It's been too long

Welcome Back Good Buddies!

It has been way too long since I have posted. I'm not sure which I miss more, being out on the road or writing in this blog. Unfortunately the reasons that I have not started up a new blog are not good ones. My fears of this one becoming inactive will keep me posting sporadically until circumstances change. I can not get back out on the road, but maybe, just perhaps, I can still contribute to one dream, that of writing down my thoughts and experiences here.

We are deep in the fall season here in upstate NY, Halloween is only a week away. While we still had some beautiful fall foliage yesterday, I am sure after the drenching rains of last night, they will soon be another thing of the past. Time to hunker down until Spring. I guess if I made it through a blizzard in Fargo, ND (among others) I can make it through this winter here in NY. Hopefully, anyway.

I keep telling Joe that I am going to run away from home. The wide open spaces of the western states are always calling to me in my thoughts and in my dreams. One thing I have learned is that things in our lives are always changing; that thought seems to give me the courage to endure this time in my life.

Today we have planned to visit two of our favorite places: Tractor Supply and Cracker Barrel!
Its been some time since we have had a day to just enjoy spending some time together so I am looking forward to it. With the colder weather on tap, we need to get a heated water jug for the chickens, I'm hoping to start some holiday shopping.

We are finally settling in at the new place, the shed was finished last week, the tractor and the Harley now have a place to sit out the winter in anticipation of warmer weather. Our grass is finally coming in but the rest of the chores will have to wait until spring. Now to concentrate on the inside jobs....LOL.

Hoping to keep up with my blog .......... y'all come back again real soon!!!

Happy Trails

With very heavy hearts, we brought our truck to the terminal today to have them remove their computer equipment and the decals. They said we were the third truck today to come in for that.....small consolation. It sure doesn't make the transaction any easier.

I just want to thank you all for riding along with us, we were very glad to have you.

Have a good ride and be safe out there.

Stay tuned.............

Our Last "Official" Day

Sung to Alice Cooper’s, Schools Out for Summer:

No more bungees, …..No more tarping……….
No more dirty truck stop show-eeeeeeers!

That,‘s a good thing, right??? SIGH

But,. But I havent done truck stop reviews on ALL the places we stopped, and, and we never got to Quebec and, and …sniff…..we , we never got to …sniff, Macaroni Grill…….sniff, sniff. NOOO, wait, I’m not done yet!!!………… Bwaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joe really is extremely good at what he does. It amazes me what he can do with this truck and trailer and the places he manages to get them into. Places and situations that I think are impossible, he makes look easy. It really hurts me to see how hard he works and how conscientious he is, and to have it all fall apart like it has, due to no fault of his own. No one ever said life was fair, or easy, and it sure isn’t, we all have experienced that at some point in time. Its so difficult to start over from scratch when you are in your 40’s, but so many have been forced to do just that during these tough economic times.

Its an appropriately rainy and dreary morning here on the Illinois/Indiana border. That pretty much matches my feelings.

Check back in later for an updated weather report!

Joe's Crab Shack

Sunday we finally had the opportunity to experience dining at Joe’s Crab Shack in Beaumont, TX. We drive by so many fun looking restaurant chains and I have to settle for looking up the menus online instead of eating there. We have been lucky this past year to discover Famous Dave’s.(whoooo hooooo),
Carino’s, Bubba Gumps, and now, Joe’s Crab Shack.

We were not disappointed in the least. I love fish and seafood and funky restaurants with a schtick. Joe’s is similar to Gumps but without the Forrest elements, and Joe’s had a much larger menu. (But Bubba Gump’s shrimp in dipping sauce is to die for, luckily I was able to find a copy cat recipe and can’t wait to try it out).

We parked at the Petro in Beaumont and walked across the street, managed to walk through the parking lot of Cracker Barrel without going in and over to Joe’s. It was almost a tough choice as Joe’s shared a parking lot with Cheddar’s (another favorite of ours) and, the all time great, Carino’s. What a great town! There is also a Pappadeaux’s across the street from Joe’s, which is another seafood restaurant chain that I would have loved to try. Texans really love their food and it shows.

The music was a little loud inside, so we sat out on the deck which worked out great. I had a tough time choosing from the huge menu, but settled on the Maui Mahi, grilled Mahi in a mango coconut sauce. Joe had the glazed salmon with pineapple pico de gallo. Both were moist, perfectly cooked and delicious but we agreed the Mahi was slightly better.

Unfortunately we were both too full to sample anything from the desert menu. Darn.

