WHAT WE'VE GOT HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

"What we've got here is failure to communicate."

I drove into Spokane yesterday, and was excited to see Craig after a little over two weeks apart from his last home visit. When I got into the yard, Craig had Don practicing his backing in the rear lot. I waited patiently for them to finish up, and then after the truck was parked, Don took off to do laundry, and Craig and I, took off for Starbucks.

We enjoyed a relaxing hour or so, sitting in the comfy chairs in the corner of Starbucks, catching up on things and enjoying our coffee. Then, as true trucker, we took off on foot across the vast parking lot to the Wal Mart. We picked up a few odds and ends and then decided to go in search of a car wash to get the bugs, which have become petrified fossils on the windshield of the pick up washed off.

With that task done, we then ventured to the Subway for a nice healthy sandwich, and then decided it was probably best to get Craig back to the truck so he could check on things and get some rest......and this is where things turned strange. Upon climbing into the truck, Craig looks around and sees that all of Don's things are gone. Now we knew he was going to do laundry, but didn't know he was going to do a complete house cleaning.

Craig takes off on foot to the driver's lounge, still puzzled by what he had seen, when his phone rings. It is Curtis, one of the recruiters, telling Craig about his trainee. Seems that without so much as a hint of what he was planning to do, when Craig took off with me, Don walked into the recruiting office, said he was tired and was going home. Case shut, no further comment, and he took his things and left.

Now we all know that truck driving is not for everyone. I have started reading lots of blogs of people with good intentions of making it their career and then within a month or two realizing that it is not for them. I get that, and I understand that. But what I don't understand is the failure to communicate. I truly felt sorry for Craig, who had put so much time and effort into the past 6 weeks with Don, and then being left stranded, like on a blind date and your date never shows up.

Oh well.......good news is that Craig is able to take a few days of home time and recover from his training experience, and yes, you are guessing correctly, I am going back out on the truck! I'm super excited to be able to use my camera and capture the world again through my lens, and as always, will be proud to occupy the passenger seat next to the best truck driver that I know! I feel like I won the lottery!

TO EACH THEIR OWN

We live in a great Country, where everyone is free to express themselves. Exhibit A......this van that Craig and Don observed yesterday. As you can clearly see for yourselves, it is " The Never Never Van" What that exactly means, we don't know, but I much prefer the "earth people" vans with their cheerier rainbow colors and peace signs. How about you?The delivery went well yesterday morning at the Fred Meyer DC. The bananas were off loaded by 8am they were staging a few miles away in a large K-Mart parking lot. Shortly there after, they were beeped with their new assignment, to pick up juice and dairy from the Darigold about 5 miles away. They had to waste some time, as their pick up wasn't until 2pm.By 4 pm, they were on their way, scaled the load, and observed the aforementioned van on their way to Spokane, and the Safeway DC for a 6am delivery. Once again, it will be a team effort to make the delivery with both Don and Craig needing to drive in order to get into Spokane around midnight last night.

Good news is that I am going to drive into Spokane early this morning, on the off chance that they will have a little down time after their delivery, and maybe take a nice Starbucks break with Craig and spend time with him before he heads back out for another two weeks before home time. I'll sure be looking forward to it, as it looks like I at least have a 33% chance of going back out on the truck when he comes back home again.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR

After receiving the load of apples which had 6 days to go 1200 miles, and then asking if they could drop early and get reassigned another load, Craig and Don have been running almost non stop since. After being told Saturday morning to drop their load in the Company yard in Bloomington, CA, Don finished up his driving hours, and then Craig took over and drove late into the night. He finally stopped in Lebec, CA, right before the Grapevine, and he took a few hours to sleep. Then after a power nap, he drove into the yard where they dropped the apples and hooked up to the bananas. (running into a small rain shower near Grass Lake, CA on the way to LA)

They also took the time for laundry and showers while at the yard, and after scaling the load, they were back on the road by noon. At 5pm, when Craig called, Don was still driving and had almost made it to the Stockton area. There were plans for a Wal Mart stop in Anderson, CA for supplies which were running low and then Craig was planning on driving some more last night.

