Wyoming Welcomes You

In Cheyenne, we top off our fuel and water tanks, we are good to go. The temps have jumped up to 55, it's sunny, with no wind and a very pleasant day. When we stopped at the port of entry to get our WY permit, they inform us there are “several” storms on the way. Why naturally , we wouldn’t to just have ONE storm, now would we? Do we know how to have fun, or what?

As we head north, the temperatures have risen, to a surprising 60 degrees. The skies are still cloudless, and there is still very little snow on the ground and not much on mountain peaks in the distance either.

The big concern is with getting out of the job site, the drive leading into the power plant is steep and although they had it well sanded on our last visit, once we get unloaded, we won’t have the added weight on our trailer to give us traction.

We pass a sign for the Oregon Trail Ruts historical monument. I can not fathom the hardships the pioneers endured trying to cross this desolate area in a covered wagon. Its unbelievable that any survived the harsh conditions and dangers the wagon trains encountered. Even today, there is literally, nothing for miles.

The upraised road barriers are a constant reminder of how badly the conditions can deteriorate. If the weather reports are correct, in less than 24 hours, those barriers will be in the down position and the roads shut down to traffic.

We push on northward.

The Rockies

Yesterday morning we finally made it into Amarillo but the majority of the roads were still closed. It took us about 3 hours to make it into the parking lot of the Flying J, there were big trucks parked three wide in the roadway, and trucks parked on the fuel island, creating one huge log jam. The state police were not happy campers and neither were a lot of truck drivers!

As we watched the news reports on the TV in the restaurant for the Fargo area flooding, the newscaster mentioned another major winter storm to hit the area on Monday. When we got back to the truck, I checked the forecast for Gillette, WY again and they are calling for another major storm/blizzard for Sunday night into Monday…………SWEET!! Just what we need…..not.

Gillette, WY, land of blizzards and no cell phone service.

We made great time, finally getting through the rest of Texas, through about 60 miles of the panhandle of Oklahoma and into Colorado. We found a rest area about 50 miles south of Denver, and called it a night, we had a good ride and got in about 415 miles, we will tackle the rest of the trip today.

When you get about 30 miles south of Denver;, you can see the vista of the Rocky mountains rising in front of you, its an unbelievably beautiful sight. Having grown up in the Catskill mountains of New York, I am no stranger to being surrounded by moutain views, but they in no way prepare you for the sight of the Rockies. Now I know why they are described as majestic. It is a good description for something so beautiful it almost defies description.

I remember coming through during the summer, when its 80 degrees and you can still see snow on the highest peaks. Our Catskill and Andirondack mountains, while beautiful in their own right, look like hills in comparison. I can certainly understand living there and enduring the winters in order to have that view every day. Its soemthing I would never grow tired of.

This morning the views do not disappoint, the sun is just starting to rise and the highter elevations are all bathed in a rosey glow. The sky is clear, and it looks like another beautiful day, we are hoping to make it to Gillette and our power plant before the storm hits.

There is very little snow on the ground here in Denver, but I am sure that is all going to change the further north we travel. The temperature is dropping rapidly, its down to 27 right now and falling.

Texas blizzard

(this is actually yesterday's post, I wasn't able to upload it before)

Texas has some unique road signs. Many of their secondary roads are called Farm-to Market (FM) or Ranch-to-Market (RM) and then the number of the road. Some roads are also called spurs. It is an absolute must to have an individual map of Texas, our atlas just wont do the job, especially with a permitted load. We traveled mostly on secondary roads yesterday, probably doubling the amount of miles we need to drive. it’s a nice scenic cruise, but slow and fuel consuming. One can not imagine the immense size of Texas unless you’ve seen it this way.

Texas, I think, is the only state that all posted speed limits are five miles slower at night than the daylight hours, for both cars and big trucks.

Fortunately, we are routed through Brady, home of our favorite BBQ place and we take a quick stop in for bite. Normally, we are fighting daylight and try not to stop until sunset, but we had to make an exception this one time.

We get up at sunrise this morning and its down to 32 degrees, a big difference from yesterdays temps in the 80’s. . We head out into a light rain, directly into a strong head wind which is slowing our progress considerably. We are keeping our eye on the blizzard they had in Denver yesterday, we were hoping to get that far today, but this wind is going to play a big role in whether or not that happens. We actually pass a sand truck but no evidence of ice………….yet.

The contrast of colors in Texas is amazing,. You have deep rich jade green of the irrigated hay fields, the red ochre of the newly plowed earth, or the black earth that you find in the southern Texan cotton fields. The beige field grasses, interspersed with brown, black, white, grey livestock. Purple, pink and yellow road flowers, patches of white cotton in all the nooks and crannies.

Now the long rows of emerald green and terra cotta red furrows are lined with white snow, resembling a flag. We trudge a few more miles and now we know why the salt shakers were out, the road is nothing but ice. We pass 2 more sand trucks, it would be nice if they were in front of us though.

The roads get worse the farther north we go. We are first on the scene at a vehicle roll-over. I grab our first aid kit and work our way over. The wind is blowing stinging pellets of snow at us as we skate over the vehicle, it’s a U-haul that passed us a few miles back. Luckily the passengers escaped injury. Another motorist stops, he is a doctor, but thankfully his services aren’t needed. We have the couple come in the truck to warm up while waiting for the emergency crews to arrive.

We are very low on fuel, and are trying to make it to Amarillo. We warn a big truck heading southbound of the emergency vehicles and they in turn tell us all the roads in Amarillo are closed down. I checked the weather for Denver, never thinking once that I would need to check Amarillo. I do so now and there is a blizzard warning in effect. That delay cost us precious time and now we don’t dare take the chance making it to Amarillo and the truck stops. Luckily we find a small shell station that has diesel and we pull in and have to shut down probably for the day. If we get stopped with an over size load, no only will we be fined, but they will probably suspend our permits.

We are shut down for the remainder of the day, and for the night. All we can do is hope that conditions clear early tomorrow morning.

Finally........

We finally were offloaded a little after noon today. Here is a shot through the windshield at some of the mayhem at the job site. It was just total chaos there today. They are just starting this wind farm (you can see the bottom of the first tower hanging from the crane). This site is supposed to be about 190 towers!

We take an over dimensional load going to Gillette, Wyoming. I quick check the weather forecast and it looks like Gillette is safe from any more blizzards for the next few days, this will deliver on Monday. We have been to this site before, its a large power plant. Although it is God's country there, it's pretty far off the beaten path. We know it's going to be a challenge finding something new in the area after this load, but it's pretty slim pickings, so we take our chances with it.

We get to our Laredo yard about 5:00 and get started on securing the load. After that its on with our over sized banners, flags and lights. As soon as we get our Texas permit in the morning, we can head out. There are five of these loads sitting in the yard, that means 5 drivers going to the same place, 5 drivers that will be looking for new loads on Monday. We will all be constrained to following the routes set forth on our permits by each individual state and numerous curfews.
Even if we did already have our Texas permit, we would have to wait for sunrise before we could venture out, and we are required to stop traveling come sun set.

