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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