They plan on getting into the usual staging place, the TA truck stop in Aurora, OR, tonight for their 7am delivery in the morning in Clackamas at the Fred Meyer DC. Since they are now able to run as "team drivers", the odds are that they will get a team load out of Clackamas to Phoenix. If that is in deed the case, thank goodness they got that APU fix. I'm sure they will need it in Arizona!

BACK TO TRUCKING NEWS

Sometimes it's nice to be both smart and lucky, don't you think? For some unknown reason, freight out of the Northwest is not moving that quickly. After getting the APU fixed in Spokane, Craig and Don ended up sitting all day at the yard. Don was lucky, in that his wife happened to be in town, so they at least were able to get away and spend some time together. It was too late in the day, before Craig realized that they would actually be there until the next day, for me to make the trek into Spokane for a visit with him.

Cue in Friday morning, and still more of the same waiting was done. In fact, they even had some drivers go ahead and take home time due to no freight heading out. Finally, around 2pm, a dispatch was received. Craig and Don would be having a return trip to Wapato, WA to pick up apples headed to LA. Bad news is that this load does not deliver until Wednesday! Talk about a slow boat to China, having 6 days to go 1200 miles, but there would be time to think about that later, for now it's time to scale the apple load.

Heading to the closest scale, it appears that they are a bit heavy on the trailer axle, and even by moving the tandems as far as they could go, they were still 3,500 pounds over the 34,000 pound limit on the axle. Even worse news, is that the shipper had closed down for the weekend after they had left their yard, so there was no turning back. So picture this, it is close to 9pm and Craig crawls up into and onto the loaded apples in the trailer, as Don starts lifting and pushing box, after box back to Craig to reposition them into the front of the trailer. Now picture doing that for 28 boxes of apples. Talk about your daily workout!

After the fourth scaling, and finally being legal, Craig takes off and they get as far as the rest stop in Antelope, OR. Now remember that issue with the 6 days for the 1200 miles to deliver the apples? Craig checked in with the weekend dispatcher, and he agreed that was a bit over kill, and that he would work on something for him. Well bless his heart, because a little bit ago, Craig was informed to drop the trailer of apples in the Bloomington, CA yard Sunday morning, and then pick up a loaded trailer of bananas and deliver it Tuesday morning in Clackamas, OR.

So there you go, back to trucking news, where being a combination of smart and lucky will serve you very well!

A CREATIVE MOMENT

I know this won't excite or interest too many of the people that follow my blog for the trucking adventures, but I do know there are a few of you out there that just might enjoy taking a peak at a very simple item I made while feeling a bit creative this morning. After being inspired by my best friend Cori, and her chalkboard tags, I sat and wondered what I could do, for what is considered my little pantry, in the dollhouse size home we live in. Using plastic containers for my staple products, I thought it would be a good idea to label them. Not that there is much chance of getting them mixed up, but it did give me an opportunity to sit up in my nice hobby room in the loft, and enjoy some great views, while getting reacquainted with all of my scrap booking supplies. I think they turned out quite nicely, even if I do say so myself, and for those of you who are more interested in trucking news than domestic news, have no fear, we will resume normal truck blogging tomorrow!~

PUZZLE SOLVED

Ever since going into the Company yard in Spokane over the last three years, Craig and I have seen the "yard goat" tooling around, but with a strange contraption attached to the front of it. This contraption consisted of a low hanging bar from a chain which happily swung to and fro from the front bumper as the "yard goat" traveled around the premises. It might be a little hard to make it out in this picture.Now I can already hear some of you out there in Blog Land saying to yourself how stupid of us not to know what it was, I give you your kudos now for being the ever so smart person that you are. But for us, finding out the answer to our puzzlement over what it was and what purpose it held was one of those "aha" moments. Anyone else in the same boat as us over this puzzle?Never fear, I am here to offer you the answer to the question. The bar attached to the chain, and to which is hovering inches from the ground is a big magnet. "OHHH" I hear you saying now. As the "yard goat" goes about it's daily business, the magnet picks up any nails, screws, and metallic items which might do harm to the many thousands of tires that travel through the yard on any given day.........and now you know the answer.