Let the games begin!

Joe Cotten's Barbecue

Another long day of sitting and waiting. Thank goodness for sporcle.com.

Finally about 3 pm, someone came over and told us that they would be unloading us tomorrow (Wednesday). Sigh. The wind has died down but we had a few intermittent rain showers today.

Well, it could be worse, we could be in Wyoming or South Dakota where a majority of roads are closed due to a major spring blizzard. Up to 14" of snow and wind gusts of 70 miles an hour.....uh huh, yup, as much as I love Wyoming, I'm sure glad we are in Texas right now.

We took another ride to Corpus Christi and found a restaurant in Robsville, TX called Joe Cotten's Barbecue, which opened in 1947. Now that's what we are talking about. It smelled and looked like the real authentic Texas barbecue that we have been looking for. No menus here folks. The plates are $11 and you have your choice of brisket, pork, sausage or ribs, or any combination. We all go for the ribs, brisket and sausage and we are not disappointed. Our waiter brings our food out right away, no plates either, our food is served up on double sheets of waxed paper.

The meat is tender, well seasoned and pretty much cooked to perfection. Plates include the ever present pinto beans, a slice of white bread, a slice of whole wheat bread, a slice of tomato and onion, a pickle and a jalapeno pepper. After a few minutes, our waiter asks if we would like more to eat, its pretty much an all-you-can-eat concept.

Our 'que cravings have finally been satisfied. ahhhhhhhhh

Bad, Bad, 'Que, Bill

There is a large BBQ chain in Texas called Bill Millers BBQ. We have been wanting to try them for the last year, last night we finally got the chance. We drove down to Corpus Christi, passing the USS Lexington on the way. Our search for BBQ ended at a local Bill Miller BBQ, and the absence of any BBQ odors should have been our clue to keep truckin' on by.

We thought that Bill Miller would be a good bet, there are about 70 locations in Texas. In actuality, it's the Burger King of BBQ. It's fast food and tastes like it. We were with another one of our drivers and none of us enjoyed our meal. It's got to be pretty bad if Joe doesn't like their BBQ. Our sides, cole slaw and potato salad, were hands down the worst yet.

The big question is, are all the Bill Miller's this bad??

Here we go again...........

We had an 8 am delivery appointment here in Taft Texas at this new wind farm site. Its a wind site, so out come the hard hats and safety vests.

Generally with the wind farms, they are almost always verrrrrry slow and think nothing at all about having us wait all day to get unloaded. Right now we would settle for just having to wait all day.

At noon, we finally get the heads up that we won't be unloaded today, its a slim chance for tomorrow, they are hoping for Wednesday. Imagine if you would, a sandy flat open field, and all you can see for miles are plowed furrows (I'm thinking cotton) huge silos and some construction equipment. We are miles from anything and the wind is coming off the gulf at 30 miles an hour non-stop. We might as well be parked inside a wind tunnel. There is a high wind weather warning for today, with a possibility of storms for Tuesday and Wednesday. One good thing, our truck will probably be more aerodynamic after the sand blasting its enduring. The sand has magical properties and is able to manifest itself all over the inside of the truck, covering everything with a fine layer of grit. The wind is buffeting us like a ship at sea, and the ceaseless roar of the wind grates on ones nerves.

Its not going to be a good day, no matter how you look at it. Time really is money in this industry, and its not doing us a bit of good to sit here idle. We are waiting back to hear if and how much detention pay we will recieve. Meanwhile there is a laundromat, or, as they call them in Texas, a washateria, right down the road, so we will get that done later.

Our mission yesterday was to find some ‘que……..its almost a sin to be in texas and not have ‘que. I think that’s the problem with the northeast…….there just aint enough 'que. You will find some of the best BBQ at these little roadside restaurants with a pit, smoking in the back all day.
You can smell it for a mile, and if it doesn't make your mouth water, you need to be a vegetarian. God bless Texas.

We were finally able to find a real honest to goodness Texas roadside 'que right next to a small truck stop. It was called Hinze's and it was located on Highway 59 near Wharton, TX.

We were a little disappointed, the portions were small for the price. Joe had ribs and brisket and I had chicken breast. Although not as tasty as some 'ques we've had in the past, the meat was moist and not dried out. Texas 'que differs from some other 'ques in that its smoked with a dry rub. The sauce (served on the side in little paper dixie cups) was reminiscent of chili. The sides were great though, the macaroni salad, baked beans and cole slaw were awesome. I think we are just spoiled from that great 'que we had in Brady last summer.

Yesterday we were more than a little surprised to see a rather large black bear laying on the side of the road. There is a town in southern Louisiana that has bear crossing signs, but we just never thought of Louisiana and Texas as a place with a large black bear population.

While we are on the subject of barbeque, here are some recipes to get your taste buds hoppin'

Joe’s Favorite: (If you sadly don’t live within driving distance of a Famous Dave’s , then you need to move close to one. Until then, you can order your very own sauce direct from Famous Dave’s here: http://famousbbq.com/)

They also cater, so holler at ‘em the next time its your turn to have folks over for the game.

Famous Dave's Jumpin', Juken' & Jiven All Day Beef Brisket and Secret Moppin' Sauce
Chef Famous Dave Anderson

Secret Moppin' Sauce:
3 (20 ounce) bottles Famous Dave's BBQ sauce
2 quarts water
1 cup beef stock base
1/4 cup Kahlua
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 sticks (1 cup) butter

Beef:
Whole brisket
1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
1/2 cup Rib Rub

Sauce: Combine all ingredients in stockpot and mix well. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Yield: 1 gallon.

Beef: Ask butcher to remove most of the fat from a whole brisket, leaving only 1/4 inch to help preserve the juiciness during the cooking process. Have butcher separate brisket into two muscles, the flat and the point. Hand rub each brisket with garlic and Rib Rub. Start the smoking process! Smoke briskets for a minimum of 8 hours, keeping the temperature from 180 to 200 degrees F.

After 4 hours, start mopping with sauce every hour. After 8 hours, briskets should be almost black. This blend of smoke, rib rub and sauce forms a crunchy exterior called 'bark.' To ensure brisket turns out tasty and tender, wrap each brisket in a double layer of aluminum foil and pour 2 cups of Moppin' Sauce over brisket. Seal foil tightly and return to grill at 200 degrees F for 3 hours.

Remove briskets from aluminum foil and cool down. Once cool, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, re-smoke over indirect heat at 225 to 235 degrees F for 2 to 3 hours or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.

Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. Slice just before serving to preserve juiciness. Save the 'burnt ends' for yourself, they're the best part!

