Fri-Tues, Mar 26-31... Sun to Snow!

All good things must come to an end, or so they say... in this case, the warm weather, breeze and palm trees are now a memory!

We are hauling corn seed that was originally shipped from Chile to Illinois... (I hope it's corn seed!)

Friday - Um... we drove all day... out of Florida headed north to GA... NOTE to folks begging at rest area's... any rest area north of Florida, you will be out of luck... it cost $50+ bucks running the toll roads... (for a big truck) so there is NO CASH on BOARD!

And if you are begging for gas money at a rest area??? it would help if you were carrying a gas can.

However, if you are hungry, yes... we will gladly give you food.

Paducah, KY... we were through here during their horrific snow storm... the clean up has begun... miles and miles of piles and piles of tree limbs.

Random Picture... The Metropolis Water Tower.... I keep looking for Superman....

Saturday - Stopped at a rest area, I happened to notice the truck next to us.....

This is what I saw first... hmmmm... everyone says you can tell a woman's age by her hands.... hmmmm....

She was sitting in the truck looking over her log books.

As we drove off, I glanced over to look at the driver (and to be nosey) and she had to have been in her late 70's! This was amazing to me! First of all to be in good enough health to pass the DOT physical and second of all to be able to understand the log! (I leave that alone!) Not to mention the physical ability to live out here, back that trailer up, drive the truck, etc.

And the best part..... LOOK at what she is driving! I wouldn't want to mess with her! I could have only been more impressed if she had been driving a FLATBED!

I waved, in amazement, as we passed her. She smiled and waved back.

Our leisurely drive through the IL countryside headed to our delivery place. Where's the truck stop?

We arrived at our consignee's place and parked it there for the night. We were in Pontiac, IL. I knew I'd be confused Sun morning... I just knew there will be snow on the ground.

And there was... the weather here changes quickly!

Sunday - Our unloading people showed up and we were gone... to the local Wal-Mart. A quick nap, shopping trip and then big brother sends us to Gibson City, IL to pick up our next load on Monday morning which delivers in Minneapolis, MN on Tuesday morning. We decided to go ahead and make the trip to Gibson City so we'd be there bright and early Monday morning.

Monday - We were loaded and rolling again... Every state has it's interesting facts: Louisiana, the land of bridges; Texas, everything is BIG; Wisconsin... well... Fake animal statues placed strategically all over the place! These big mice, I still like them and will still take pictures.

Going around St Paul, MN


We found out today that our dispatcher took a promotion and now we'll be in the hands of a brand new person. We're, in other words, orphaned for the time being.

Our directions were horrible to the place we were delivering. The street we were suppose to make a right hand turn had a large "No trucks over 3 tons". We did manage to find an alternate route... eventually! We chose to stay at the consignor's place. We're in Minneapolis, MN... closest truck stop was 35 miles away!

Tuesday - We were unloaded and waiting... being orphaned is no fun... we don't have anyone to call and see where we are going (or even make an educated guess), so we sat in the parking lot... waiting... and now watching the snow!

Then finally! A destination! We're going to St. Cloud, MN. Oh man... the good, bad, and ugly of trucking. As I sat here, of course I checked out the weather and it looks like the further northwest we go, the worse it will get.... started out like this in Minneapolis this morning...

And within 40 miles.... we have no hammer lane!

A quick stop at Pilot, just before our exit... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

At least burgers are still selling.... A "Help Wanted" sign.... not totally uncommon across the country, but getting a little more scarce.

Whew... we made it to our pick up destination. We're at Electrolux in St Cloud, MN... when we first arrived, 6 hours ago, it was snowing hard and trucks were slipping all over the place. One guy was having a hard time getting the tractor turned around (bobtail) so he just cut a do-nut right in the parking lot! There's not a lot of room for error here... we're kind of in here like sardines and the ice is making it worse.

This was to be a drop and hook, but we're backed in the dock being loaded, as I type. We have to be in Dallas, TX by Thursday. Did it snow in Dallas today?

Our Florida Office for Today

Our office today has been located in Miami, FL! It's about 80 degrees, light breeze, a little overcast... who could ask for more?

Here we are backed in to the dock. A little hard to see us between the palm trees!