YUM YUM....CANDY

Just when you think you know what will happen, they throw you a curve ball from nowhere, that leaves you guessing what will be coming next. After sitting at the Fred Meyer DC for most of the morning, Craig and Don were told there would be no loads going out from there. So after fueling up in Tacoma, they headed back over to the Company drop yard in Pacific, WA to await further instructions. Said instructions came beeping over the QualComm late in the afternoon.

For only the second time, and once again with me not in the truck, the dispatch was for two different pick ups. The first pick up was for 28,000 pounds of water from Mountain Mist Bottled Water Co. in Spanaway, Wa, and the second from Consolidated Foods in Kent, WA where they would be picking up a little over 6,000 pounds of assorted candies. Yes, candy and I was all over that one with questions for Craig as to what kind! I have a bit of a sweet tooth, or should I just admit, an addiction for all things sweet!

(Craig's attempt at getting a picture after he forgot and they were driving away)

Their first appointment time wasn't until 11:30am Wednesday morning, but Craig, never one to sit idle for too long, called the water company and found out that they could arrive early for loading. By 8am, they were in the docks and Craig was busy dialing again to their next pick up. He received the same good news at their second stop, and needless to say, they were loaded, scaled, and on their way to Spokane for delivery, way before they thought they would be.

(At Consolidated Foods, picking up all that yummy candy)

The jump on the loading afforded them the opportunity to get into the Company yard in Spokane by 6pm, where they took advantage of the showers and the laundry facility, where Craig promptly did an unexpected washing of his wallet with his clothes. The almost near tragic washing of his medical card was saved by air drying it out on the dash of the truck, and thankfully, it was still readable and Craig avoided the hassle of getting a new one.

(A view from inisde the trailer looking out. I'm checking for any dropped candy!)

You see in June, between the 2nd and the 4th, there will be a nationwide "Road Check 2009", were every State participates in a mass sweep of checking the semi trucks and trailers for any violations, including the log books and required paperwork that drivers need to have available on board. I breathed a sigh of relief when I learned that his medical card survived the washing!

After a restful sleep, they made their delivery at the U.R.M distribution center of the water and candy at 5am, and then headed back to the Company yard to check in with the shop and see about getting that darn APU fixed! By 7am they were at the Thermo King dealer getting the APU worked on. All and all I'd say the day is off to a good start!

LESSONS IN BACKING

What do you do when you have more than enough time to make your delivery over a three day holiday weekend? Find a truck stop with some extra room to practice backing of course! And that is exactly what Craig did. Yesterday, they did a little pit stop at the TA truck stop in Aurora, OR and used their back parking lot to do some backing.According to Craig, Don is doing great at backing, all that practicing must be paying off. But I've asked Craig how is it going to be for him, once he is back driving solo, without so much as a handful of backs he has had to do over the course of Don's training period. I guess we'll find out in about a month, unless he happens to get another trainee.
They decided to go all the way into the Company yard in Pacific WA yesterday afternoon. That left them only 8 miles to the Fred Meyer DC for the delivery of the bananas. Their appointment time was 5am this morning, and mere 8 minutes later they were unloaded and had put in the empty call. Craig said there were several other TWT trucks also making deliveries this morning, but that they had all left, which leaves us to surmise that they will get a load out of there heading into Spokane. Craig is hoping that if they do head into Spokane that they will have an opportunity to get the APU fixed. He keeps thinking that they may be cursed with a load going into Phoenix and no AC, so getting that APU is high on his priority list.
As for me, I've got all but two chores left on my "to do" list. I have been thoroughly enjoying my time at home, with the cool weather and crisp mornings, where I open all the windows and let the sun shine in and enjoy the occasional rainbow after a midafternoon thunderstorm. And those plants I placed in the flower beds in front of the house that Craig built? They are still alive ........thank you very much! I guess my next trip into Spokane, I just may pick up some flowers and try my hand with them.