They have a nice little store with crab themed T-shirts, which I thought were great, as my zodiac sign is the crab. I ‘m sure Joe would agree that the crab would be a good mascot for me for other reasons. I just wish we had one within driving distance in NY so we could try their other menu selections. I was a little crabby because I did forget my camera, but I managed to snap a few with my phone though.

It’s a no-brainer, an easy, and delectable 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!!

90 degree weather.........

90 degree weather + 82,000 pound over sized load = a very loud bang and a HUGE repair bill!

So, now not only are we sitting along the side of the interstate in Arkansas with a blown tire, we are missing a Harley Davidson mudflap and bracket, which has to be replaced before we get a ticket for no mud flap.

We are SO glad that finally, finally after all this time, were given a hub for a wind turbine to deliver. Be careful what you wish for, as they say. Guess we are really going out with a "bang".

Skor bars just arent going to cut it today, folks. I need a whole Black Forest Cake AND an almond cherry cheesecake.

I'm at a loss for words today. Well, any that I can print, that is.

Let's get this show (back) on the road!

This warm sunny gorgeous day finds us heading back out from Moses Lake, Washington, on our way once again, to Nederland, Texas: a trip just short of 2400 miles.

So, here is the scoop on our Genie machine. If you noticed in yesterday's photo, this particular machine has tracks instead of wheels. Supposedly some of these machines were shipped out of the factory in Redmond with the tracks on “backwards”.

The factory rep came out and gave our machine about a 10 second look-see and declared ours A-OK. We were free to go and deliver this in Texas! Luckily for us, as there was a driver in front of us that had one of the defective machines and they had to unload his. He will be forced to sit there all day and, once the new tracks came in, wait until they change them. Whew.

See….piece of cake!! {rolling my eyes}

Speaking of cake, the stress yesterday was a good excuse to allow me to indulge in a couple chocolate bars, so all was not lost!

You want us to do WHAT?

We picked up these 2 Genie machines near Seattle, WA yesterday afternoon. We delivered the smaller one this morning in Meridian, ID, which is right outside of Boise .

We made it to Twin Falls, ID when our dispatcher, Chris calls us on the phone. It seems that there is an “issue” with this model machine that we were supposed to deliver in Texas, and they want us to bring it back to Moses Lake, Washington!! About a 500 mile trip! 500 very steep, very mountainous miles!! So, now we are headed back west, waiting to get a confirmation on exactly how much they are going to pay us to bring this all the way back to Washington! If its not much, I told Joe the only “issue” with this machine is that it will be sitting on the side of the road somewhere in Idaho.

Which means we probably won't get a load delivered in time for this weeks payroll cut-off. Gotta love trucking. This is definitely a statue day and not a pigeon day!

Mantra for today: Hang in there for 2 more weeks! Breathe! Breathe!

Those Crazy Ag Pilots!!

And we thought truck drivers had to be crazy to do what they do! Ag pilots (formerly known as crop dusters) are the craziest of them all!! We have literally had them flying within feet of us.
All I can think of is that these pilots probably love their jobs more than anyone else I know! We love watching these pilots, they are the best!

Moses Lake, Washington

We were able to get all unloaded yesterday with no problem. Looks like we are spending the weekend here in Moses Lake, Washington. It was very surprising to me that the eastern part of Washington State is very arid and hot, much like a desert. Its very sandy and there aren’t many trees here at all. It was sunny and in the 90’s when we unloaded yesterday, and it took us about 2 hours to get all our tarps and straps off that load.

We are both hoping that is the last time we have to unroll those dreaded tarps. I think I will keep one to use for a koi pond liner J (Eat your heart out Queen Martha!)

We found a great little truck stop here in Moses Lake. Well, it’s the only one actually, Ernie‘s Fuel Stop. There is a Shari’s restaurant in the parking lot, which is a chain here on the west coast very similar to Perkins, so we had a nice dinner there. I think we are both just trying to regroup and get our bearings back after this past week.

We found a nice public access boat ramp on the lake and relaxed for a bit, enjoying the water and watching all the boats.

I've been taking tons of photos lately. Now everything I see is so precious, I know its probably the last time I will have the opportunity to see these sights. I just wish I had better service so that I could share more of them with you. I've been working on Picasa, trying to get that to work, but service isn't cooperating with that either yet.

Road Check and passport reminders!!

Drivers, its that time of the year again! Road Check will be conducted from June 2, 2009 through June 4th 2009. This is from Transport Topics Online:

Annual Roadcheck Event Set for June 2-4

Some 10,000 inspectors will be deployed across Canada, Mexico and the United States June 2-4 as part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s annual Roadcheck event.