Servings: 12 to 16


Famous Dave's Country Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken Seasoning:
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup paprika
1/2 cup lemon pepper
1/2 cup Mrs. Dash original blend

Mix all ingredients. Store in a covered container.

Roast Chicken:
1 (6 pound) roasting chicken
2 (16 ounce) bottles Italian dressing
1 (8 ounce) bottle lemon juice
1/3 cup Roast Chicken Seasoning

Place the chicken in a 2-gallon sealable plastic bag. Pour a mixture of the Italian dressing and lemon juice over chicken, turning to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for 3 hours, turning every 30 minutes.

Remove chicken from bag and drain. Season generously with 1/3 cup Roast Chicken Seasoning. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Arrange chicken on a rack in a baking pan. Tent loosely with foil. Bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until a meat thermometer registers 170 to 180 degrees F, removing the tent 20 minutes before the end of baking process. Let stand for 10 minutes before carving.

Yields 6 to 8 servings.

Makes me wish we brought our little propane camp grill with us. sniff.

Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas

Right after we crossed the line into Tennessee, we hear a heads up over the CB that traffic in our lane up ahead is at a standstill, and backed up about 5 miles. Sounds like it’s a bad scene, 2 cars and a big truck tangled about 10 hours ago and the roads are still closed, which certainly means fatalities. We get directions over the radio from another driver rerouting us around the worst of the logjam.

We take the scenic route around, and guess what we stumble upon? it’s a Waffle House with plenty of truck parking! Gak!! The Waffle House is truly one of my least favorite places to eat. Without a doubt. it’s a major point of contention between Joe and I, because its one of his favorites. Well, there’s no accounting for taste. But those are the sacrifices we make, and I’m more than willing to go in when we find one. This one is not bad for a Waffle House, I have certainly been in worse. Joe gets his waffle high, and I get some raisin bread toast and apple butter . See, it’s the fruit in your food theory again, its got raisins and apples in it, so its got to be healthy and then the calories don’t count…sweet!! That works for me. The food wasn’t bad at all today much better than the one in Kansas we went to that even Joe didn't like.

Funniest Named Town of the Day: Bucksnort, TN
Best sight of the Day: Magnolia trees in full bloom
Best site of the Day: www.trucking show.com

Notable story of the Day: The trucking sector saw 33,400 layoffs in the month of February alone. In the past, professional drivers were always in demand, but the trickle down effect of the economy is taking a hard toll. People and companies spend, buy and build less and it all adds up to less freight at lower rates.

The Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) is this week, showcasing all the new products and innovations in trucking. International has revealed a special Harley Davidson edition of their Lonestar. The Lonestar is an amazing truck, we’ve seen 4 or 5 of them since they were unveiled last summer. Production will be limited to 250 trucks, and with the Lonestars starting at about $140,000, I can only imagine the price tag on these Harley editions. Here is a picture of the new truck, which won’t be available until this summer : http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/03/19/international-lonestar-harley-davidson-special-edition/

Today’s Copycat Recipe
Amarillo Salmon - Red Lobster

4 (8 oz.) salmon fillets or steaks
1/2 C. thick and spicy barbecue sauce
1/4 C. horseradish sauce
Mix barbecue and horseradish sauce together. Grill one side of the salmon on a well-oiled grill. After turning over, baste cooked side with sauce mixture. Before taking off the grill flip again and baste the other side of the fish. Yields 2 servings.

On a totally non related note, I read an article this morning about a group of veterinarians at Miami Metrozoo that completely reconstructed the head of a crocodile that was hit by a car. They used 4 steel plates and 41 screws to complete the surgery. Hmmm, well that just defies comment.

I’d like to heartily thank everyone that’s been leaving comments, now that I’ve got that figured out, finally. I’d love to hear some feedback, talk at me and let me know what you like or don’t like about the blog, or what you’d like to see or not see. Lay your ideas on me!!

Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky...........

Yesterday morning we loaded a crane boom and some counter weights in Detroit. We’ve loaded there before,the yard guys are great and really know what they are doing. We are first in line and get loaded in good time. A couple of chains and binders and a few straps and we are good to go. Piece of cake, for a change. I won't get too used to that, though...it's pretty rare.

Looks like there are about 8 of us going delivering pieces of this crane to a wind power site in Taft, Texas, which is just outside of Corpus Christi. Its going to feel good to be warm again.

We get the heck out of Dodge and head south. After stopping at the Flying J in Ohio for showers, lunch and a quick wash of the truck at the Streakin’ Beacon, we hit the road again.

The J has re-vamped their menu and I've decided to try their new chicken apple sausage. I’m constantly battling with the dilemma of should I eat something good for me, or something that tastes good? Why do we always have to choose one or the other? Why can't Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting be nutritionally sound? Or nachos? There aren't too many places we eat that offer a choice of something that fits both descriptions. Bummer. Joe has it easy, if it's bad for you, its got to be good and that’s what he has.

Anyway, I enjoyed the sausage, it was a welcome change of pace and I can fool myself because, hey, it has fruit in it, so it has to be good for me, right? RIGHT??? I thought so. Even Joe was pleasantly surprised..

We manage to get through the rush hour traffic in Dayton and Cincinnati with only minor delays.
We both breathe a sigh of relief as we cross under the Welcome to Kentucky sign.

Kentucky is really a beautiful state and not just in the blue grass country of Lexington. Here in the central part of the state, we find pleasantly rolling hills, flowering trees, and farms. Very little of the urban sprawl with its McMansions and cookie cutter town homes and developments. But that is all changing.

Yesterday the temperatures were still in the low forties but the grass is green and the trees are blooming, ahhh, spring is definitely in the air. The calves are frolicking, yes, they are actually frolicking, in the pastures. Its looks like its going to be a beautiful day even though its only 32 degrees this morning.

We managed to survive a winter of blizzards, 20 below temperatures, scraping the ice off the inside of our windows and now we are so ready for spring. Bring it on!!

Today we will finish up about 50 miles left in Kentucky, trek across Tennessee (blech, Memphis and west Memphis) through Arkansas and we should make it into Texas before we park it for the night.

Be Safe and God Bless

Can you guess what this is?

Its my handier-than-a-pocket-on-a-tee-shirt strap roller and it rocks!

These straps are 4 inches wide, 30 feet long and have a heavy chain on the end. Rollin' these fellas up by hand are a real pain (in the hand that is) and this makes life just a little bit easier.

Hey, I have to have some fun, ya know?

Did anyone see the news story yesterday about the West Virginia truck driver?
George Lantzy, witnessed a woman driver having a heart attack while driving her car. He managed to maneuver his truck in front of her car, brake his truck and slow her car down and prevent a serious accident.
Fast thinking, and great job, George!

We are traveling directly across the “palm” of Michigan today, east to west, from the shores of Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. We are back up into the north’s cooler temps, 29 when we first woke up this morning, rising only into the mid-thirties. High today should get about 10 degrees warmer than that. If we are lucky.

