a no go, so we threw caution to the wind and headed for any street that looked wide enough for us to turn. We got lucky and ended up on a street that would eventually lead us back to the Interstate and happily out of Oakland.

We had a fuel stop at our yard in French Camp, and decided to just call it a day. This morning we are headed to Fresno where we will drop off the bulk of the remaining ice cream, with the last two drops tomorrow in Moreno Valley and Ontario, CA. We are hoping to get a load out of LA tomorrow afternoon which will keep us rolling over the New Year's weekend. We'll just have to wait and see, and I'm still holding out for a wayward tub of ice cream to be left behind......I've got my spoon at the ready!

HEAVEN ON EARTH

One of the great things about living your life out on the road is finding little gems of places to check out on your travels. I have caught a glimpse of the "Heaven on Earth" restaurant tucked snugly amongst pine trees many time on our travels on Interstate 5, and even noticed that there was a large dirt lot big enough for big rigs. But what really got my attention was the proclamation on their building of being the "home of the famous cinnamon rolls". All Craig and I needed was a trip that had some time built into it for us to stop and check it out, and Sunday was the day.Heaven on Earth restaurant is located off Interstate 5, at exit 86, in Quines Creek, Oregon. They do a brisk business on Sundays and we had to find a table in their overflow area, but not before being shown the multitude of bakery items they had for sale, and the array of free samples they had out to taste. We were not deterred by temptation and decided to partake in a late breakfast, but what we really wanted was one of those famous cinnamon rolls.We had a great breakfast, while enjoying the scenic views out the window, and when it was time to pay the check, we allowed ourselves to drool over all the baked goods. One of the employees had just finished ladling a heaping amount of icing on a cinnamon roll as I said to her that we would take that very one with us to go. Now this is where I will do my best to describe this cinnamon roll. I truly believe it could feed a small family. It measured at least 5 inches tall and about 6 inches square. It was the biggest cinnamon roll I have ever seen in person.Toting it to the truck took some effort, but Craig was able to hoist it into the truck to keep it safe until later in the evening when we would delve into it's gooey goodness. Just in case you don't believe me about just how big this thing was, take a look at the picture I took just before we left.

THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY

Who among us hasn't traveled down the information highway? The mere fact that you are reading this blog entry lets me know you are a frequent traveler of one, if not many, of the hi-tech devices that are available to us every day to use. Craig and I were delighted when his company finally decided to save money during these hard economic times, and put payroll information on the Internet, instead of mailing it to our home, which by the way, we never saw until months later when we finally went home to retrieve our mail. Recently, they have gone one step further into cost saving ideas, by cutting out paying postage and FedEx charges, having the TWT drivers start scanning their trip information ie: bills of lading, receipts, seal reports, etc into scanners that they have placed at all the company yards. This caused us to stop and give pause to the thought that there will soon be a time, when they have the System/flatbed drivers, who number upward to 800, also start scanning their packets after the first of the year. Further more, the wait time at the one lone scanner at each yard could add up to quite a delay, especially on those time sensitive loads when you don't have the extra time to stand around and wait for your turn. Since we used to scan and email all the broker information when we were on the boat fleet directly from our truck, we thought it would be worth looking into getting a scanner again.A quick phone call into the department in charge of this new scanner procedure at first had Craig talking to an employee who wasn't sure if Craig was going to be complaining about the scanner and was quite apprehensive when Craig said he had some questions. Her tone immediately changed to excitement when Craig asked if we could use our own scanner and send in the information by email. Evidently, they are hoping that more drivers take on Craig's attitude, and were prepared with a form questionnaire to fill out via email, and then a practice run of scanning and emailing in two test trips and we were officially set up to go online. After sending in our first official trip packet via the scanner, we sent in a message to the person in charge asking if there was a confirmation we would receive that the trip in fact was accepted into the system. We promptly got a reply back that since we were the first ones in the company to actually use their own scanner, that they had not thought of that, and that the computer guy was busy working on it at that very moment. Let's hope being first to drive on this information highway with the company will be free of any major pot holes or road blocks. I guess we'll find out just how well it works next payday.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Everyone longs to be home for the holidays, and they say, home is where the heart is. My heart, for the past 9 years has been with Craig, and wherever he is, that is home, no matter it be in the truck, our house in Usk, WA or the many other "homes" we have with family and friends. My Christmas wish, is that we have many more Christmas' to spend together out on the road, for as long as we are together, any place is home. But I do have another Christmas wish to send to the heavens, and that is the thankfulness we feel for our friends and family, who have accepted our way of life, and welcomed us with their warm embrace of love into their homes, letting us know in no uncertain terms, that their home is our home. I wish that they all feel our love and gratitude this Christmas Day, even though we will be absent from their celebrations, for all that they have given to us this past year. We love you all and look forward to sharing our traveling adventures with you in the coming year.And to our fellow trucking and blogger friends, thanks for keeping us company this past year on our travels, along with your prayers for our safe journeys. They obviously have been heard and we do so appreciate your well wishes. We look forward to you too accompanying us again in the new year to come. Now we raise our glasses of egg nog and send our best to all of you this holiday season.........Merry Christmas from our home to yours