2009 MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND CASINO TOUR

(photo taken by Craig's Blackberry near Weed, CA)

Generally speaking, I'm not one to say "I told you so".......(ahem....., trying to look as innocent as I can), but when I got off the phone with Craig, when he called me from the Port of San Diego, while picking up a load of bananas, I just knew I would at least be saying it to myself. You see, while talking about the load, and the time frame they had in which to deliver said load, Craig said that they were planning on driving as far as they could that night. Need I remind you and him, this was Friday afternoon, after 4pm, in San Diego, at the start of the first biggest summer holiday weekend of the year.

I can now inform you that they got as far as the Company yard before deciding it just wasn't worth exerting any more effort in getting out of Southern California until sometime Saturday morning. (Insert the I told you so here) After taking showers and doing laundry, they finally set out towards Pullaylup, WA around 9am Saturday, after informing me that they planned on making it the 2009 Memorial Day Weekend Casino Tour.

After finding out there would be no swapping, or dropping of this load early, they figured they could pretty much take their time with this 1200 mile trip over 3 days of driving. Their first stop Saturday night was the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, where Craig introduced Don to the all you can drink free coffee and soft drinks.........that is as long as you can keep away from the slot machines.Upon awaking this morning, they drove over to the fuel island where as Craig put it " Don washed windows this morning and made our little house a home". Me thinks these guys get along maybe a bit too much! With the APU still in need of getting fixed, they will be happy to drive just under 300 miles today to the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, OR, tucked nicely in the mountains with lots of pine trees, for what they hoped will be a nice cool day of checking out yet another casino on their tour, and maybe enjoying a nice hot meal while they are there, again hoping to stay away from the slot machines. Tomorrow will find them making it almost to their destination, but with their sights set on the Great American Casino near Tacoma, WA about 20 miles from the Fred Meyer DC. From there it will be an easy delivery into Pullaylup at 5am Tuesday morning to unload the bananas. Let's hope from there, mechanical problems will not slow them down and that they can get running good again to off set any of those slots that might have convinced them to stop and play for awhile on what Craig has christened "The 2009 Memorial Day Weekend Casino Tour Extravaganza".

FINALLY, THEY ARE ON THE MOVE AGAIN

Thursday morning, after a healthy breakfast of motel provided donuts and coffee, Craig and Don took the shuttle back to the Peterbilt dealership in hopes of hearing some good news. When the mechanic arrived, and after checking out the truck, it was determined that the clutch was on the verge of falling apart. He mentioned that it was lucky that they had made it in and had not gotten stuck out on the freeway. (This is the only picture that I received from Craig of their accommodations for the last two nights.)What was unlucky, was that the repairs would not be completed and for them to return back today at 10am. As the shuttle driver took them back to the motel, he just couldn't resist telling them that the trucks are never ready when they say they are. Well duh....... isn't that always the case? So back at the hotel they settled in for another night with dreams of a repaired truck waiting for them in the morning.

This morning, again fortified by the complimentary donuts and coffee, they headed back once again to the Peterbilt dealership. We can say one thing.......the shuttle driver was correct. The truck was not ready by 10am, but by noon, they were driving the truck back towards the Company yard, and then the QualComm started beeping with a new dispatch.

After picking up an empty trailer at the yard, they headed south to San Diego to the Port to pick up bananas. Now the interesting thing about this is that Don does not have a TWIC ID yet. So as they approached the entrance to the Port, Don had to be dropped off and wait it out while Craig went in and picked up the bananas. The good thing about the Port area, there is always lots of activities to keep you visually occupied and interested, so I'm sure Don wasn't too bored waiting for Craig.

Due to the holiday weekend, the bananas are not due to be delivered until Tuesday morning at 5am. Most definitely more than enough time for them to make it. The issue with the APU is still needing to be resolved too. They are hoping they might be able to make it Stockton, CA to the Thermo King tomorrow in time to have it checked. Confidence level is not high for that happening, but maybe they will be able to drop this load early and get something else instead of sitting a good day waiting to deliver. In either case, at least they are moving again and heading away from the hot California weather.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO L.A.

Well, in truth, it isn't so funny "ha ha", as it is funny "strange". The boys picked of the boxed meat in Pasco, WA Monday afternoon, and with a short turn around with the delivery being this morning at 9am in Vernon, CA they had to do some team driving. They made it to La Pine, OR Monday evening and called it a day.

