Tues, Oct 7... You Have To Laugh...

We were dispatched at 5:00 am pacific time to go to Puyallup, WA (134 miles and south of Seattle) and then our second stop was in Tigard, OR (125 miles and south of Portland) with our final destination being De Pere, WI. We are scheduled to be in De Pere, WI on Saturday morning at 4:30 am.. Gonna be a quick trip. No goofing off; although, this is a drop n’ hook and the warehouse is open 24/7 (at the other end). We have a little extra time but not much.

We pulled into our first stop, Shopko, and just looked around. The warehouse wasn’t too far off the road, there were intermodal trailers parked everywhere, there was one truck in front of us (coming out), trucks lined up and down the road, trucks behind us, drivers walking around looking for trailers, and yard boys moving trailers around.

Our faces had the same confused looked on them. This place was a shock. The guard told us to drop the trailer right where we were. Trapper repeated it to her just to make sure she said “drop it here”. It wasn’t but a minute later a yard boy came rolling up to move it. The guard also stated we just needed to “look for” the trailer we were picking up. (fyi… most places have each company’s trailers together in a large lot and point you in the right direction or at least trailers are somewhat in one location.) Again, there are trailers all ove this place. We drove around looking for the trailer and found it. Trapper decided to get out and walk over to the trailer to make sure he could pull it out. If the cab had been 6” longer, the trailer would not have come out. Can you say t-i-g-h-t!

Out of there and on to the second stop…. We only weigh 14,900 lbs so we made good time down I-5 south (outside of hitting Seattle at rush hour) to Tigard, OR. Arriving at the second place was a surprise to them. Our planner was suppose to give the customer the heads up about our arrival. This didn’t happen, so they were surprised to see us. Luckily they said they would go ahead and load us, but it would take a while.

Six pallets and two hours later… we were out of there. We’re still really light… only an additional 3525 lbs. added.

I have to say that any man or woman who can take a 53' trailer and a 10' cab and squeeze it around in positions that you don't understand until you see it... well... my admiration goes to you.
We drove a few more hours and decided to stop. Trapper still isn’t feeling real well and we look like homeless people. The truck stop at the Washington/Canadian border had no facilities for laundry or showers…. So… yes, exit 104 on I-84 has showers! But no laundry… I may have to do the laundry in the creek but I don't see myself bathing in the creek!! LOL

Enough truck talk… the pictures are of Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, and then the trip between Portland and Biggs Junction on I-84. How lucky are we to go to sleep and wake up to this view!

I understand now the saying I learned in real estate school... location, location, location!!