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

Suffice it to say, our super secret special parking space in Vernon, CA is not so super , secret, or special any more. The Grinch this year, showed up in the middle of the night, wearing a blue uniform, and covertly left a little parking ticket wrapped up nicely in a plastic bag, without so much as a bow, on the driver's side window of the truck. As he drove away, I'm sure I heard Cindy Lou Who and all the folks in Whoville say a collective "tsk tsk" as he drove away. As you probably figured out by now, we made it into LA and then into Long Beach, CA to make our delivery of the frozen french fries. There we met up with four more TWT trucks making deliveries, and then all four of us wound up at the Company yard in Bloomington, CA along with about 6 other trucks waiting to get a new assignment. We thought we wouldn't get any dispatch until today, but long about 5pm last night, it came across the computer. No surprise, head to the Port in San Diego and pick up bananas and then head to Clackamas, OR.

Now this is the exact same load we received last year, and like last year, we have tentatively planned out our holiday travels until delivery on Saturday, the day after Christmas. I say tentatively, because last year, we had visions of a fabulous buffet Christmas dinner in Corning, CA and had it taken away from us when we were told to drop the bananas in the yard in French Camp, head to Salinas and pick up a load of produce, and then head to Montana during a nice big snow storm. I'm hoping that doesn't happen again this year.

With today being my birthday, we will combine both my birthday dinner and Christmas dinner together on the 24th in Weed, CA at the Dos Amigos Resturarant. My mouth is already salivating just thinking about the feast we will partake in..........that is if the Grinch doesn't make an encore appearance and figure out a way to take that away from us as well as the $103 dollars we will have to pay for that darn parking ticket.

PUPPY LOVE

You couldn't help but notice it. Maybe it was the way he held her so protectively, or the way she snuggled close to his chest. You would have to be blind not to see the love in his eyes when he gazed upon her face. Craig and I both stared, with big smiles on our faces, and when he looked up at us, I think his smile was even bigger. It was puppy love, and he had fallen head over heels.He had found her abandoned along the side of the road, in a cardboard box in Plainview, TX. She was probably not much more than 4 weeks old when he rescued her. The past two weeks he has been bottle feeding her every few hours as they learn to share the confines of the truck. We watched as she stood on wobbly legs on the asphalt parking lot of a truck stop, which will be all too familiar to her as she grows old. How appropriate is it, that he has named her "Diesel" and how we all agreed that he would have a traveling companion for life. Maybe one day we will see them again, traveling along this long lonely stretches of highway. And if we do? We will always remember how it all began, a kind and generous soul reaching out to one in need, and creating a bond to last through the ages. Travel safe my friends......travel safe.

LONG BEACH BOUND

We were up and at 'em very early Friday morning. Leaving George, WA, where we stayed at, (that was an interesting conversation with my Mom when she asked where we were and I kept telling her George Washington), and made our way south with what limited driving hours Craig would have available to him. By 8am we were at Biggs, OR taking a break to stretch our legs and treat ourselves to a Sausage McMuffin with egg, courtesy of the good folks at McDonalds.Fortified for the rest of our journey we continued and ran smack dab into dense fog. As the sun tried vainly to burn through it, we finally climbed a small incline in the landscape to rise above the fog layer and see Mount Hood proudly poking it's head through the clouds and fog. I couldn't get a great photo of the blanket of fog covering the landscape, because as quickly as we were above it, we were just as quickly back under it again.Craig's driving hours would only take us as far as Chemult, OR where we got a prime parking spot in the front row, since we shut down for the day at noon. After the past few days that we have had, getting limited quality of time to sleep or even relax, this was a nice change of pace, having the remainder of the day to rest our tired bodies and minds. Suffice it to say, we were both sound asleep by 6pm and then up and ready to roll at again at 1am. Seems it is going to take another few days to get our body clocks back on track.