It's a little noisy, we're sitting right beside the run way at Miami-Dade airport. I kept waiting for the airport security to come running over and confiscate my camera... me and this camera! Luckily, they didn't. That's so embarrassing when that happens. (Remember Mexico?)

It's 6:30 pm, our appt is at 7:00 pm... maybe we'll be loaded soon and on our way. I guess I should find a place to stop for the night... ok, I have to go to work now....

Wed/Thur, Mar 25-26.... Truck Stop Living

Wed: Met our relay close to Orlando, FL at 7:00 a.m. and then sat for "big brother" to tell us where we were going next.

Finally, the beeps came and were preplanned to meet our next relay (at the same spot we were in) Thur morning at 8:00 a.m. and deliver in Medley, FL at 2:00 tomorrow.

So... we sat at the Pilot all day. Which neither of us were complaining... it gets us off the night shift. Once we recovered from being up all night, which both of us felt like we'd been run over by this truck we ride in... we ventured to the truck stop for showers. I have to say, Pilot is the worst of all "travel plaza's". They are busy because they have major contracts on diesel, but normally always understaffed. 5 showers, 3 people waiting, 4 dirty showers, and no one to clean them. I almost volunteered. Love's, TA, and Flying J are much trucker friendlier... but Pilot has the best coffee.... so what's a trucker to do?

Our night ended with us taking the lawn chairs out and sitting in front of the truck for an hour or so. If you've ever been at a truck stop... you know what we were doing... watching the truck parade and parking contest!

Thur: Our inbound truck arrived and we had the trailers switched pretty quickly and we were off to Miami. Listening to the weather, I'm glad we're not in Fargo. The drive to Miami is nice, turnpike the whole way... that's right... $52 in tolls! At least it's a company expense.

Caution: When driving in Miami or following directions... you better have your St., Ave., or Pl., in order and you need to be sure if you are going N or NW, etc. This town used the same numbers all over the place. I had the GPS set for 82nd St., NW... it was suppose to be 82nd Pl., NW... I caught the mistake but we would have ended up on the other side of town! Yikes!

We're hauling a load for FedEx... bet you thought only FedEx did that, didn't you? Arriving in Miami, we're still sitting at the FedEx place... there are NO truck stops in this area. We'll be here as long as we can and our preplan is for us to go 5 miles and pick up our load going to Pontiac, IL.

Back to the cold...

Tues, Mar 24.... Working The Night Shift

I couldn't help but take this picture yesterday in Nashville, TN... guess if you're going to be "White Trash" be big White Trash!

Stuck on nights, yes we are.

We made our relay this morning in Atlanta and as of 10:30 p.m. we are still in Atlanta. Our next load, another relay, is suppose to be here at midnight tonight and we have to have it in Orlando, FL tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. The trials of trucking!

We're at the drop yard that I refer to as the "Prison Drop Yard". The Metro State Prison is just around the corner from us. Now, for those of you not in this industry, there is a world of difference in a TERMINAL and a DROP YARD...

Terminal - company building, showers, tv room, break room, etc., etc.

Drop Yard - some are simply a fenced in gravel area with nothing else. Drop yards are used for companies to store their trailers, make relays, and give drivers somewhere to park when they need to. Atlanta doesn't have an abundance of truck stops, so various companies use this drop yard. There are none of the facilities like being at a terminal.

We left Nashville, TN at 4:00 a.m. this morning. Trapper was driving and I was sleeping... until the banging started... the tandems were completely frozen on the trailer... try sleeping through that! I didn't know what was going on! I did manage to make it to the front seat somewhere just inside GA and accompanied him to the drop yard.

We got our qualcomm dispatch (to leave at midnight tonight) and realized at 2:00 p.m. it was time to go back to sleep, back up at 5:00 p.m. eat dinner, back to sleep around 8:00 p.m. I rebelled and decided to stay up for the duration. As soon as our other driver gets here, we'll be hooked up and rolling to Florida!

Mon, Mar 22... Nashville to Atlanta!

Today started slow and easy. We were at the Pilot in Lebanon, TN and couldn't deliver until 1300 hours today.

Coffee was first on the agenda this morning. Our inverter is about worn out so making coffee has been put on hold for now. I'm trying to "save" the inverter for dinner time only... the last inverter went on the blink a few months ago and I thought we had a cab fire. So... I don't want to relive that!