Up early the next morning, Craig took off driving first. Shortly, there after, he started sensing something wrong with the truck and what he thought was the transmission. He stopped and called Road Service, and they advised him to try dumping the air out of the air bags and refill them. This seemed to do the trick and they continued on their way changing drivers in Woodland, CA. By 9pm, they had made it to Lebec, CA and the Flying J where they got some shut eye.


Once again, early this morning, Craig starts driving to get into Vernon, CA to King Meats. On the way, the truck again starts giving them some trouble, but he is able to make it to their delivery on time. Road Service is alerted again, and they are advised to head over to the Peterbilt dealership when empty and after dropping the trailer in the Company yard in Bloomington.

Upon arrival at the Peterbilt dealer, they were shown into the lounge, where they could relax and await the verdict on the truck. As Craig put it in a text message to me....... "We are at the Pete dealer. Will be hanging out in the lounge til problem determined. Probably a couple of hours. Either fixed by midnight or go to motel. Not a big deal hanging out, Lazy boy recliners fit these lazy boys quite nicely. Big screen is a nice touch. Life is so hard as a driver. Got to go, it's time for my nap".As you can see from the picture, it looks quite comfortable there. Come to find out, the mechanic that needed to look at the truck, had already left for the day. They contacted the motel the Company deals with, and their shuttle came and picked them up. Currently, they are enjoying a nice room, plenty of places to eat, and the opportunity to watch the American Idol finale tonight. Hopes are that the truck will be fixed sometime tomorrow. I'm not feeling too sorry for them.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

I don't like spiders and snakes, and now add insects to the mix as well. Yesterday, out of nowhere, these huge black ants made themselves known crawling all over the place. Thankfully, they are just outside and not inside. We first noticed them all around the clubhouse when I went to do laundry yesterday. As we were walking back to the house, we saw them all along the road crawling here and there. I'm hoping the birds will think they are delicious and start eating them!Here is a picture of the stained glass that I won on Ebay a few weeks ago. I like the clean lines and simple use of different types of clear glass. It really plays a prism of color against the walls when the sun shines through it. I was asked about the wall color and it is from Home Depot, the Freshaire Choice paint, which leaves no fumes and does no harm to the environment. The color is from their botanical collection and is called "Perennial Gold". Now I have no green thumbs, so as much as Craig was encouraging me to purchase flowers of all kinds to plant in the new flower beds he constructed for me, I was timid in my purchase to only two bushes that will withstand the cold of winter in these parts. That doesn't mean they will survive my brown thumb, but I gave it the old college try, and if they are still alive and thriving in a couple of weeks, I just might be tempted to buy some flowers to add some color to the front of the house. I also purchased two solar lights that I placed at each corner of the beds. Here is a photo of the rest of the landscaping to the rear of the house with the pavers going out to the street. I want to plant an evergreen tree in the big area and some evergreen plants along the side of the shed, but that will have to wait until Craig comes home again and he can dig some holes big enough to do the planting. That man does love to dig and I am more than happy to await his return so that he can partake in that fun activity. Now onto trucking news. I dropped Craig off this morning at 7am with clean laundry, and bags of groceries to last him awhile out on the road. Don showed up about 45 minutes later and after getting settled back into the truck with their belongings, Craig had Don practice his backing skills again around the company yard. At noon, they were dispatched to Tyson Meats in Pasco, WA to pick up a loaded trailer of boxed meat to be delivered in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday morning at 9am.

I was also asked by Laura, what exactly boxed meat is. It it can be anything from your finest steaks to tripe and beef tongue and everything in between. I really don't think there is much from the cow that isn't eaten by someone somewhere and we get the pleasure of delivering it!

That about gets you up to date with the trucking world and my home life while Craig is training. Oh, except for my "to do" list which includes staining the shed you saw in the picture above. Now if only those ants would make themselves useful and cart away the stain, I would have an excuse not to have to do it!