So off we went, stopping in Corning to get the truck and trailer washed, and with just enough hours to get us into French Camp. How lucky were we when our pickup was sitting waiting for us in the yard and my Mom was having a Christmas dinner for her friends that we were welcomed to partake in. Didn't have to ask us twice to a great home cooked meal and great company to share it with. Of course, shortly after consuming a large meal, both Craig and I were looking to find a bed to crash in. With our apologies for being party poopers, we bid our good byes and drove back to the yard where we were both sound asleep by 8pm, but not before I made sure to pack the dinner left overs away in our cooler!

MADE IT

Knowing that Snoqualmie Pass, would be the first of many snowy passes we would have to pass over this Winter, made it that much more anxious for me. But if the rest of our snowy journeys go as easy and as safely as this one......well I will be one very happy girl. Our load at Draper Valley in Renton, WA turned out to be a drop/hook. No waiting around for a live load, and we even got it almost two hours ahead of schedule. With plenty of fuel on board, we bypassed our fuel stop in North Bend, WA, after all, no need to torture yourself maneuvering around that truck stop at night if you don't need to.

Thirty miles into our journey we hit Snoqualmie Pass. It seems the tail end of the storm system was just passing by, as I watched the temperature start to rise. It was a slushy mix until right at the top of the summit, where it was still coming down fairly heavy. But a few miles down the other side and it turned to light showers. The only thing we had to deal with after that was heavy fog, which wasn't all that much fun either.

With this particular load, we would be able to drop it at the receiver's well before our appointment time of 5am. Arriving at 1:30am we were directed to where they wanted the trailer dropped, received our paperwork, and went in search of an empty trailer. Not finding any, we headed into the yard to hopefully get some sleep. These past three days have been sporadic with grabbing sleep when we could and running hard.

By 8am, we were awake and decided to take showers and do laundry in case we received another dispatch as soon as our 10 hour break was over. And wouldn't you know it, like clockwork the dispatch appeared on our computer. We were to head to Quincy, WA to Columbia Cold Storage to pick up frozen french fries that would be delivered to Long Beach, CA on Monday morning. Well, at least we have some breathing room on this load. Craig's driving hours were looking a bit thin, and we will have a couple of days of having less than 8 hours available. As it was, after loading we had just 15 minutes to get to a very small gas station with truck parking a few miles away, where we spent the night.Now as to those of you who could only imagine how incredibly delicious those wiener roll ups are, I don't have a recipe, as I purchase them from a tiny little bakery down the street from my Mom's house in Modesto, CA. I can attest too Craig acknowledging that it was sad yesterday when he didn't get a piping hot one handed to him for his lunch. But never fear, there is a chance to make use of our pickup at the company yard in French Camp and sneak away, hopefully tomorrow to restock our cooler. I'll be more than happy to pick you up some, but then delivery to you will be a major problem, so we'll just have to eat them for you. Trust me, I'm doing you a favor.....they can be addicting.

SAD SAD DAY

As I was throwing together something for lunch today, I made the proclamation that today was a sad, sad, day. Craig, ever the inquiring mind, asked me why? As calmly as I could, I announced that it was the end of the line for the brownies and wiener roll ups, as of today there would be no more. Craig looked at me and said, "Today we eat, tomorrow we can be sad". Such is life with my husband. But I have to admit, these little wiener roll ups that I purchase whenever I am in Modesto cost just $1 each, and have the softest, most tasty breading around them. You just don't see bargains like that anymore.We got about 6 hours of sleep after stopping at the rest area Monday night, but we still had to sit around until the 10 hour mandatory break was over with before we could leave. By 10:30am we were headed north again with a little over 300 miles to go in order to get in an 8 hour split sleeper berth break before heading out to make our delivery at 3am in Seattle. By 4:30pm we were staged in Toledo, WA at GeeCee's Truck stop, heating up some beans for an early dinner and then trying to grab about 5 more hours of sleep before heading back out at 12:30am.

Nice thing about leaving that early is no traffic on the roads, and with a fuel stop in Tacoma, we grabbed a cup of coffee and made it the last 20 miles into Seattle and our first delivery. By 4am we were headed to our last stop in Auburn, WA at the Safeway Distribution Center. Here is where we were able to fit in our second half of the split sleeper berth break of 2 hours as we waited for our dock and 7am delivery appointment. You gotta love it when it all works out when you only have a small window of opportunity awaiting you.