With our delivery being made we called our fleet manager to see which direction we should head in... a few minutes later the qualcomm told us... we were preplanned to pick up in Nashville at the Conway yard. Our load is suppose to be ready at 3:30 a.m. and we have to be in Atlanta, GA at the drop yard at 9:30 a.m. It's only 250 miles but we loose an hour because of the time changing.

This reminds me of a funny story a driver told us a few weeks ago.... The driver was complaining about being held up at a shipper's for an entire weekend. He had arrived early and everyone was gone, so he had to wait until they opened again for business... he was telling us that he was going to charge the company with "kidnapping"... his reason... they detained him for monetary reasons! He went on to say, "While I was driving a taxi cab in Atlanta, I had a lot of attorney's as passengers. I know the kidnapping charges will stick!" Sweet... a taxi cab law degree!

Ok... "Detention" or "Kidnapping".... you decide!

Trapper's trying to sleep but knowing he has to get up is 2:00 a.m. is hampering his ability to make it to never never land. He just put Pirates of the Caribbean in the DVD... that should do it!

Sun, Mar 22... Outside Nashville

It's about 1:45 p.m. in my home time zone... here in Lebanon, TN, well it's an hour earlier.

We have finished our trip from PA and we deliver in the morning in Nashville. With there being no truck stops close to our delivery... we are going to hang out here.

Time for a little house cleaning, quick trip to Wal-Mart, laundry, and showers!

After a 3400 mile 9 days... we're both ready for a little break!

Fri, Mar 20.... Less Stress Today!

So far today has been much less stressful... easy for me to say, it wasn't me that had to get up this morning at 3 a.m. just to make sure we made it to our delivery in Topton, PA on time....

Trapper made sure we made it and I helped a little for the last 100 miles. As soon as we made our drop... we were sent a preplan to pick up at the very same plant.

That worked out well for us! The preplan is from Topton, OH to Nashville, TN. We have to be in Nashville on Monday. We are now shut down close to Mt Jackson, VA, for the night.

We will most likely finish our trip tomorrow, Saturday, so we can sqeeze that mandatory 34 hour reset in!


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Thurs, Mar 19 .... A Bit Stressful...

Today is Thursday, March 19. I have to remind myself at times...

Trapper's mother had major back surgery today. This is one thing with being in the trucking industry, you miss things because nothing is guaranteed and you can't always be where you need to be... and especially when you need to be. Trapper's sister is with her and other family members and by all reports... she is doing as well as expected. (Please remember them all in your prayers.)

We spent the night last night at the famous IOWA80 truck stop! I can mark that off my "bucket list". The truck stop is billed as being the largest in the world with 800 parking places. That's a lot of asphalt!

For the drivers, it has the basics... showers, tv room, game room and then it has a chiropractor, barber, movie theatre, shoe shiner, a gift shop a, a truck museum and the list goes on. If it is made for a truck... this truck stop has it.

Yesterday, leaving Corydon, IA... well... we're winding our way around a 13'3" bridge on this "truck route" and low and behold... we see the LOCHNESS MONSTER! I, of course, yell "Stop!" I have got to take a picture of this!!!

I know everyone thinks the Lochness Monster is the imagination running wild, but it's not... it's alive and well in Corydon, IA!

That's all the excitement from yesterday.

Today we have driven absolutely as many miles as our 11 hours will let us. We are both exhausted. And normally the truck idling doesn't bother me at all, but tonight I'm glad it is quiet.

Tomorrow will end our run to PA... we have a little of the trip to finish in the morning and we'll be on the board! Waiting on the load.

Tues/Wed, March 17-18... St Patrick's Day & Beyond!

Today started early as we delivered to Western State Envelope in Butler, WI. The last time we were here.... this is what it looked like....

And here we are today, just two months later....

I was surprised, as we rolled through Wisconsin, the number of people in shorts and short sleeves and a few that were laying out in the sun!

I had on jeans and my sweatshirt. My southern blood is still with me and although the temperature was in the 60's... the sweatshirt was still on!

As we were being unloaded, the qualcomm beeps and tells us we are suppose to pick up in Aurora, IL on 3/18 at 5:00 am. Aurora, IL is about 100 or so miles from where we are. We are picking up at a Con-Way yard, so we can drop the trailer and bobtail around the town, if we wish.