As in past years, safety inspections on trucks will be conducted by roving patrol units and at checkpoints located on major highways.

By Transport Topics

Also a reminder to all drivers effective tomorrow, Monday, June 1st a passport will be REQUIRED to cross the border between the United States and Canada.

We're going to do WHAT???!

I have to make an announcement with VERY mixed emotions: Joe and I are officially getting out of over the road trucking! Yesterday (Thursday) Joe received a phone call with a job offer from a company back home in NY.. (An offer he couldn’t refuse!) He will still be driving truck, but just local deliveries, and home every night and weekends. He is so relieved to be getting away from the worries of being an owner operator in these very trying economic times, and knowing there will be a steady weekly paycheck as well as benefits. We have to be back in NY in 2 weeks for Joe to finalize all the paperwork.

Not everyone can say that they have lived one of their dreams, and, although it did not last as long as we would have liked, or ended the way that we anticipated, at least we can say that we DID live our dreams for a short while. The memories, both the good and the bad, will always be a part of us.

So we have on one hand, a steady paycheck, benefits, health insurance, home every night, off most weekends, no truck stop showers or food, no trying to find someplace to park, reading permits, no dealing with DOT at weigh stations, no worries about breakdowns, curfews, blizzards, floods, tornados, or waiting on shippers and receivers, (hmmmmmmmmmmmm, what’s NOT to like?) And, on the other hand…. well, you get the picture. Am I disappointed? Heck yes! Trucking DOES get into your blood, but I also know it’s the best move we can make at this point in time.

But, but, there are still so many places I didn’t get to see yet!! And I never got to eat at Joe’s Crab Shack!!!

Last Thursday, we received a phone call from someone that says he is definitely going to buy our truck, so we will see how that plays out.
Not everyone can say that they have lived one of their dreams, and, although it did not last as long as we would have liked, or ended the way that we anticipated, at least we can say that we DID live our dreams for a short while. The memories, both the good and the bad, will always be a part of us.

That’s not to say we wont miss having our truck, or being out on the road together 24/7, we will both miss that part of it very much. Don’t get me wrong, trucking has its good points, but these days, its also a difficult and ulcer inducing career choice, especially if you have your own truck. I just hope and pray the economy can make a turnaround soon, and we can all start breathing a little easier.

There are a lot of things I will miss and a lot of things I will be glad to miss, but mostly, its going to be difficult to adjust to having a “normal” lifestyle. (not that my life has, in any way shape or form ever been normal). Right now we have to scramble to find a place to live, a houseful of furniture, a job and a vehicle for me…..hey, why should this be easy? LOL

I’m planning on keeping the blog up for at least another 2 weeks, perhaps a little bit longer after that.
Then I am hoping that time and health will cooperate and allow me to start my very own healthy cooking blog!

Oh by the way, we just passed our first 2010 Chevy Camaro, and I must say we were both very impressed. I didn’t think I was going to like it after seeing the promotional photos, but this was one sharp car. It was deep yellow with black racing stripes and shortly after that we passed a solid black version. I’m still partial to the new Challenger though!

Kudos to Joey Logano for his great finishes in the last few NA$CAR races. I know it won’t be long before he visits victory lane for the first time!

Progress Report

I’m happy to report that we are almost to the Montana-Idaho line, and thankfully, no sign of a relapse in the pneumonia. We left the hospital in Missouri early Wednesday morning, and we have been making our way mile by mile. We are hoping to be at our destination in a few hours, Joe is feeling a bit better, aside from some side effects of the medication, and the fever hasn’t come back, which is a great thing.

Wyoming and Montana have been beautiful, especially this time of the year, and I’m looking forward to going through Idaho again. Especially Coeur D’Alene, We’ve been running along side the Clark River and it reminds me so much of the rivers where they were fly fishing in Montana in the movie, A River Runs Through with Anthony Hopkins. (Yeah, I know Brad Pitt is in it too, but Anthony Hopkins is a MUCH better actor in my opinion). Joe saw a bull moose last night, so that was pretty exciting.

We are both pretty quiet, I think we are just intent on getting back on track and getting this load safely delivered so that we can get a paycheck next week. Once we get this delivered we can both breathe a little easier. Although we would like to be able to get a new load this afternoon, the odds of that happening are slim, and I would certainly not be unhappy if we had the opportunity to rest up and get all this laundry done!

Thanks again for all your prayers and well wishes for Joe’s recovery!