We get the first part of our load off by 9 am. Last night we stayed right in the parking lot of the Tractor supply and start getting unloaded at 8am. I ran in to do some shopping, Three of our straps frayed on the trailers, despite the padding under them, and need to be replaced. Luckily they have some in stock.

Tractor Supply is now officially my new favorite store, I had a ball walking around and looking at all the horse themed home and garden items, not to mention a huge selection of John Deere clothing and Ararat boot. I’m one of those rare woman that hate to shop, but give me a Tractor Supply, or a Bed, Bath and Beyond and I’m good to go. Kitchen gadgets and snaffle bits, that’s all me right there. I’ll also spend hours walking around a Scheel’s, Gander Mountain or Bass Pro Shop.

They had a quartet of adorable long haired bunnies for sale for $15 each. Boy, was I tempted. They were just so cute. Grudgingly I pass on the bunnies. . alas, I had to satisfy myself with just looking at all the great horse and John Deere goodies they had., which almost made up for it.

We make it to our second Tractor Supply and despite some very cold winds and snow showers, get that load off as well. Amazingly, we get a load offer within half an hour. Back down to Detroit in the morning to pick up some crane parts for a wind farm near Corpus Christi . At least we know it will be a lot warmer back in Texas.

Shame on you, Virginia!!

The top picture was taken in the parking lot of a Pilot Truck stop in Virginia.

The second picture was taken along the interstate in Indiana.

Every picture tells a story, doesn't it?

Now, which state would YOU rather park in?? hmmm, I thought so.

To the Virginia state police representatives answer to the truck parking problem is for drivers to "get a room"....I say.....get a brain!!

552!!

Martin Brodeur has broken the record for most wins by a goalie in the NHL!!

Brodeur, without a doubt the best goaltender in the history of professional hockey, broke the record to a sell out crowd last night at home in New Jersey.

Brodeur has played his entire 15 year career with the N.J. Devils, leading them to 3 Stanley Cup Championships. He is currently second in all time shut-outs with 100, and chasing Terry Sawchuck's record of 103 career shutouts.

Have I mentioned food yet?

As the luck of the Irish would have it, I wasn't able to find Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner last night. (Or any sudsy brews either....sigh)

Speaking of food (aren’t I always?) I find that I do have to take back at least some of the unkind remarks about Subway that I have made in the past. (Who, me?) I tried their personal pan pizza today, and I must say it was very close to Pizza Hut and not bad at all. Definitely a huge improvement over the sandwiches. I do like their fresh baked cookies too, but then again, its hard for me to find a cookie that I don’t like. And speaking of cookies, its that time of the year again, Girl Scout Cookie Season. I don’t think I will find any of those anytime soon, and that's probably a good thing.

We arrived in Montross, Virginia about 3:30 yesterday afternoon. We finished getting loaded about 1:30 in the morning. No, that isn’t a typo. We sat in the shipping yard all night waiting for them to load the 3 trucks ahead of us, then when it was finally our turn, one of their own trucks came into the yard. We ended up having to wait for them to unload the Styrofoam blocks on that truck and then load it with trailers. The yard foreman did tell us to let dispatch know, and hopefully we will get paid some detention pay for the delay.

We have a load of 24 small utility trailers, going to two different Tractor Supply stores in Michigan. It barely pays enough to make the trip worthwhile. Michigan, one of the worst, if not the worst state in the county in regards to economy, is not a hotbed of frieghht in order to get something else to pick up either.

We spent the night right there at their yard but we needed to head to the nearest truck stop first thing for fuel and showers.

We pass the sign for the George Washington birthplace national monument, as well as many other historical markers.

The thick almost impenetrable fog only adds another element to our gloomy moods. The caffeine gods have not shined on me yet this morning, and I have a very good feeling its going to be one of my “mole-asses” days today! Yep, slower than molasses in Fargo.

The fog finally lifts, but only outside. In my head its still as impenetrable as ever. Two hot steaming cups of Earl and a hot shower hasn’t ignited any flashes of comprehension in my gray matter yet this morning.

For me, that is the worst part of dealing with Fibromyalgia, the "brain fog" and loss of cognitive function. Gee, I look "normal" and act "normal" (sometimes), its hard to believe that those synapses in my brain arent in any way functioning normally.

I feel a cold coming on, or maybe allergies, so I take some zinc, some Emergen-C Immune formula and, after 2 more cups of caffeine (no vodka or valium in those. It might not make me feel better, but I wouldn't care!) I'm starting to feel almost human again. Or maybe its just the sunshine and 75 degree weather we gladly find in Maryland.

I try to stockpile whatever supplements I think I’m going to need, because, lets face it, the only supplements you are going to find at a truck stop are expensive little bottles of high powered caffeine shots.

While truck drivers do not need to be able to leap tall buildings with a single bound, there are many talents that they do need to have. Not the least of those is the ability to go all day without a bathroom break while drinking copius amounts of coffee. Seriously though, truck drivers deal with a tremendous amount of pressure, both in constrainsts placed on them by Hours of Service laws, shippers and receivers, and deadlines, just to name a few. Then there are your garden variety blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and flash floods. Mechanical problems.....always. the ability to navigate rush hour traffic while simultaneously driving, talking on the phone and the CB, writing down directions, reading the map and eating a sammie.....JUST KIDDING!!! You cant do all that while you are eating a sandwhich, you'll crush your bread!!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

The luck of the Irish to you all, may you all find that pot of gold at the end of your rainbows, or at least, a mug of ale!!

In Heaven there is no beer that’s why we drink it here!

Irish Blessings and Sayings
May you always have
Walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!

May you be in
Heaven a half hour before the
Devil knows you're dead!

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

Eat Mor Chikin'

I’m pretty excited today, we are headed for Hampton, VA which is near Virginia Beach. I’ve never been in that part of Virginia before nor over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge so I am really looking forward to that. Although it’s a very gloomy and overcast day, not good at all for picture taking, I’ll give it my best shot.

We delivered at our stop in Bethlehem, PA first thing this morning and we were back on our way within an hour. The streets of Bethlehem are the old fashioned narrow, tight streets found in all your older north eastern cities. Joe maneuvers us carefully and professionally through some pretty tight corners. Its very apparent that these streets were constructed before the use of these larger trucks and trailers. The campus at Lehigh University is right smack in the middle of the city and the campus is getting a major overhaul with several new buildings.

The two tunnels joining the thirds of the Chesapeake Bridge were very interesting, unfortunately the fog is heavy enough to warrant posting fog cautions.

We find the construction site at the Santerra Hospital in Hampton, VA with no problem. We’re told to park in the lot for the night, our crane will be in at about 8 tomorrow morning.