The preplan says we have to deliver this in Clyde, OH around noon on 3/18 as well.

So being in no real hurry... we headed on south to Aurora, IL. I wasn't real thrilled due to having a bad experience in North Aurora, IL with a 12' 4" bridge once before. The older the town... the shorter the bridges!

We arrived in Aurora and dropped the trailer. It's not normal for us to be able to get around, without the extra 53' behind us, so we decided to explore the town a little. We were only 3 miles from downtown and they have a river boat casino. Naturally, I wanted to walk in there. I've been to several on land, but never one of these that are "riverboats".

This is Hollywood Casino in Aurora, IL... the riverboat didn't get in the picture, but the funny thing is... the river boat part isn't even a real river boat! No one told me this. Once you walked in the front door... you didn't know if you were on the land part or the part that is built out into the water.

-$20 later... I walked out.... back to the safety of my big red mobile home.

The bag pipe players were showing up at the local Irish Pub for St. Patrick's Day celebration!

This is the original Aurora Fire Department. I love the look of this building!

This is just a building that are renovating... we were taken back by the ladder on the building.

After a couple of hours walking around, we decided to head back to the yard so Trapper could get some sleep... 4:00 am was going to come early.

Needless to say his "night" was cut short when the phone rang at 9:30 pm... I knew that wasn't good when I saw area code 417... uh oh... Joplin was calling.

We had been unassigned from our 5:00 am load and reassigned a load to pick up at 4:00 am in La Salle, IL. I was playing on the computer and heard Trapper say, "Yea, ok, that's fine... we're here at the yard, that'll work. Send me the info on the qualcomm."

As he was still trying to wake up... I look at the qualcomm and had to break the news to him that we were in Aurora, IL and this load was to pick up in La Salle, IL.... 100 miles away! I hate it when I have to do that!

So... we were off.... the plan changed, the mindset changed... that fast!

I'll only add the abbreviated version from here....

Arrived in LaSalle, IL with 3 hours to sleep... slept 2.5 hours.

Dropped trailer and picked up loaded trailer.

Met our relay in Altoona, IL

Dispatched to Corydon, IA to pick up load and deliver in Topton, PA on Friday around noon.

Whew! No play time now. The log book looks like a polygraph with all the up's and down's on it.

This is how you end up running nights... our legal breaks are ending up being during the day, so we're running at night but hopefully once we get to PA... we'll make it back to the day shift!

Although I don't drive, I just ride... this stretch of interstate completely threw me off. We're both tired and when I looked up I see... to my left traffic we are meeting and the lanes we are in... then to my right I see more traffic we are meeting and beyond those lanes are more lanes going in the same direction we are!

This could mess a person up quick!

We're stopping tonight at the IOWA80 truck stop. I can't wait to see this place!

Sun-Mon, Mar 15/16... Off to Wisconsin...

We sat in Wilkes-Barre, PA with the other 8 trucks all day Saturday... "here comes another one" became quite redundant as the parade of CFI trucks kept happening!

Sunday morning, our dear Qualcomm... aka... big brother, beeped at yes... 4:30 am. You see, we were bob-tailing because there were no empties at our drop n hook yesterday. Bob-tailing is good if you have errands to run but puts you in a bind when trying to get a load.

We were dispatched a hundred miles to pick up an empty trailer at UPS and then another 100 miles to our load in Spring Grove, PA. I recognized the name of the place and remembered the route. This town was completely built around this plant.... such a quaint town.

This is the truck route.


And this is the plant... the truck route, main road, goes right through it...


With our load in tow... we are headed to Butler, WI. Again, we've delivered at this place once before as well. It makes following those pesky directions easier.

Here's a picture I wanted to share with everyone, kind of off the subject... This was taken at our "home" truck stop the day we left. The car carrier was nose-in the parking space and was backing out... the other truck was backing in a spot and the two got to know each other really well.

The van plowed in to the car carrier. Once they separated the trucks, the silver truck on the bottom rack was totally crushed on the right rear side. I think this was a preventable...


So tonight we're sitting in Butler, WI. Our truck temperature says it's 74 degrees outside.... yeah right... it's gone on the blink... it feels like 24 outside.

Tomorrow, at some point, we'll be headed somewhere else, USA... stay tuned....