Comments

I apologize for not responding to anyone's comments. I had all the settings in my "dashboard" set to allow comments, which is all I thought was needed. However, after a very lengthy search on the help forums (Blogger has a very "un" user friendly help feature) I have found yet another antidote. It seems each and every time you type a new posting, you have to click on a link that opens up another window to change the radio button to allow comments. THUNK.......silly me, here I thought just changing the global settings to allow comments would, well............allow comments. Go figure.

Now if I can only figure out how to caption my photos...............

Virginia modifies rest area closures

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We are still in the hospital here in Missouri, but Joe is feeling much better and we should be back on our way to Washington in the morning. We really needed to keep this load, especially since every one of our tarps and straps were used to secure this load. I'm just hoping its still there after being left in the truck stop for the last 3 days! :-) Thanks so much for all your prayers and well-wishes. We've had the chance to experience this weekend first hand several days of hospital food. Don't get me wrong, the hospital and the nurses here have been great, they have always brought me a meal whenever they brought one for Joe, and being that there are no restaurants within walking distance, its been a big help. I just can't help but wonder.......WHY is hospital food so unhealthy?? Everything that we have had has been high in fat, low in nutrients and high on the processed food chain. It just makes more sense to me that if you are trying to support your body in time of sickness or injury, you would want to eat as healthy as possible. That's just my thinking, anyway. The staff here has been wonderful, though, and to that, I am very thankful. (It is however a scary thought that we are actually looking forward to eating truck stop food again! LOL) Some of you might remember my previous rant concerning Virginia's callousness regarding truck parking. Here is a copy of an article I read today on etrucker.com: (It's nice to see they are making some sort of an effort to correct the situation, it's a small start)... Virginia modifies rest area closures By eTrucker Staff The Virginia Department of Transportation May 20 recommended keeping open six rest areas it had planned to close and making other adjustments to accommodate truck parking. VDOT still plans to close 19 of 42 rest areas but will keep open four along the I-81 corridor. It will also retain two truck-only facilities on I-95 near Daly City to address truck parking concerns. In response to trucking industry requests, VDOT will propose replacing the “two-hour” commercial parking rule in rest areas with “no overnight parking.” The department also will replace 225 truck parking spaces lost to rest area closures by reconfiguring parking lots at some remaining facilities. VDOT is making its final recommendations to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which will adopt VDOT’s fiscal year 2010 budget at its June meeting. If approved by the CTB, these changes represent $9 million in annual savings and will begin in July. In February, VDOT said it would close 25 rest areas to save $12 million annually. VDOT hosted 11 public meetings across the commonwealth before finalizing its recommendations. The commonwealth also plans to seek federal law changes to allow future rest area commercialization. I hope the states start realizing just how difficult it is out here on the road, and how difficult it can be to stay within the federal hours of service guidelines, and try to cooperate more with drivers.

Happy Memorial Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day. Please take a moment to give thanks to all those men and women that are serving in our armed forces, and remember those that gave their lives so that we may enjoy all the freedoms available to us in this country.

We are spending our Memorial Day weekend not driving to Washington, but in a small hospital in Missouri. Joe had a fever for the last three days, and the diagnosis is not the flu, as we feared, but pneumonia. We are hoping he can be released tomorrow, or Tuesday at the latest. Luckily, there was a small hospital about 9 miles from the truck stop and we were able to leave our trailer at the truck stop.

We are hoping that they will allow us to deliver the load in Washington on Friday, especially since all of our tarps are on it. We will just have to wait and see how this plays out.

Assume the Position

We saw this on the back of a truck that passed us in Pennsylvania last week. It needs no explanation!! (If you can't read the writing it simply says, "Thanks, George" (yes, that's a fuel pump nozzle!!)

Grillin' and Chillin'

Grillin' and Chillin"......is where I'd much rather be than sitting in Friday night holiday weekend traffic in Knoxville, TN! Aren't you the least bit jealous?

Especially after tarping another load from hell today...... It beats the heck out of us WHY this load of electric cable trays had to be tarped...it's galvanized steel for goodness sake! Geeeeeesh!
You can see our poor attempts at protecting our tarps from the sharp steel edges with our state of the art cardboard. Of course we used to have pad wrap blankets before someone stole them....ah hem. Perhaps we should have a survey on how many holes we will have in the tarps by the time we drive 2700 miles. Just got to love those tarps!!

......and so we head westward on our trek to Washington.

