I've been a little tardy with the blog updates... this week has been rather hectic.... and being off for three weeks hasn't helped me get back in the routine much either.
Sunday... the doctor had ok'd Trapper to return to work and we had to get everything ready to ride... it takes us one day to clean out the truck and one day to pack the truck back up.
There is much more to this "living on the road" than meets the eye!
I also cooked a lot of things to take with us. And then there is the challenge of getting it all in the refrigerator! Nothing like a good challenge when it involves food!!!
For some reason I was just meandering around this house.... doing this and that, not getting in a huge hurry (plus 95% of everything was in the truck) but as fate would have it... just as I was heading to the shower... Trapper announces "We have a load!"
What?... (I was thinking)... it's 11:00 pm on Sunday night and we have to pick up at 8:00 am on Monday morning in Simpsonville, SC!! As I continued to meander.... it dawned on me... WE ARE LEAVING NOW! We both sprang into action... I went one way, Trapper went the other, and somehow we were in the truck and gone in about an hour. Talk about an abrupt ending to our time at home.
We spent Sunday night at our "home" truck stop and made our way to Simpsonville, SC early Monday morning.
Here's the short story of the next few days:
Monday... arrived in Simpsonville, SC at 5:00 am, slept til 7:00 am, got loaded and by 10:00 am we were headed to Mehoopany, PA. We were both fighting to stay awake today... what a shock to the system today was.... Trapper ended up in bed at 7:30 pm and I hit the sack at 7:45 pm.
Tuesday... delivered our load at 10:30 am and there were no empty trailers on the lot so we were sent to Breinigsville, PA to pick up an empty trailer and then we back tracked to Hazelton, PA to get our load... which was due in Brandywine, MD at 8:00 am on Wednesday.
Anyone who travels around the Washington, DC area knows... there are no truck stops! Here are a couple of pictures of a "rest area" which was completely full of trucks... there were trucks pulled in where cars are suppose to be and trucks lining both sides of the entrance and exit roads.... (again... my pet peeve... the law makers never drove trucks obviously... we all MUST get off the road.... but where?)
Wednesday morning we delivered at a new shopping center in Brandywine, MD. We arrived here around 4:00 am and our appointment wasn't until 8 am, so a little cat nap was in order. Our sleeping pattern had to give way to getting up early to beat the traffic.
After our delivery we had our fingers crossed that we would not get left in the Washington area long... and lucky us... as soon as the empty call was made we were planned to go to Spring Grove, PA (that's right... back tracking again!) and pick up a load of paper that will be delivered in Butler, WI on Friday morning!
You have to remember, our time limits on these trips were pretty tight... each one of these there are all the qualcomm messages to be received and sent, the map to set, the gps to set, and don't forget PA is notorious for LOW BRIDGES!
How about this... here we are... on the Interstate... clearance "on the shoulder" 13'6" and 13'1"! Well... the part in the "middle" isn't much higher! The truck in front of us barely made the 13'1".... we are all 13'6".... to this day.... this still makes me pucker!
By the time you read the fine print.... "on the shoulder"... you're heart has already stopped!
Here are a few pictures taken during the first part of the week while we were bouncing around in PA and Maryland.
These were up around/in the Pocono's.
Of course I've been monitoring the road conditions and weather conditions... sounds like it's going to be colder the farther west we go! We shall see.... headed west now.....
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