(A note to Elaine! .... Elaine, if you read this, please call Trapper... I lost your number!)

*** MY TRASHY RANT ****

I read an article last week eluding to the fact the general public has the opinion that "truckers" are nasty, dirty, and generally uneducated individuals. I was appalled.


My first instinct was to shoot a quick email to the editor standing up for and defending the REAL road warriors of the country, The Truckers!


I wanted to stand firm on my position that the individuals in the cabs of all these trucks are people who forfeit being at home, with all the conveniences at their fingertips, so they can be the "supply" part of the "supply and demand" chain this country survives on.

I wanted to explain that although truck stops are not in abundance, in certain parts of the country, there are available showers along every main route and no we are not "dirty!"

I wanted to blast the author of the article with the facts stated in all my former corporate america jargon I could muster.

Basically, I wanted to rant and rave with a little diplomacy!

And then it dawned on me, as I started to reflect on my own experiences living over the road for the past six months....

I realized I had taken "their" point of view to heart and was personally offended.

For me, I am a neat freak... self confessed... neat FREAK. I like order, I like organization, I like cleanliness, I like things to be in place.

Most of us drive into a truck stop, park, and either don't leave the truck or we walk only in front of the truck toward the truck stop. I would dare say we just don't take the time to really notice our surroundings.


I decided, while we were in Fletcher, NC, to walk to the back of the trailer and scope out the scenery... we were parked in the back row...


Here I am walking toward the rear... notice anything... "nasty"

As I looked to the left... notice anything "trashy"...

And as I looked to my right... the mother load!

There was evidence of swept out trailers, bunk covers, bunk mattress, and more trash and pee bottles than I could count. This is disgusting. The people that owned this trash... I wonder what the inside of their truck looks like? I wonder if their backyard looks like this? Would they mind if I swept out our trailer in their driveway? How about leaving a few hundred pee bottles by the mailbox?

And we wonder why Wal-Mart is a little LESS trucker friendly now???

My point with this post is this.....

If the general public regards "truckers" as dirty, trashy, nasty, uneducated... OK... if this is all they see, if this is what "truckers" leave behind.... then I too would use dirty, trashy, nasty, and feel that education wasn't on the list of priorities.

We all complain, at one point or another, about the lack of parking. Parking is a huge concern in the trucking industry but answer this...

Business101... would you open a nice truck stop just to have the patrons trash it? And, by the way, the actual building and parking lot of this particular truck stop were outstanding.... very nice, clean, and orderly. And the parking lot part had enough room to actually move the truck around in.

We've been at 3-4 truck stops since I took this picture and two of them were just like this. I found it disgusting but I'm less appalled at the article now... I can see why "truckers" are generalized if this is what the public sees.

Pass the word, for all of us.... PUT TRASH IN IT'S PLACE... Please! If not for the environment... at least for our reputations!

Thank you for listening... or reading rather...

Sat, Mar 14... Eight is Enough

Immediately after I finished my last post... we were dispatched to pick up a load in Arden, NC (about 5 miles from where we were) at 9:00 pm and run it to Knoxville, TN... to be there at 11:00 pm.

Well, as fate would have it, we went over to the shipper's around 6:00 pm and this load was not going to be ready until Tuesday! WHAT???? Someone got their wires crossed! A quick call to dispatch and we were being sent home... which was only 30 miles south of where we were!

Arriving home is always a challenge, especially this time. My daughter was home for Spring Break, which meant it was time to do her taxes and mine so I could complete that infamous FAFSA form! If you have kids in college or preparing to go to college.... you can sympathize with me! Two days of "our" taxes... I finally finished them!

My son came down to visit and his taxes were completed as well. Then there was the trip to my "new" doctor is SC and yard work!!

It's funny how life goes on and grass keeps growing although you're on the road! I wish the yard had an "off" button... wouldn't that be nice! We did get an enourmous amount of things done in a very short amount of time. You always have to count 1 day out to get the truck back in order, get repacked, and cram all the groceries on board.

Plus, has anyone else ever noticed, you spend a lot of money when you go home and it takes a couple of weeks to get the checks coming back in properly??? It's a catch 22.... your miles for the week you highlight to go home will be down, you don't get paid while you're at home, and the week you return the miles are always down... so you have to stay out at least a month just to recoup from going home! And people wonder why we stay out 7-8 weeks at a time!