Alton Brown is my favorite TV food personality (sorry Rachel!) and if you arent familiar with his TV Food Network show, Good Eats, I highly recommend you try and catch an episode. as well as his series, Feasting on Asphalt. This potato salad recipe is a little more work, but having made it before, I can vouch for its being worth the extra effort. (snagged from foodnetwork.com)

Cold-Fashioned Potato Salad

• 2 1/2 pounds red potatoes, large diced
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (homemade if possible)
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• 1/2 tablespoon very thinly sliced garlic
• 3 tablespoons fine chopped cornichons
• 1/2 cup small dice red onion
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place potatoes into a large heavy-bottomed pot. Cover with cold water and place over medium heat. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat and remove lid. Gently simmer until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and place into an ice bath to cool. Remove skin by rubbing with a tea towel. Slice potatoes into rounds and place into a zip top bag. Add the vinegar and toss to coat all of the potatoes. Place the bag into the refrigerator overnight.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, parsley, tarragon, garlic, cornichons, onions, and celery. Once evenly combined, add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Let the salad chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

I got these next two recipes from my Good Neighbor Recipe Friday ezine from Recipe Du Jour today, here is the link to subscribe:

"RECIPE DU JOUR
Simply the BEST daily recipe E-zine on the Web!
Delicious recipes delivered daily via email.
Recipes, columns, and nostalgia.
Send a blank email to rdj-subscribe@topica.com

(I've been getting this for years and its a great read, they have several different topics you can subscribe to)

Grilled Parmesan Potatoes

4 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Progresso® Italian style bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Heat gas or charcoal grill. Cut 2 (30x18-inch) sheets of heavy-duty
foil. Divide potato slices evenly onto foil sheets. Sprinkle with salt.
In small bowl, mix remaining ingredients; sprinkle over potatoes. Bring
up 2 sides of foil so edges meet. Seal edges, making tight 1/2-inch
fold; fold again, allowing space for heat circulation and expansion.
Fold other sides to seal.
Place packets, seam side up, on grill. Cover grill; cook over medium
heat 18 to 23 minutes, rotating packets once, until potatoes are tender.

To serve, place packets on plates. Cut large X across top of each
packet; carefully fold back foil to allow steam to escape.

Texas BBQ Sauce Pork Ribs

3 pounds country-style pork ribs

SAUCE
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 can (16 ounces) tomato purée
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon celery salt

Heat oven to 350F. Have ready a large roasting pan with rack. Pour 1/2
inch water into pan. Place ribs on rack in pan. Cover and bake 11/2
hours or until ribs are tender. Meanwhile heat oil in a medium-size
saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring
occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes until tender. Add remaining sauce
ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 15
minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

Reserve about 3/4 cup sauce to serve with the ribs. Brush 1 side of
baked ribs with 1/2 cup remaining sauce.

To grill or broil: Grill 4 to 6 inches above hot coals 10 to 12 minutes,
turning and brushing ribs with remaining sauce until browned. Broil on
broiler-pan rack 4 to 6 inches from heat source, cooking as directed.
Country-style pork ribs are by far the meatiest pork ribs.

(Is it obvious that I REALLY would much rather be doing a cooking blog than a trucking blog? LOL)

Another hint for the holiday weekend - if you can't make any of these recipes for whatever reason, then throw a 7 layer mexican dip together, open a bag of chips, kick back, put the lime in the Corona, and have one for me!

BBQ recipes

I hope that everyone has plans for some good back yard BBQ’s during the upcoming holiday weekend. We will be on our way to Washington State! Here are some BBQ recipes for you to try, bon appetit!

I snagged this one from thrifty fun.com:

Copycat “Bullseye” BBQ sauce
(I like this recipe because it has no corn syrup and very little added sugar, except for what you find in the ketchup. You can find ketchup in the natural food section of your super market that does not have any added corn syrup and is low in sodium.).

1/2 cup minced onions (if you are pressed for time, try the already chopped frozen ones)
1(8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. prepared mustard (I think Jack Daniels brand would be good for this)
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 dash tabasco sauce
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in pan. Cover and simmer 30 minutes over low heat.

Marinated and Grilled Flank Steak

1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 lbs flank steak
Kosher salt
freshly grated pepper

Score the surface of the steak with 1/4 inch deep knife cuts, about an inch apart, across the grain of the meat. Combine the marinade ingredients. Place steak and marinade in a large freezer bag, coating the steak well. Seal and place in a bowl in the fridge. Chill and marinate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Using olive oil soaked onto a paper towel, coat the grill rack of your grill with olive oil. Preheat grill with high, direct heat. The grill is hot enough when you hold your hand about an inch over it an can only hold it there for about a second. Take the steak out of the marinade and sprinkle generously on all sides with course salt and freshly ground pepper. Place steak on hot grill.
If you are using gas grill, cover the grill. Grill for 4-6 minutes on each side. Half way through grilling on each side, turn the steak 90 degrees so that you get more grill marks.