We walk approximately a mile to a Chick-Fil-A for dinner (Love those Cows!) , one of our favorite fast food restaurants. Thank goodness it isn’t Sunday, for those of you that aren’t familiar with, Chick-Fil-A does not allow any of their franchises to be open on Sundays. The food is good, as always, and Joe enjoys his favorite hand spun shake.
Its not your usual fast food eatery, from the vase of fresh flowers on every table, to the options for FF’s like fresh fruit, raisin carrot salad and chicken soup.

We make it back to the truck just as the rain begins. Good thing I didn’t go to Barnes and Noble after all.

Congratulations, Marty!!

Martin Broduer, goaltender for the New jersey Devils, has tied the record for most career wins at 551, with Patrick Roy. With Roy watching from the stands, Brodeur stopped 22 of 23 shots in his home city of Montreal. Roy, who played most of his career for the Montreal Canadians, was on hand for the victory celebration.

It was a game filled with record makers. For the Devils, Patrik Elias got his 700th and 701st career points and tied John MacLean's franchise record. Brian Rolston scored his 300th career goal and Patrice Brisebois played his 1000th game for Montreal. It was probably also the first time ever that the home crowd booed their own team and gave the visiting team a standing ovation!

Brodeur, after missing about 50 games this season due to a shoulder injury, is also chasing Terry Sawchucks record of 103 career shutouts. Brodeur has 3 left to tie that record.

The New Jersey Devils play the Chicago Black Hawks Tuesday night at home.

If you bought it, a trucker brought it

Go to your local supermarket and look at the selection on the shelves, and ask yourself, how DID that item get to the my favorite Piggly Wiggly?

Pick up a meal at your favorite fast food restaurant………

Go to your local car dealership. Not that anyone is these days, but just run with me on this…………

The local mall or your neighborhood pharmacy………..

Your local John Deere dealer for the new 9030 series tractor, with 530 hp, GPS, A/C, CD player and not duals, but triples , or better yet, tracks.(with AirCushion Shock Suspension, naturally)!!!! ARGGGH ARGGGH ARGGGH, (thanks Tim Allen), …………….Green and yellow never looked so good together.

Or a bright, shiny, candy apple red Case..........ahhh, now we are talking!

But I digress………..

So, please, next time you go shopping, or fill your car up with gas………Thank a Trucker!

Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania

We saw areas of flooding in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio yesterday. I’ve read that there is a lot of concern that there might be a repeat of the flooding that devastated the Mid-West last year.

There is an absolutely amazing quarry that we’ve passed several times outside Chicago. Called the Thornton Quarry, its is one of the largest quarries in the world. It’s 1.5 miles long, 400 feet deep, one half a mile wide and is bisected by interstate 80. The history of the quarry is fascinating, from the fossils (it used to be a sea bed) , to the meteorite that is found there.

The quarry will also serve as a run-off reservoir for storm water in sewage, with a capacity of 4.8 billion gallons!

Last night, we stayed at a rest area on the Ohio Turnpike. Even though this is a toll road, we use it because it is the only road in Ohio where trucks are allowed to run 65 mph., the speed limit for trucks on all other roads in OH is only 55 mph.

The service plazas have been redesigned with truckers in mind. Not only do they have fuel islands with diesel, they have a truckers lounge with television, complimentary showers and a laundry room, but they also have free WiFi. Hey, if you have to pay the toll, you might as well get something for it. I could be wrong, but I think Ohio is the only state that offers this. We try out the showers, and they are clean and a lot better than some we have used at certain truck stops.

They also have mall cloned food courts, with a wide variety of choices. We walk right past the Starbucks and opt for the Panera, to use our gift card (Thank you Rich and Bettie!!). I do have to confess to enjoying Starbucks on occasion, they are the ONLY place that I can get a soy chai latte. However at $5 for vendi latte, I’ve taken to buying my own chai and soy milk for about a quarter of the price. Luckily, we have a microwave on board.

I have my usual French onion soup, which is a no-brainer for me at Panera, and also a turkey Sammie that is perfect. There is nothing better than fresh baked artisan bread. Joe has a chicken Dijon Sammie which is also very good .You just can’t get food this good at Subway, one of my least favorite places period.

Did I mention the free wifi? Priorities, ya know.

This morning we pass a very large GM plant near Youngstown, OH. There are about 10 cars in the huge parking lot, it is, after all Saturday, but the most disturbing thing is off in the back lot, there are about 100 empty car haulers, just sitting there. Car hauling used to be lucrative, but that has all changed with the down fall and down sizing of the auto industry.

We see an Amish farmer with a team of draft horses pulling what Joe calls a “shit spreader“. Not only are draft horses my favorite, but I find their whole way of life fascinating. I wish we had time to explore a little today, but we don’t dare stray from familiar roads, its not fun to back a 75 foot long tractor and trailer a few miles because you found that you couldn’t fit down a road (C’mon, hun, let’s see you make a u-ie”).

Joe’s handier than a pocket on a T-shirt when it comes to maneuvering a big truck, but with the bigger sleeper and the way our wheels are set, there’s some spots even he can’t get into.

It’s quite an amazing experience to witness his finesse with the rig, as if its become an extension of himself. Hanging out the door, one foot on the throttle, one foot on the outside step, turning the wheel, I’ve seen him get into and out of spots even he thought he wouldn’t fit. Hauling over sized loads through busy city traffic. I’m sure when you’ve driven over 2 million miles, its becomes an integrated part of you, an instinct.

The Sweet Potato Queens

It’s getting close to St. Paddy's day, which sets my mind to thinking ‘bout the Mal’s St. Paddy’s Day Parade and the Sweet Potato Queens. (March 19-22 this year). This is where Jill Conner Brown and the SPQ got their amazing start. Its always on the third weekend in March and transforms the town of Jackson, MS with its revelry and hilarity.

The parade, besides being a roaring great time, is a fundraiser for the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, the only hospital in MS where children “can receive world class medical care, regardless of their ability to pay”. You can purchase tats for $1 a piece, with all proceeds going to the hospital. You can get details on the website.

The SPQ have grown into a phenomenal success, with 5,768 chapters all over the country and a following of thousands. If you arent familiar with Jill and her “crewe of Queens, Wannabees and Spud Studs”. I highly suggest y’all take yourownself over to the “O-fficial website”, sweet potato queens.com and check out the fun…….really, I insist. You will be glad you did.

I’ve read 4 of Jill’s books at least three times, and they are Laugh Out Loud funny every time.

We delivered our load of wire yesterday without any more mishaps and minimal tarp-tear, All except for not being able to find a place to park for the night. We tried 4 places before we could find any room at the inn. I really hope the states use some of this stimulus money to re-open all the rest areas and truck parking that they closed down to save a few bucks.

There is no such thing as a routine in trucking. You eat, sleep, wake up and shower according to the whims of Mother Nature, the Traffic Gods and the moods of the shipping/receiving staff.