HOMETIME = PROJECTS

Craig and Don did get a load out of Pullaylup into Spokane for a delivery Thursday night. They made it into the yard around 9:30pm and Don took off for home. Craig, on the other hand, stayed the night, so that he could talk to the shop mechanics to make sure the APU got looked at. Neither one of them wanted to be stuck the next 4 weeks with no APU!

Bright and early Friday morning I took off for Spokane to pick Craig up. By the time I got there he was done with his tasks and we were headed HOME! But not without first stopping at Home Depot for a few items for some projects that Craig.....ahem......make that I, had requested he do while at home. The main one was to construct two bed platforms for the mattresses for the downstairs bedroom.

Of course, while we were there, we realized even more projects that needed to be taken care of over the next few months, so to make a long story short, and around $300 lighter in the wallet, we made our way out of Home Depot and onward to home. Craig wasted no time in getting to work measuring and cutting and a couple of hours later we had two bed platforms custom fitted for the bedroom. This morning I tried a new recipe for "monkey bread" for our breakfast. It looked better than it really tasted for the effort and mess it made of my oven. But, no time to dwell on that, we are off to do some more landscaping of the back of the house. Hopefully the four shot mocha espressos I made us this morning will give us the energy to finish the project. Not only did we finish the project, but Craig built some flower beds out of the left over lumber from the bed platforms for the front of the house. I painted them to match the house color and now all we need are some plants and flowers, but that will have to wait a few weeks until we recover from our last little trip to Home Depot! Tonight we plan on relaxing on our front porch and enjoying a nice quiet evening with a beer for Craig and some wine for me. All too soon it will be time for Craig to pack up and head back out on the truck. But until then, I plan on enjoying his company as long as I can! Cheers!

HOMEWARD BOUND

With a little bit of team driving, or "super solo" as they like to call it in the training world, Craig and Don made it into the Company yard in Bloomington, CA late Monday night. It was a bit difficult to find a parking space, but Craig whittled one out by the fuel pumps and called it a night. Don drove them to Mira Loma to the Costco to deliver the boxed meat at 7:45am Tuesday morning.

After going empty, once again they were given a load which was going to be picked up by another driver and the loaded trailer left for them at the yard. So off they went back to the yard to await their loaded trailer, and wait, and wait, and wait some more. The load was bananas which were to have been loaded that morning and at the yard, even with traffic, they figured by 6pm at that latest.

When 6pm came and went and still no trailer at the yard, Craig started thinking that something must have gone wrong. He called road service first to find out if the truck or trailer had been called in with mechanical problems. When that turned up negative, he then asked to have them check the GPS to find out where the truck and trailer was. Turns out it was somewhere in the Ontario area, about 15 miles from the yard, and wouldn't you know it, the driver did not have a cell phone listed on the roster.

With nothing left to do but wait, they watched for incoming trucks until 10pm and then called it a night. Being restless in his sleep, wondering where this phantom truck and trailer was, Craig got up around 3am and walked into the driver's lounge to use the restroom. Wouldn't you know it, on the way, he finds the trailer, and no truck. He checks for paperwork and can only find the Bill of Lading and not the receipt from the previous driver.

I don't know what prompted him to start looking around on the ground, but he found that little half page receipt about 25 feet from the trailer. With about 1000 miles to go and a delivery on Thursday, Craig knew they needed to get started on their journey, so after pre trip inspections and paperwork, off he started driving, but now without first sending a message into dispatch explaining what had just transpired with the mystery truck and wondering why it took over 12 hours from loading to get the trailer into the yard.

Craig used up the rest of his driving hours and got to Avenal, CA before Don took over the driving. From there Don drove them to Medford, OR where Craig took over again late last night. He was planning on getting them about 80 miles from Pullaylup, WA by 4am this morning where there is a truck stop he was planning on stopping at and get a few hours of sleep before their 10:30am delivery.

The only question now is, after going empty, will they get a load going into Spokane for a delivery tonight, or for Friday morning? It really doesn't matter too much for us, as Craig will remain with the truck until Friday regardless, as the APU is acting up and he wants to make sure that it gets looked at by the shop while the truck is parked during home time. With warmer weather on the horizon, that's one of the things Craig just can not live without, especially with a truck that cuts the engine off after 5 minutes of idling.