When the steak has cooked to your preferred level of doneness, remove
from grill a place on cutting board. Cover with aluminum foil to hold in the heat and to keep the steak from drying out, and let rest for 10 minutes. Make very thin slices, against the grain at a slight diagonal so that the slices are wide. Serves 6.

If you want, you can take the excess marinade and bring it to a boil,
simmer for several minutes, and serve with the steak. (Remember not to use marinade unless you boil it first!)



Sweet BBQ Chicken

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 2 oranges
1/2 cup apple butter
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp hot sauce, or to taste
6 slices cheese
2 large white onions, cut into 1/2" slices, kept together

In a large shallow dish place chicken, garlic, oil and juice of oranges;
refrigerate until ready to cook. In a small saucepan on low heat combine
apple butter, ketchup, honey, brown sugar, Worcestershire, pepper,
garlic powder, mustard and hot sauce. Cook 8-10 minutes until sauce
thickens. Lift chicken from marinade. Cook chicken on grill or in
broiler about 6 minutes per side until just about done. Brush generously
with sauce and cook an additional 2 minutes per side or until cooked
through; top with a slice of cheese. Brush onions with sauce and grill
about 3 minutes per side until they start to caramelize. When cheese is
melted, remove chicken and top with onion slices. Serves 6.

BACON EXPLOSION

And if you are brave enough, here is the ultimate in BBQ food, a bacon wrapped sausage roll……..hey, pork fat rules!!! I can't wait to try this. I've included the link here because you really need to see this to believe it!

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow morning we will be heading for Lake Moses, Washington and I'll try to post more as I am able. Enjoy!!

Trucking Industry in Trouble

Again, I must apologize for the lack of posts, I am experiencing a lot of difficulty in getting online with my AT&T internet card. (As soon as I started typing this, I lost service yet again!) If anyone else uses one, please let me know how its been working for you. It just seems like nothing works as well these days as they used to.

We stopped off at the Gooseberry Farms Travel Plaza in Pine Grove PA last night, exit 100 off of I-81. The plan was to shower and then stop in the restaurant for a bite to eat. I guess I should have known things were going to be bad when I gagged from the decomposing smells of the over flowing garbage pails, but the rat running by me really was a definite clue. I must say that is the first time that I have seen one of those out here. What really got Joe was that they wanted $9 per person for us to shower. Now we don’t mind paying $10 but $18 is just a rip off and we refused to pay that, especially when we do have a shower in our truck. Its just easier to clean up and not have wet towels hanging in the truck, so we usually shower at the truck stops. Joe was so mad he forgot to go over to DQ and get some ice cream!

There was a good article on MSNBC.com last week regarding how badly the economy has effected the trucking industry. Here is the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30728469/

Its nothing new to us folks out here on the road, but its nice to finally see one of the big news carriers actually acknowledge the fact.

One of the largest companies, Werner, has reduced its fleet by 4%, over 8,000 trucks. So far just in 2009 480 companies have gone out of business already this year alone. (Last year a total of 3,000 companies closed their doors) They don’t expect that things will improve much before a year from now. Its not a pretty picture, that’s for sure. Especially for what we do, the flatbeds, where so much of that is based on hauling commodities for the construction industry.

Some weeks, we have sat waiting for a load for more days then we have actually spent driving. The scary thing is, almost all of the other drivers we talk to out on the road are experiencing exactly the same thing. Everyone we talk to is making half (or less) than what they were last year at this time.

We were talking to one driver at a truck stop in NJ yesterday and his company had a contract to haul a commodity that paid them $3.50 gross per mile. One of the largest trucking companies in the county (I’ll give you a hint, it starts with an “S”, so you have a choice of 2 there) came in and bid the job for $1.60 a mile. This happens all the time, I call it the Wal-Mart approach to trucking. They bid very low for a contract, after a few months, they raise the rates they charge right back up as high as the original trucking company was getting, who, by now, have been forced to close their doors. It’s a never ending cycle.

On a lighter note, I’m hoping to post some recipes that will go good with any Memorial Day BBQ’s you might be having this weekend. Lets hope AT&T cooperates for a change!

Happy Mother's Day, and Adios Texas!!

Adios, Texas!

First, a very belated Happy Mother’s Day wish to you all!!!