For a change, we actually got a new load within a half hour. It picks up this morning in Joliet, a suburb of Chicago, about 200 miles north of where we delivered. It’s a load of pipe and it has a stopover near Philly, then a final destination near Virginia Beach. Usually all I’m concerned about is the fact that this doesn’t need to be tarped, but I’ve never been to Virginia Beach, so I’m looking forward to being in the vicinity, maybe, perhaps, even seeing some of it. I know it will be warmer than our balmy 21 degrees here in IL this morning.

You might be wondering how I get my ideas about what to write each day on the blog. I’d like to say that I’m so over run with inspiration that it overwhelms me, but the truth is, first thing in the morning, I open a blank Word page and hope a flash of brilliance hits me between the eyes. Usually it takes a few cups of caffeine before anything comprehensible finds it way onto the page.
My biggest challenge is trying to type and write while bouncing around like a mexican jumping bean at a hat dance. (you can tell we were in Laredo last week!!)

I would like to take a moment to reminisce about my old friend, Eddie Brush. The one thing I remember most about Brushy was his ever ready smile, We lost touch over the years, but I’ve never forgotten him, and I wish I had the opportunity to thank him for all the laughs that he brought to me over the years.

In Remembrance

Edward L. "Brushy" Brush, Jr.
Dec. 16, 1962 - March 9, 2009
We will miss you

On the road again..........

Our repairman gets to us quickly, within the promised 45 minutes. He gets right to work, unfortunately its an inside tire and when it came apart, it wrapped itself around the axle. He does a great job, and within the hour, we are on our way again. Just in time to hit the peak of rush hour in Dallas. Rush hour and rain are not a good combination. We can't say adios to Dallas soon enough. The temperatures are a good 50 degrees cooler today, down from 90 to 39.

I haven't seen any “tent cities” in our travels yet, but we do see evidence of a lot of homeless living under the overpasses in TX. I don’t know where they go during the day, but you can see their belongings staked out, tucked up in the corners as high as they can go.

We stop at a rest area and spy a little roadside cafe advertising the best organic BBQ. Its been our experience that Texas has the best BBQ (outside of Famous Dave's)and usually these tiny, very unimpressive roadside stands are the best. We slough across the flooded parking lot in the pouring rain. I've chosen the smoked chicken sandwich (on grilled Texas toast, naturally) which Joe claims is much better than his certified organic angus mushroom swiss burger. The food and the hospitality are great, as the owner stops by our table to talk some 'que. No wonder I am gaining weight.

We had some fun last night playing some of the quiz games on Sporcle.com. My son, Dave, gave me the heads up on this site and now we are addicted. I highly recommend that visit their site and play one of their hundreds of trivia quizzes. Its amazing how many things you just know you know, but just cant think of the word!! I say “I can picture his (her) face, but I cant think of their name” a lot when I play. If you enjoy that site, there are also some fun quizzes at mentalfloss.com and msn.com has some good quizzes on their Encarta site as well.

I've been pondering something all day (we are after all in Texas and one does ponder here). I spotted a headline today about the space shuttle launch being postponed due to a fuel leak. Ummm, I have absolutely nothing against science, but where is our governments priorities??? Obviously where the sun doesn't shine.

We have, what, 754,000 homeless Americans and more every day, and we are worried about spending a "jillion" dollars.......sending up a space shuttle??!! Am I the only one that thinks there is something wrong with that picture? Are we going to find the answer to our current problems here on earth during a freakin' space walk???

And how about this headline from today as well, "Feds spending millions to preserve Kennedy legacy in Mass." Ohhh-Kaaaay. Shaking head slowly back and forth, I am literally speechless at that one, which is probably a pretty good thing at this point.

I think Mr. Buffett (the Jimmy one, natch') sums it up the best, "We need people that care! Im mad as hell! and I dont want to take it anymore!"

Welcome to Arkansas, its still pouring.

Murphy's Law of Trucking

It never fails. When you have plenty of time, say, three days to go 400 miles, things go nice and smooth and easy. But, when you have, say, 1000 miles to go in a day and a half, of course anything and everything goes wrong. The problem is, there are lots of things that CAN go wrong. Take today for instance. We just fueled up at the Flying J in Waco, get a few miles down the road, and another driver radios to us that we have a blown tire on our trailer.

Joe is amazed we didnt hear and feel the tire come apart, and luckily it didn't take out the mudflaps, the brackets and the lights. We have a repair crew on the way. Luckily it was a tire on the trailer and not our tractor, so its not our expense, but we can't buy back the time we will lose.

Now not only is this going to put us a day behind, but its going to put us behind on a Friday, which might just possibly end up putting us behind until Monday......again.

Hang on, I know there is something funny I can say about this situation...........let me think. mmmmm.............nope, not one thing I can think of........nothing fit to print anyway.

Oh, did I mention it was raining? Rainfall has a direct correlation with the odds of having a break down.

I think Someone is trying to tell us something............

Pandimonium and my second favorite TA

We waited over 2 hours yesterday at the loading docks just to start getting loaded yesterday. The scene was one of unbelievable chaos, both van trailers and flatbeds crammed together and yard jockeys on fork lifts speeding by at break neck speeds. Everyone's temper was as hot as the 90 degree weather.

There was a row of empty van trailers on one side, a row of van trailers loading and unloading on the other side At the docks, there is barely room for three tractors to fit side by side down the middle, and these fork lifts zipping through with out a thought to caution, speeding up and down the loading ramps with pallets of wire fencing and barbed wire. We have to constantly move our rig a few feet to make room for other trucks.

They finally load the last pallet on and we proceed to strap the load down securely. It takes us over an hour, we have a total of 29 pallets. Its almost 7 pm by the time we leave the loading yard and we are both sweaty and tired and hungry. We take a quick ride over to the TA and take care of 2 of three of those issues, the third will have to wait a few hours, we need to get as far as we can tonight. We are supposed to deliver this Thursday morning, but with the delay in getting loaded, its going to have to be a few hours later than that.

The TA in Laredo is fairly new, and is definitely one of the better TA’s. You will have to pay for parking if you plan on staying there all night and not spending $20, other wise the annoyance of going through the parking gates is well worth it.

The shower attendant sees both of us going into our shower and anticipates us needing another set of towels before I even have to ask. Our only complaints are that you only get one towel, but I always keep a towel for my hair in my bag for just those occasions. The vents in the ceiling constantly drip a steady stream of condensation over the sink, but it's clean, the water is decently hot and pressurized and that’s all that matters. Its amazing how your priorities change when you live out over the road.

The restaurant is clean, as always, and the buffet looks pretty appetizing. We both opt for breakfast though, as we usually do. As I am not supposed to eat egg yolks, I asked our waiter James if they had egg substitutes, which he assured me they did. I get my usual TA breakfast, the Truckers sandwich, an egg, cheeses (which I forego) and your choice of bacon or sausage on an English muffin. Now, I am not supposed to eat bacon either, but hey, pork fat rules and I gave up the cheese and the egg yolk so that cancels out the bacon, right? I mean, seriously, how could I NOT get the bacon, I ask you?