With our quick trip home finished, we are back out and at it. We were sent to Gaffney, SC to pick up a load and we delivered here in Wilkes-Barre, PA bright and early this morning.

I think we're number 4 on the board, but as I take a quick scan of the parking lot... at the Pilot... there are 8 CFI trucks here! We're having a little CFI party!

Looks like the weekend will be here... I knew I should have wished a little harder for Miami!

Mon-Thurs, Mar 2-5.... We're Here....

We're here... ok... so now what?

We were dispatched out of the Laredo terminal Sunday afternoon. The plan was to run up I-35 and actually get loaded live! I called my 20 year old son, as we sat at the dock, and upon his inquiry as to where we were and what we were doing... I proudly and innocently answered, "Oh Trapper and I are sitting here at the dock getting loaded." Due to his response, he must have imagined the two of us sitting by the lake, on the dock, "getting loaded."

I sat him straight and we both got a good laugh out of it. (Crazy child of mine.)

We were dispatched to Atlanta, GA with our tonic water and our delivery was set for Wednesday at 1600 hours. Not a bad run at all.

Arriving in Atlanta, early, we were empty and dispatched immediately to Cartersville, GA for a "beer run". The problem with hauling beer is that the dispatches are fast. It goes from brewery, to long haul truck, to distribution within a matter of non stop hours.

The load didn't pick up until 1:00 am on Thursday morning and delivered a couple hundred miles away in Fletcher, NC at 6:00 am. Driving at night isn't our favorite thing to do, so dinner and naps were much needed.

We arrived at the brewery early and this was a drop and hook. We dropped quickly and found our new loaded trailer. As we were scaling on the way out of the brewery... we were 460 lbs over our allowed 80,000 gross weight. Just great... back to the dock to have them unload a little and go weigh the truck again. Our second weight wasn't a lot better, but at least the load was legal weight.

Our trip to Fletcher, NC was, again for the third time in two weeks, taking us right by our house again. This time within 4 miles! We've been out for 8 weeks and we're both ready to take a couple of days off, so of course, the idea of highlighting for home came up. At times, there are just things you need to return home to take care of.

The drive to Fletcher was a familiar run, straight up I-85 to I-26 toward Asheville, NC. Both of us, being from the general area, we anticipating how our 47,000 pounds of liquid courage was going to affect our steep climb up Saluda Mountain when we crossed over the NC state line on I-26. We had our momentum going good and within about 15 seconds we dropped from a steady 65 mph to an outstanding crawl of 19 mph! Turn the hazard lights on, grab the coffee, sit back and relax... it took us a few minutes to reach the top...

The plant in Fletcher was easy enough to find and we were unloaded quickly. If every company operated like the breweries... this job would be so much easier. There are very seldom any problems and they move trucks through like clock work.

Anyway, as soon as the "arrived at customer" qualcomm message was sent, the next one was to highlight for home. Hoping they would go ahead and dead head us there today.... we are 35 miles away, right...

We still had time on our 11 (driving hours) but for some reason we are still sitting in Fletcher, NC taking our mandatory 10 hour break. It's funny, for us anyway, once we decide to take a break and go home... we are READY to get there. However, the company has 5 days to accommodate us.

The likelihood of doing another "night" run is looking better and better as the day drags on...

Sun, Mar 1.... Home Sweet... Texas

We decided today, upon arriving in Laredo, TX, maybe we should find a small house here... we'd be home more! But, coming to TX is good... it's typically the warmest place and we know our way around. And after this 1600 mile run... anything that looks familiar seems like home. We dodged the tornadoes in AL and looks like we've dodged the snow! (for now)

As we sit here, number 19 on the board, I thought I'd share some fun things that I have taken pictures of these past 6 months living on the road.... you never know what you might see....

New Hire?

This is what happens when everyone is governed 2-3 mph apart...

Two grown men... and the two year old is doing all the work!

The driver didn't realize he could not drive straight through here. He'd been driving for two weeks and now was completely stuck... nose in...

At 11,000 feet... the air gets sucked out of everything!

Except for the Pringles... I thought the seal was going to pop!

A little weird... speed limit 9.85

A little extreme...

And finally... due to me always hitting my head when I stand up in the cab... my new safety equipment.

Every day is something different....