We crossed from Texas into Oklahoma late last night. For a change, I was glad to see the last of Texas, for a while anyway. Those feelings are not all due to the so-called “swine” flu, but, after sitting idle for 3 days in three digit temps this weekend, and for 5 days in sunny Southern California last weekend, we needed to get the show on the road.

After the blinding scorching sun of southern Texas, the cooler, rain misted morning in Oklahoma seems almost refreshing. My friend Sherry, who, along with her husband has a large farm in Oklahoma and has been praying for rain for months. From your lips to God’s ear, Sherry. Its been raining there for a couple weeks now.

And although it’s a good thing that we have a load finally and are moving, we are pretty much going in the wrong direction. We have to be in NY this weekend but we are headed for East Peoria, Illinois. We will see what kind of head games they have in store for us after we get unloaded, we will probably end up dead heading all the way to New York.

The conversations of other drivers within the company we have been seeing, as well as our experiences, have been disheartening to say the least. I think that’s another reason why I’ve been lapsing so much on my posts, there really have not been too many “good” things to write about lately. Trust me, there have been no lack of “not-so” good things to write about lately, but my momma always taught me, if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything! So, add that to not feeling well and the usual (lack of) service lately with AT&T, you can understand why I have been so quiet.

We did, however enjoy the hotel room we were in this weekend, I sat by the pool, read and soaked up the rays, while Joe lounged back in the A/C joined at the hip with the TV remote. We have a discount hotel card through OOIDA which gives us big discounts on hotel rooms, so we used that for the first time. It wasn’t much more than what we would have spent running the truck for 2 days straight and we were a hell of a lot more comfortable. Its all about the amenities…..lol.

The card is called Check Inn Card and you can get information on it at checkinncard.com. If you have an OOIDA membership, the card is free, if not, there is a small charge of $10 to join the services. Once you log in, you put in a location and it will give you a list of hotels that honor the card (there were 13 in Laredo, to give you an example). I always check that list against the reviews on tripadvisor.com.

However I will take one second to vent my (very great) frustration regarding my hearing aid (I know the angels in my hard of hearing group can appreciate this) My one year old hearing aid decided to stop working last week! I’m sure once I find the warranty, its was probably within a day of its expiring too. Unfortunately there is only one type I have been able to wear and their product reliability leaves a lot to be desired. So when we get back to NY, I will have to drop it off at the audio and have them send it away for a rebuild.

The worst part is, we have a big family social event this weekend, of course, gee, do they still make those old fashioned gramaphone-like thingees??? SIGH (It wouldn’t be any other way….lol)

I’ve got a lot of pictures to post, but of course, blogger is seeing to it that they arent getting posted properly, so I will run both blogger and word press blogs for a while and test word press before switching. I’d much rather work on my healthy cooking blog, but, alas, that one will have to wait until I have a kitchen again. Meh, I think a kitchen would definitely be a plus if one is going to do a cooking blog, no? I’ll try and keep this updated at least until we get to NY.

Back to blogging

Well we are back after a brief hiatus, hope you didn’t miss us too much!.

I’d thought I’d start out with my favorite subject, food and write a truck stop review.

We had a great lunch at a small truck stop in Stanton TN at the Exit 47 truck stop and Rick’s Restaurant. The truck stop is a small one, light on amenities, but the food more than makes up for any shortfalls. The service and the prices were A rated as well.

Joe had the half pound angus beef bacon mushroom swiss burger with home made fries and cole slaw. I took one bite and was ready to hold it hostage.

I ordered the mesquite seasoned grilled catfish filets with a baked ‘tater and a side of pinto beans and cornbread. I was served a plate of two large, very well seasoned fresh fish, which was about the best cat fish I have had in a long time. Luckily, the portions were large enough to bring one back and I’ll have that on a Sammie later.

The only bad part about it was we were both too full to sample the home made pies in the bakery case.

So, if you get off that exit, hang a Louie and bypass the Love’s. Your taste buds will be glad you did.

We have had the most beautiful sunny, hot weather here down south for the past few days, however, although it isn’t raining yet, its very overcast here in Tennessee. I have a feeling we will be running into the storms that have been hitting the Midwest on our way to Colorado. We have one stop there and then we final out in La Mirada, California, a suburb of Los Angeles on Friday. We have another load of cable reels from our friends at Okinite.

Things have started to very slowly pick up a little, but are not yet back up to the levels they were last year at this time. Time will tell. We drive and keep our fingers crossed.

Baltimore, Maryland

We unloaded a day early yesterday....whooo hoooo!!. The only bad thing about that was we ended up untarping and unloading in the pouring down rain, we were both completely soaked through and through by the time we were done and sloshing around in about an inch of water in our boots.