By 8:30am we were sitting in the company drop yard in Pacific and waiting to hear what our next assignment would be. We were able to get maybe a couple of hours of sleep and expecting to get an overnight load into Spokane, put a pressure on us to try and get more. But sleep alluded us, as we tossed and turned with each train that passed by not more than 75 yards away from us. By 2pm we heard the beep and received our next dispatch information. We are heading to Renton, Wa to Draper Valley to pick up a load of chicken at 8pm tonight, and deliver it into Spokane by 5am in the morning.Our only worries now? What will Snoqualmie Pass throw at us as we try and head over the hill. For our sakes I hope we have an easy go of it, but that doesn't make for a good blog entry now does it? Keep your fingers crossed, I know mine will be.

OUR CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

When it comes to decorating, I used to hold my own about 10 years ago. I went all out, especially for Halloween, as my niece's can attest to. As for Christmas? I did put up a tree and a wreath, but that was about all. The couple of years before we started our trucking adventure, we didn't even bother with a tree. With this now being our fourth Christmas out on the road, I remember convincing Craig to tie a wreath to the front grill of the truck the first year, and then we did wear our Christmas hats for a picture for the blog, but besides that we haven't put in much effort. I'm sorry to disappoint you this year too. Yes, this is as good as it's going to get this year, but hey, at least it's something, and the two weeks I spent helping my friend decorate her house and cottage should count for something. We got into Salinas, CA on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a lazy evening and sleeping late in the morning, if 6am is considered late to you. We were hopeful our load would be done early, so we checked in to find the trailer in the dock and the red light flashing. We took that as our opportunity to hit Wal Mart early enough in the morning to buy Craig a new pair of boots. He had literally worn himself right out of the soles of his last pair about a week ago. The shopping experience was a pleasant one, with nary a sole inside the store, so we treated ourselves to a Starbucks, which so conveniently was located right across the parking lot. Then it was back to check on the progress of our load. The dispatch information stated it would be ready by 3pm, and as each hour ticked away, the time constraints on the load got tighter and tighter. We have two deliveries to make, one in Seattle at 3am Wednesday morning, and the second in Auburn, WA at 7am. Craig of course was busy crunching numbers....would we be able to do two breaks or only one break before delivering? What was our drop dead time for getting our loaded trailer before it would be impossible for us to make the deliveries? I swear I could see smoke coming from his ears as he went to work on the computer and doing the math in his head. We finally went loaded at 1:30pm and off we went knowing that we would be doing a full 11 hours of driving.We were keeping a watchful eye on the weather, as we knew we had a couple of passes to get over and there was talk of snow. But as we crossed into Oregon, it was only lightly snowing and we got down off the summit with no problems. The only problem for us would be where we would be able to find a parking spot for the night. The first two truck stops and rest areas were full, but finally, with only minutes to spare before the 14 hour clock expired, we found a spot at the next rest area and we settled in for some well deserved sleep.

OH HAPPY DAY

See.....I told you Craig was much better at crunching the numbers and doing the math than I was. He called me a few hours before his mandatory 10 hour break was over, and I of course was quick to ask, "are they swapping your load out with another driver"?. Craig just laughed and said, "no, I got it all worked out in my head, at least in theory", and then he proceeded to tell me just how it would all work out within the federal hours of service rules. There is something to be said for having a large sized head like my husband's, which is obviously filled with a fully functioning big brain that loves numbers and math. I think we are a good match, with my smaller head, and it's own good functioning brain, more inclined for creativity and organization.

You can see how happy I am to be back on the truck. I had the pickup packed up and made my way into French Camp to meet up with Craig around 7pm last night. A quick transfer of the food and my clothes, the pickup parked in the employee lot, and we were off to Merced to stage at our first delivery stop in the morning. We both did some research on Google Earth to see what the parking situation might be for an overnight stay, and we both agreed that there was a high probability that we would find a place to park. Upon arrival, even in the darkness of night, we saw an open parking lot and large dirt lot, good enough for us, and we called it a night.

In the morning, we were up and ready by 6am, too bad we couldn't say the same about the employees here. They finally started showing up a little after 6am, and we were told they would come out and let us know when they were ready for us. Then we waited and waited, and if it wasn't for the detention pay, there might have been a few cuss words, but I was content to be surfing away on the computer while Craig listened to the radio.