My order arrives and I stifle a laugh, I can see fried egg whites hanging over the side of the muffin. It used to be a big item of contention between Joe and I because, as a matter of course, something always goes wrong with what I want to get to order, but now its pretty much a standing joke between us. Its even funnier (to me) when they get HIS order wrong. I whip off the top of my muffin…..whaaa laaaa!! I show Joe my fried egg and he does his usual eye roll. Resigned to eating it, as I am too hungry at this point to wait for another one, I take a closer look and discover it was only fried egg white, which was great. It actually tasted much better than the egg beaters would have! I think I am going to order it that way from now on.

The service was very good, as well as the food itself. I always give this TA a 4.5 rating.

This One Particular Harbor

We’ve all heard the term, “writers block”. I don’t have a case of that, per se, it’s more a matter of finding good, happy, cheerful things to write about. I had prepared my blog today with a story of a California trucker that had his trailer robbed from him while driving down the road, by two other truckers.

My plan with this blog was to bring smiles and laughter to my readers, however that is proving to be a greater challenge than I anticipated. I find myself being more cynical and sarcastic, than fun. I think I need a good dose of Jimmy Buffett right about now….

“Its these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
With all of our running and all of our cunning
If we couldnt laugh we would all go insane”

These days its easy enough to find subject matter in the failing economy, rampant unemployment and financial downfalls, and its been a challenge to find something engrossing but yet, uplifting. We are all bombarded by the bad news in the media and the struggles in our own lives, I’d like to be able to take our minds off that much like the old vaudeville teams did during the Great Depression. I don’t know if technology has made us all more jaded, but the vision of someone getting hit with a pie in their face does not bring the relief it once did.

We are all struggling in some way and we are all trying to find ways of coping during these challenging days. Out here in Trucking Land, it seems the struggles and challenges are constantly compounded day after day. Gone are the days when you are rewarded for being a good conscientious driver and a hard worker. Its not a matter of how safely and timely you deliver your cargo, but how cheaply you are willing (or forced) to.

One can only hope tomorrow will be a better day, but for now I’ll put Jimmy on the CD and hope that One Particular Harbor shows up on the horizon real soon.

Price gougers, lay-offs and thieves

The trucking industry is certainly not immune from the ravages of our economy. The effect is being felt by both small family owned companies and the large corporations.

Last week, one of the top flatbed carriers, Melton, laid off approximately 200 drivers, due to the falling freight rates. The slowing construction market and manufacturing sector means fewer loads to be transported, and the drop in freight rates means less payment for the few loads that are left.

We are here in an industrial complex about one mile from Mexico here in Laredo TX. There are trucks waiting to get loaded/unloaded every where you look. There is a lot of commerce traveling back and forth between the border here. The company we are leased on with has a contract with a Mexican company where they bring loads from Mexico into our yard and leave them for our drivers, and likewise, we bring loads that are going into Mexico and leave them in our yard for the Mexican drivers to take across the border. Saves our drivers from having to deal with the border regulations.

The escalator we have brought down here is going to a forwarding company, which is turn will bring it Mexico. We are in line, waiting with about 8 other similar loads, all waiting for the crane to unload us.

The other night we stopped at the Flying J to get some dinner. I needed water, so I picked up a gallon and proceeded to the cash register. I literally had to laugh when the cashier told me I owed $2.79 for one gallon of water!! Last night I picked up another gallon of water here in Laredo at the small truck stop down the road from our yard…….$1.18. Well that was a little better. The same gallon of water that costs .89 cents in Wal-Mart cost three times the price at the J. Got to love it.

This truck stop has a little Mexican restaurant in it, most of the things on the menu we had no clue what they were, I ended up ordering a chicken fajita and Joe ordered BBQ brisket. The food was just alright, but it was great to get some nice fresh home made guacomole and rice and beans. The special of the day was menudo, so I had to look that up and see what that was, I am glad I wasn’t brave and try it, turns out its tripe……yuck, there are just things that arent meant to be eaten. (Not by me anyway!)


We needed a new cord for our laptop and luckily were able to find one at Best Buy. Talk about price gouging….LOL. I’ve ordered them online at a price of about $40. We ended up getting the least expensive one they had, which, with tax, totaled a whopping $120!!!. It was a general purpose one that came with about 10 different adaptors, but, geesh………..they know they have you, what else are you going to do? Buy a new laptop?

Today’s Rant………..THIEVES

A driver for the company that we are leased on with, not only took our trailer that we dropped in our gate locked yard in Jacksonville, FL……he knowingly STOLE 3 lumber tarps, a company tarp (keep reading to find out why we had a company tarp) another small tarp, 3 pad wrap blankets and several straps. You expect this kind of behavior at a truck stop, not in a gated yard owned by your company. Things are really bad when you can not trust a fellow driver with same company. We just have this to say to you…….WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!! What goes around will come around, buddy. Nothing further needs to said here on that subject.

This is actually the second time a company driver (yes, again from the company that we are leased on with)
stole our tarps. For those of you that might not know, we have to buy all our own equipment, company drivers do not, they are given these supplies by the company. We really have no clue what this particular company driver was thinking. Here is that story…………we left our trailer at a yard from which we were picking up a load after Christmas. We received permission to leave our trailer there in their yard while we went home for the holidays for 3 days. When we came back, someone had undone our straps on our tarps, taken 3 of our tarps AND LEFT A COMPANY TARP IN THEIR PLACE! (company tarps are a particular, identifying color) We haven’t yet figured out why they would leave a company tarp in our tarps place as a calling card??? (Give this driver his sign, please!)

Just in case you don’t know, these tarps cost us between $300 and $400 each to replace.

I want to add that with the exception of these 2 drivers, our experiences with the other owner operators and company drivers that we have had contact with have all been great people and this does not reflect on them at all.

So, for now, I’m enjoying the fact that I am sitting here in cut-off shorts and the sun is shining and we are together.

Happy Birthday, Joe!!

I just wanted to take a minute and wish Joe a very Happy Birthday!!

We arrived in Laredo today and dropped our trailer at our terminal. We needed to go to Best Buy, which turned out to be right next to one of Joe's favorite restaurants, Carino's, so I took him there for a birthday dinner. We had a great meal, as usual.

It got up to 87 degrees today and sunny, it was a pleasure! Unfortunately, all my shorts and T-shirts are in storage, luckily Joe planned a little better than I, and broke out with his shorts today.

We are only about 1 mile from Mexico, and it seems strange to be able to look over and see it in the distance.

That wasn't so bad.........

We made out much better with the tarp job than we were led to believe. They did not have us “belly wrap” the elevator and the foreman put the tarps over for us with the over head crane, so it went pretty quickly.