MOVIN' ON DOWN THE ROAD

First a little rant. Why is it when there is an accident portrayed on television it is almost always involving a big rig. Last week on "Grey's Anatomy" where several teens died, and just today watching a "House" that I had recorded. They make out the big rig to be the demon. It must be for the drama, but seriously, it has been well documented that the vast majority of accidents involving big rigs is actually caused by four wheelers. There, I feel better. My rant is over and I can now resume my normal blog writing.

Craig and Don made the delivery in Madras, OR on Saturday and then continued on their travels to Corning, CA for the night. Sunday, with only 160 miles to the company yard in French Camp, they had a very leisurely drive and spent the rest of the day practicing backing skills and sitting around with all the other drivers doing the normal trucker talk. They topped off the evening by pitching in and sharing some delivered pizza for dinner.

This morning, with two drops, they made the first delivery at 6am in Stockton, CA. After a relatively fast drop for this particular location, less than 2 hours, they were headed to the last drop in Merced, CA. Shortly after going empty, they were instructed to head back to the company yard in French Camp and pick up a loaded trailer of boxed meat which is destined for Mira Loma and a delivery of tomorrow morning at 7:30am.

With home time looming, the hope is that they get a load out of the LA area headed to Spokane. If that works out, they may even get back home as early as Thursday, and you won't hear any complaints from me if that happens!

SNAPSHOTS OF MY WORLD

I took a few photographs the last couple of days of what my views are while at home and not on the road. I do miss my ever changing view from the passenger seat of life, but I got to admit, these views ain't too shabby either. Craig and Don delivered the bananas in Pullaylup, Wa on Thursday morning and were rewarded with a load from there to Spokane delivering on Friday morning to three different Fred Meyer stores, two in Spokane and one in Coeur d'Alene, ID. With having been to these stores numerous times before, Craig knew that they would be done well before the last delivery time of 10am. Sure enough, by 10am they were heading back to the yard and had already received their next dispatch. How lucky for them, their load was going to be preloaded for them and delivered to the yard. With plenty of time, laundry and showers were in order and then they hooked up to their trailer of orange juice concentrate and were headed south. This load will have three drops, the first in Redmond, OR today at 10am, and then onto Stockton and Merced, CA on Monday. That should set them up for what we are guessing will be a load out of Salinas at Fresh Express to head them back up north for some home time. I'm counting the days until Craig is home and thoroughly enjoying the views from my world.

SOUNDS OF NATURE

I've found something out the past couple of weeks staying at home. After living on the asphalt roads for the past three years, and the hustle and bustle that goes along with it, living smack dab in the middle of nature can be somewhat of a culture shock.

As has previously been written about, we all know how I love me an idling truck or reefer. It is the perfect white noise to lull me to sleep. I remember back when we were hauling boats and I would hope that a reefer would park next to us in the evening. I can pretty much tell you, there is no such white noise anywhere near my resting head at night these days.

Instead, I try to fall asleep in total silence, which I am learning to do, but what I haven't quite gotten used to is the sounds of nature, more precisely, the sounds of the multiple birds that are quite happy to wake me from my sleep. Case in point, this morning at around 4:30am a group of birds carrying on a bit of a conversation, and just when they were done, the morning flock of geese made their presence known as they do every morning around 5am.

For now the sounds of the big trucks starting up, and the blast of air brakes waking me up, has been replaced by the sounds of nature. I can't say I prefer one over the other, as crazy as that might seem to some. Life on the road does get in your blood, and living with a view of the river, mountains, and pine trees from every window of your house is wonderful too.

But what is pure heaven is sharing them both with Craig. I've missed my guy the past couple of weeks, but by this time next week, we'll be together again for a few days. Let's hope Craig enjoys the early morning wake up calls as much as I do!

NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE SURPRISES

The first surprise didn't stay secret for too long. After all, I've often said that truck drivers are just like women gossiping over the clothes line, and the word traveled fast. Seems the CVSA's (Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance) Surprise Inspections Keep Brake Safety in Check was held today, and at their first sighting the warnings were put out on the radio and QualComm. Nothing much to be worried about when routine checks are made on the equipment. But imagine their second surprise when upon doing a pre trip inspection this morning, the sound of hissing air was heard. That's not good. Following the sound, and eventually having to crawl under the truck to find the source of the leaking air, Craig took a picture of it for me. He really is starting to take his blogging correspondence duties seriously. After trying everything he could think of to stop the leak, it was determined that road service would need to be advised. After all, no one in their right mind would dare attempt to drive anywhere when surprise inspections were being conducted. Road Service located a little hole in the wall automotive repair shop that could replace the faulty connection. Thankfully, it was only a couple of miles down the road from the truck stop that Craig and Don had stopped at last night in La Pine, OR. They had to wait for the serviceman to arrive this morning, and after a quick repair they were headed south. A beep from the QualComm gave them their third surprise. They were to swap loads with another driver in Weed, CA and deliver bananas again back in Pulluylap,Wa by 5am tomorrow morning. It is a tight delivery, but with the two of them, and just a bit of team driving, they should be able to pull it off with no problems.

AN APPLE A DAY

An apple a day will keep Craig and Don moving for the next few days. After their delivery in Spokane Sunday night, they were back at the yard with plenty of time to take showers and have a relaxing evening. Monday morning turned into the waiting game anticipating when they might get their next assignment, and as morning crept into afternoon, the waiting game continued. Around 2pm the beeping started with a dispatch to load apples in Wapato, WA this morning at 8am and deliver to the dreaded Ralph's in Los Angeles early Friday morning. They decided to take off last night and at least knock off half of the 200 miles to Wapato, and stayed in Moses Lake by one of my favorite Starbucks. While driving the remainder 100 miles this morning, Craig was reminded of his additional duties of photo taking and emailed me these shots. Guess you can tell he is more inclined towards the soft drinks for his caffeine fix than the coffee for me. But it did inspire me to put the espresso machine at home to use and make me a Starbuck's iced latte ala Diane with just a hint of cinnamon.They arrived in Wapato on time and were quickly directed to a dock where they were loaded with over 44,000 pounds of red apples. While parked there, they couldn't help but laugh at the sight of what Craig called "the little truck that thought he could". One day he just may grow big enough to tow that trailer full of apples.Their plan is to try and make it to the small casino in Chiloquin, OR tonight. Hopefully the windy conditions that I have at home right now will not follow them as they make their way south. As far as me, well, I'm still overdosing on my HGTV and rearranging what little furniture we have to my hearts content! We moved all the office/hobby stuff to the spare loft room, and I know I can only put off the painting project of the downstairs bedroom so long. I think this weekend will work for me.

SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN

The slow easy life continues for me up in Usk, WA, while Craig did his best to mimic my relaxed style as well. The boys delivered the bananas right on time to the Fred Meyer DC in Pullaylup, WA on Saturday morning, and were then told they would be getting a load from Fred Meyer, but not until today at 2pm. What's more, there were too many TWT trailers already at the DC, so they had to go back to the drop yard in Pacific and find something to occupy their time.

Having mentioned to Craig about getting us hooked up with a DVR for our satellite TV at home, he went about making the phone calls and setting up for someone to come by the house on Tuesday and do just that. Will be nice for me to be able to record some of Craig's favorite shows, and when we are both in the truck, have a back up for our shows in case we miss them while on the road. Thank goodness this house is as small as it is, because I have been thinking of all kinds of things I want to do and then after watching so much HGTV, the decorating I am wanting to do. I did manage to do a little Ebay shopping and won an auction of a stunning stain glass piece that will fit perfectly in our loft window in the living room. I'll be sure to post a picture of that when it arrives and gets hung in it's perfect spot.
The load that they will pick up today is slated to be delivered into Spokane tonight. With them delivering tonight and being available for dispatch first thing in the morning, I will just have to wait for his home time to see Craig again. But no worries, that will give me plenty of time of more HGTV watching and thinking up more decorating ideas and "honey do" projects for Craig to do.