Long about 8:30am, we were finally summoned into a dock to off load the 2 pallets of meat we had for this location. You could almost get claustrophobic backing into the dock as there wasn't much room on either side once you got backed in. It took all of 15 minutes for them to take the 2 pallets off and then it was off to do battle with the San Francisco Bay Area for our next two deliveries.

Second stop in Newark, CA went well. We found it relatively easily, by passing it up, and then having to back down the street until we found one small little address sign that let us know we were at the correct location. There were only 4 pallets coming off here, so within 30 minutes we were in search of our last delivery of the day in Santa Clara, CA. After debating on several ways to get there, especially after earlier taking a "no trucks" allowed street, we rolled into the consignee and promptly told to get in line, it was a "first come/first served" situation. Well we certainly weren't in a hurry since we were 90 minutes ahead of our appointment time anyway.

All three places we went to today were surprisingly easy backs. You gotta love when businesses spell it out and places signs so that everyone is clear on what they need to do to get safely into the docks. Such was the case at our last drop, and being good little soldiers, we followed the directions and except for holding our breath when backing down a rather steep incline into the dock, and hoping that the landing gear wouldn't get messed up, we were in and out in record time. In fact, by 2pm we had put in our empty call and had been given our new assignment. It's off to Fresh Express in Salinas..........It sure feels great to be back on the truck again, this has been a happy day indeed.

ALMOST BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

Craig finally got the dispatch information on his load around 5pm on Friday. Seems the computer system was down at Tyson, and in this day of automated, computerized record keeping, if the computer is down, there aren't too many companies that will do it the old fashion way, that is, if there is even anyone still working that can remember how that is even done. By the time he scaled out and completed the all the pre trip inspections it was near 6pm when he took off headed south.

Of course, much to my dismay, he would be driving through the night to get as far as he could. He was still doing the math when I quickly talked to him, as to whether he would even have enough hours to be able to make the deliveries on this load, as he has three scheduled. They are all on Sunday, starting at 6am in Merced, CA, then Newark, CA and finally ending in Santa Clara, CA.

Craig made it safely into Weed, CA this morning around 4am. Now I'm not as good as Craig on crunching the numbers, but doing some quick math in my head, I'm not really sure he will be able to the deliveries with about 8 more hours of driving to get into Merced. That would not leave enough time to do either a 10 or 8 hour break and make the 6am appointment time. I'll wait to hear from Craig later today to confirm my suspicions. If that does turn out to be the case, let's hope they don't swap him out with another driver before he can make it as far as French Camp and pick me up!

WISHES DO COME TRUE

Charles and Craig made their delivery at the Safeway in Spokane this morning, and when they got back to the yard, Charles asked if he could challenge the driver's test a week early. Guess I wasn't the only one wanting him to hurry up. So when they got back to the yard, Charles was sent to the classroom to begin his written portion of the sign off process. This consisted of him planning and routing a trip on log pages from Spokane to Baltimore, Maryland, showing his stops and load checks. After he completed the written portion, it was off for a road test, and by 3pm we heard the good word......he has passed and Craig was a free man again!

Oh sure, Charles will still have a day or so of attending a certification class, and filling out paperwork, having to spend the night in a hotel room, but more importantly, he was clearing his personal items out of the truck! I'm hoping for the best when I see the truck again, in that it isn't too dirty and it won't take me too long to get things back organized the way I like them. But bottom line is, in under 72 hours I will finally be back in the truck after a long 8 week absence.

Craig was given instructions to take an empty trailer to the Tyson Meat Plant in Wallula, WA and drop it there for a load going out Friday. The details of the load are yet to be received, but we figure he will be in French Camp sometime between Saturday late evening, or Sunday afternoon. In either case, I will have my bags packed and the pickup ready to go to meet up with him when he does arrive. I'll also be loaded down with groceries to last us at least until past Christmas when it just might be safe to venture out to a Wal Mart again.

I'm so excited to get back on the truck and enjoy the next 6 weeks or so until Craig takes on one more trainee towards the end of January. Yes, my birthday and Christmas wish has come true.....to be reunited with Craig and enjoying life out on the road together again.