Unfortunately when we looked a the paper work it shows us having a crane appointment at 2 pm on Monday afternoon, instead of the 8 am Monday morning we were told by dispatch. That means yet another day lost.
We will see how that goes on Monday.

We did find a Wal-mart about 3 miles from where we had to load, so yesterday we were able to get some shopping in. There was a strip mall there too so we got some used DVD’s at the video store, I got to walk over the the Dollar Tree and then we went for Chinese take out. All in all not a bad day.

It finally got up to a balmy 66 degrees here in SC and Alabama and it sure feels good.

We should be in Laredo Saturday afternoon, It is supposed to be 88 and sunny in Laredo this weekend.
We have a terminal there, so we will camp out there for the weekend, get some laundry done and maybe get to one of our favorite restaurants, Carino‘s. It seems no matter what I started out talking about, I always get the conversation turned around to food somehow.

Mix up at the trailer yard.............

Its been a disappointing and stressful past couple of days here in SC.

After finally making it through that snowstorm and delivering on Monday morning, we have waited 2 days to get another load. We had plenty of offers, but none, except one, that we would have made any profit on had we taken it. Unfortunately the one that would have been profitable for some reason took about half and hour to come over our Driver Tech (our satellite communication system) and by the time we responded to it, the load was already taken by someone else. Our driver manager was out sick yesterday or he would have called us and given us a heads up.

Last night we finally received an offer good enough to accept. However, we needed a different type of trailer than the one we currently had. The load was picking up in Charleston, SC and there was a place we keep empty trailers on the way there, so we were instructed to stop and pick up a RGN, or removable goose neck. Some of you might know this as a lowboy. The trailer detaches so that you can drive a vehicle up on onto the bed.

We arrived there about 9 pm last night, and guess what? There were no RGN’s to be found anywhere. We put a call into dispatch and called it a night. It seems as if it weren’t for bad luck, we would have no luck at all.

The day dawns bright and sunny and its warmer now than we’ve seen in a couple weeks. After waiting for the time difference between SC and Minnesota, we get a message from our dispatcher. They Send us a few more load offers, and we take one that picks up in NC and is going to TX but it isn‘t supposed to pick up until tomorrow. Which puts us behind again for this week. Hopefully we can find a Wal-mart that we can get to, we need some supplies and I unbelievably forgot Joe's birthday this weekend in time to have some things shipped to NY for him last week.

It sounds like this load is going to be a real nightmare, it’s a load of elevators and both of the other of our drivers that are here have warned us about these loads and the place we are going to pick it up. I have a feeling this will be another one of those “Can’t wait to forget” experiences. Oh, and it has to be tarped naturally.

We talked to another one of our drivers that is loading here this morning and he said this is his last load for this company and then he is leaving to go to one of what I call the “Big Three” (Swift, JB Hunt and Schneider). We will be following in his footsteps as soon as we can sell our truck. It’s a sad day indeed when you are offered a better deal from one of these companies than we have here now. The economy certainly is not getting any better any time soon.

We did spend some time yesterday getting the truck washed taking all new pictures and listing it again with another company in an effort to get it sold. Hopefully soon our luck will change.

Check back later to see how we make out with our lovely load of elevators. Going up?

Welcome to the Iditarod....in North Carolina?

We certainly would have gotten here sooner this morning if we had used a dog sled and a team of huskies. We left Joe's moms house in NC last night about 6pm to make the 138 mile trek to Greenville, SC. There had been some winter weather advisories on the TV, so instead of waiting to watch the race, we elected to leave before the steady downpour of rain turned to ice.

We went about 10 miles south and the world turned into a winter wonderland. There was 2-3 inches of snow on the road, and more falling heavily. The further south we went, the harder it snowed, and we started seeing a lot of lightening as well. We eventually stopped counting all the 4 wheelers and big trucks stuck on the sides of the interstate.
It was an amazing sight to see and we heard it was like that all the way to Atlanta.

We did start to get stuck once about 5 miles north of the South Carolina border, however Joe was able to maneuver enough to get us out. We didn't get much further than that, as traffic came to a standstill. Red tail lights were stopped ahead of us for as far as the eye could see. We managed to get off an exit ramp, and along with a long line of big trucks, ended up spending the night parked on the side of the road.

We finally got rolling again this morning after several delays. Fortunately we were able to keep up a steady 25 mph pace, unlike the north bound lane, which were shut down in two separate spots for a few miles each.

It took us about 14 hours to travel 138 miles! The ironic thing is we had a choice between this load going to SC and another going to South Dakota. Joe took this one going to SC because he did not want to deal with any bad weather we might meet up with out west! Can you imagine if the first time we had to use our new chains was in North Carolina!!

But we made it safe and sound at our destination. There was a line of trucks waiting to unload when we got there, as the workers were not able to get in to work and they were not letting any trucks unload. We didn't have too long to wait though, and got unloaded in about 3 inches of water pretty quickly.

Now comes the wait for our next load..............

Health Insurance Rant

I have a bone to pick with the health insurance companies (don’t we ALL). I love it when an entity with no medical training and no knowledge of my medical history, can dictate the procedures my own doctor can perform. But I digress.

Joe was scheduled to have some medical tests done last week but we had to cancel them at the last minute because our health insurance company needed “3-5 business days” to process the paperwork for the approval. His doctor felt this test was needed ASAP and they went out of their way to schedule this 3 days after his visit so Joe could get it done before we left out again.

A phone call on my part to “another land” only resulted in being told to have the doctors office call the insurance company and ask them to “try” and expedite the request. I am so glad that we pay over $700 a month for health insurance, plus all our co-pays, and can not use this when we need it the most.

There is a medication that I used to take that made me physically, a whole hell of a lot better than when I didn’t take it. Unfortunately the drug needs to be injected by a health care professional, namely a 4 minute visit to the nurse at my doctors office. Well. Guess what. My insurance plan was changed and now injectible drugs are not covered………what the hell????? I cant get coverage for a drug that I need two or three times a year and greatly improves my quality of life just on the basis that a nurse has to dispense it??!!!! What kind of bullshit is this? Well, I need to be more accurate here. The drug is just not covered under my deductible of $1000. Once I pay the $1000 out of my pocket, my second shot will be covered. (It used to just cost me $40 to get this shot). I know this drug doesn’t cost any more than hundreds of other drugs that are given in any other form and are covered without paying the $1000 deductible first.

The worst part is, I know each and every one of us has a story similar to this one regarding abuse by big brother health insurance conglomerates. (Did you ever wonder why when you drive through any city most of the largest, newest, fanciest buildings all have a health care company logo on them??) I now I should be thankful that we have health insurance coverage, but at $736 dollars a month out of our pocket, this might soon become a luxury that we can no longer afford.

So, amid all this talk of bail out and stimulus spending………where has the talk of health care reform gone? Guess it just isn’t that important anymore………….scratching my head.