EXPEDITE IT

That was what they were told when they rolled into French Camp, CA on Monday afternoon, and they asked if they had time to stay a short time. Nope, expedite it to Salinas, because they needed to get a trailer wash out and then drop the trailer and wait for a load going right back out again. So I had all of a grand total of 3 minutes to hand over the Chinese food and get as many hugs and kisses as I could, while Charles dropped their loaded trailer and hooked up to the empty. Then as I pulled away, they scarfed down their lunch and hit the road.

Upon arriving in Salinas and informing dispatch that they had dropped their trailer, they received this oh so charming message......."Sorry, they shorted us a load today, you'll get a load out tomorrow". Well isn't that just the way it goes sometimes. Well, at least their bellies were full, they had a spot to stay for the night, and they would get caught up on their rest. As for me, I'll just have to wait for the next time he comes through French Camp and hope for just a wee bit longer visit.

Tuesday afternoon, around 2pm, they were hooked up to a trailer loaded down with 6,000 pounds of produce and planning their route to Spokane, WA to the Safeway Distribution Center for Thursday morning. But before they could get too far, while doing the pre trip inspection, they found that one of the drive tires was in need of replacement. After stopping at a local tire shop, and getting the tire fixed, they were finally on their way.

Since they both had available hours to drive, this time Charles got to do the honors and drove during the late evening hours to get them into Weed, CA by around midnight. Craig will get up early and drive his allotted hours and then Charles will take over to get them into the company yard in Spokane tonight, which will set them up nicely for their delivery in the morning. With that the count down will begin for one last week of training. If you ask me.....that is something they could expedite!

RUN RUN REINDEER

After their last drop at Charlie's Produce in Spokane, WA on Sunday morning, it took all of about two nano seconds for them to receive their next assignment. There will definitely be no rest for the weary this holiday season for these two. They were told to head to Wallula, WA to the Tyson Meat Plant, and pick up a loaded trailer with four stops.....one in Vernon, CA and the other three in Phoenix, AZ. With the timeline, it was a dispatch that could only have been accomplished by a team and not a solo driver. Might as well squeeze out as many miles out of training Charles as we can until it's time to set him free to fly on his own.

I don't know why it almost always seems like Craig is stuck with the night driving. Let's face it, whether I am with him or not, when I know he is driving late, and on top of that, through inclimate weather, I don't get much sleep either. But it is what it is, and Craig was the lucky one that would take over the driving duties around 5pm after Charles got them as far as Biggs, OR.

We all have been hearing about the winter storm warnings, not only in Oregon, but get this, also in Modesto, CA where they were predicting the possibility of SNOW ! I thought I had packed up and left that behind me, at least until I get back on the truck, but there it was, plastered all over the news, that for the first time in 32 years, snow would fall. But I had my thoughts and concern more on my husband pulling an all nighter in the middle of a storm, where I knew he would get more than a trace of snowfall.

As is usually the case, the biggest concern while driving on snow and icy roads, are the four wheelers, who think that just because they have 4 wheel drive, they can drive as they normally do. This usually results in many of them sliding off the roadway, and constantly hitting their brakes, causing everyone behind them to swerve and slide. Once Craig got through the populated areas, and had most of the four wheelers behind him, he had clear sailing into Corning about 4am this morning. I was ever so thankful for a quick email update knowing that he had arrived safely.

As it turns out, this run will be short lived. Seems since they got such a great jump on this load, and drove through the night, they were promptly sent a message about 30 minutes ago to drop the trailer in French Camp. With any luck, I'll be able to drive there in a few hours and meet up with Craig for a long overdue hug and kiss, and to bring him his favorite Chinese food combination plate. As long as I'm at it, I'll get Charles one as well. Might as well keep both these busy guys happy!

TRUCKING NEWS UPDATE

Lest I forget what this blog is truly about, I guess I should update you on the going ons of Craig and Charles as they travel the highways. After arriving at Fresh Express in Salinas, CA Thursday morning, they were told to just drop the trailer of apples and not wait around for a live unload. They headed over to the Pilot truck stop down the street and set up shop and await their next assignment.

That assignment came in around 2pm for a load out of Fresh Express, which was to be ready at 4pm, headed to Charlie's Produce in both Seattle and Spokane. They headed on over to see if the trailer was loaded yet, but found it still sitting in the dock with the red light flashing. Not much to do other than park in front of the trailer and wait, and finally by 6pm they had the trailer and were headed north.

Craig had the honors of driving, since Charles had driven them there that morning, so off he went to put in a full nights work and made it to Weed, CA where he finally shut down and crawled into bed. Shortly there after, Charles took over the driving duties and got them into Aurora, OR where they took a short break. It was then time for Craig to drive again, and as it turned out, do battle with Friday afternoon traffic through Portland, OR which is never any fun. They finally stopped to stage for their 1am delivery time about 100 miles from Seattle.

Around 9:30pm, Charles got the pleasure of driving at night and getting them through the maze of construction and very small streets in the section of Seattle where Charlie's is tucked away in. Thankfully, every time we have had a delivery here it is in the very early morning hours, with nary another soul on the road. Makes delivering there so much easier.

By 2am they were unloaded and headed towards Spokane. They decided to stop in North Bend, at the TA truck stop to grab a few hours of non moving sleep before finishing up the trip into Spokane. By 7am Craig once again took the driving duties and was on track to get into the company yard in Spokane by noon. There they will have ample time to do laundry, and take showers and rest up for their 7am delivery Sunday morning at the Charlie's in Spokane.

With it being the weekend, the odds are not great that they will get anything tomorrow. Most likely they will get a load sometime on Monday, and according to Craig, that is just fine with them. As hard as they have been running lately, they both could use a little rest.

SURPRISE!

Everyone loves a good surprise, and I have been masterminding this one for over two weeks now. It all started a day before Craig went back out on the truck and I left to visit my friend in Walla Walla. I decided that instead of coming back home for two weeks and wait for Craig to finish training Charles, that I would instead surprise my Mom by driving down to California weeks earlier than planned, and be her early Christmas present. So when we left the house on the 20th of November, we closed it up by turning off the water, cleaning out and unplugging the refrigerator, and turning the heater down. All that was left to do, was pretend on my blog that I was in fact returning home after my visit in Walla Walla. I made a phone call to my Mom on Wednesday, saying that I would be headed home the next day, and that I would call her over the weekend after I settled in. Then I left Walla Walla Thursday morning with a stop over in Klamath Falls, OR to break the drive up. This afternoon, I rolled into Modesto, CA and made the following phone call when I was two blocks from my Mom's house.

Mom: Hello?

Me: Hey, it me, just checking in...by the way, has my mail been arriving there since I forwarded it?

Mom: Yes, I have quite a bit here

Me: Has a package arrived? I have been waiting for it and it's pretty important.

Mom: Yes, one arrived today for you

Me: Could you bring it to me?

Mom: What???????

Me: Could you bring it to me, it's kinda important

Mom: I wish I could

Me: Well you can, just step outside the front door and give it to me....and by the way Merry Christmas

Mom: (very long pause, trying to figure out exactly what was going on, until she sees my pickup in her drive way and finally realizes that I am really at her house)
It sure was fun to pull off a great surprise like that and to see the happy looks not only my Mom's face, but my niece's as well. I did enjoy my drive to California, especially in our pickup, where I could stop and take pictures whenever something caught my eye. It was also great to be able to pull into any Starbucks that called my name as well. I have no doubt that my Mom will enjoy by visit, and I will be looking forward to finally getting back onto the truck with Craig as soon as he is done training Charles and can get back down here to pick me up. If all goes well, he will be here to pick me up by my birthday. I couldn't think of a better present to receive than that!

TWO BUSY LITTLE ELVES

I know it's the season, and Santa's little elves are busy, but I think Craig and Charles are giving them a run for their money. They have been running non stop now for the past two weeks, and no more so than the past 36 hours.

Monday, after leaving Puyallup for the delivery in Coeur d'Alene, ID they received a message saying as soon as they made the delivery at 11pm to head back to the yard and pick up a loaded trailer for the World Market store in Spokane. Getting back to the yard around 2am, they dropped their empty, and found the loaded trailer and hooked up. Then it was off to make the 5am delivery on Division Street. No sooner had they put in their empty call and they received yet another dispatch.

After dropping their empty dry van trailer, they hooked up to a reefer. After doing a quick load of laundry, they made their way to Moxie City to pick up apples. Their appointment was at 1pm, and by 3pm they were loaded, scaled, and headed south. This load of apples delivers in Salinas, CA at Fresh Express on Thursday morning. With both of them doing driving duties today, they finally called it a night in La Pine, OR.

They have a full day of driving on Wednesday, where they plan to make it to the company yard in French Camp, CA to set them up for their delivery on Thursday. No doubt they will get a load out of Salinas and start the cycle back up again. Doesn't look like any rest for these busy little elves any time soon.