We are in Baltimore now to swap out our flatbed for a stepdeck, then back to that place in Virginina where loaded the utility trailers that we delivered for the Tractor Supplies in Michigan.
(Yes, the place that didnt load us until one in the morning!) These will be going to 5 different Lowe's stores, all in upstate NY, so that works out well for us getting home this weekend.

It seems like there might be signs that things are picking up a little. I sure hope so.

Happy Easter, Passover, Spring!

I'm hoping that everyone had a wonderful spring holiday!!

We spent the weekend in Gulfport, Mississippi, about 10 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The weather was perfect, and we tried to enjoy the warm sunshine and relax a little.

We finally received a load offer that was worth taking, and Gulfport was only 80 miles from where were waiting in Louisiana. However, it wasn't picking up until Monday morning. The load is our first super load with this company, as its over 14 wide, which means at least one escort at all times from where we pick it up in Gulfport, all the way to Annapolis, MD.

Friday night I received a call from my son in NY, telling me that he totaled his car on his way home from work that night. He was on a very steep and windy road and lost control on the wet roadways. Thank God, he had some angels watching over him that night, the car skidded about 30 feet off the road, wedged between a tree and a boulder. I'm so relieved that his only injuries were some scrapes to his elbow and badly shaken. Cars can be replaced, but he is certainly irreplacable. It sure put a lot of things into perspective for me.

Saturday we tried to keep busy and keep my mind occupied, or should I say distracted, hmmm? We went to the beach on the Gulf and drove through Gulfport into Biloxi. There is still a lot of devastation in evidence from Katrina, and also, quite a bit of rebuilding, with several new casinos already completed. We pass a huge sign for a new casino "coming in 2010, Margaritaville,
a resort and casino". Thats Jimmy Buffett, never missing a marketing opportunity!! He's put his label on everything from blenders, restaurants, frozen foods, and now, casinos! You rock, JB.

We took advantage of it being off season and with ample opportunities to park, took a nice long walk on the beach together. I could listen to the sound of the ocean waves 24/7 and never tire of it.

That evening, we took a ride over to the local dirt track for some saturday night racing. That was quite an experience, one which I have no desire to repeat anytime soon. Rolling eyes here. They sure do things different down here that up at our track at home. We did have a good time though and it was a nice change of pace from sitting in the truck at the J.

Easter morning we went to one of our favorite places, Cracker Barrel and had a pretty fine meal indeed. Then we found a laundromat, got that job out of the way for the week, and a little shopping over the local Walmart. Back to the J to put a few touches on the truck for the super load and then it was movie time.

We got up this morning to the sound of pouring down rain on our roof. Normally I like that sound, but not when I know we have a couple hour tarp job to do soon. I'm hoping its just a shower and it will let up when we get to the shipper.

This load is just over 14 wide (our trailer is only 8 feet 6 inches wide, to give you an idea of how far this is going to extend out over the sides). Its a crated aircraft engine of some sort, and although it needs to be tarped, its only 5 feet high so it shouldn't be too bad (famous last words!)

We are here now waiting to get loaded and we are told that they were going to back us into the warehouse to load us, now lets hope they let us tarp it in there, as the rain has turned into a steady downpour.

To be continued........

Geaux Tigers!

We stopped at the Waffle House for breakfast/lunch today. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices. TWH is one of my least favorite places to eat, and one of Joe’s favorite. (There is no accounting for taste). But, really, did I mention its one of my least favorite places to eat?

I just think that if you have a dirty kitchen, don’t broadcast the fact and put the customer seating right in front of your stoves. There are just some things better left to the imagination. Shudder. But, like churches down south, there is one on almost every corner, so they must be doing something right. (What it is I’ll never know). If you’ve never been to one, trust me, its nothing at all like an IHOP. ‘nuff said.

The worst part was, we left the Waffle House and drove up the road a few miles to a truck stop and guess what was right next door to the truck stop? A BBQ place!! (Now y’all can be very proud of me, I did NOT inflict any bodily harm on Joe when I saw that!) hmmm, it was probably closed anyway, right? Maybe I’ll just take a walk to town and walk through the daiquiri drive thru and get a go-cup.

Earlier today I spotted a Chinese & Soul food restaurant. That was one place, not one of each. I would have loved to have seen the menu there. What do they have? Sesame chicken with a side of grits?? Kuang Pao Collard green and crawfish? (hmm, that’s an interesting idea).

We also passed another interesting concept and one that you could expect from Louisiana as well. It was a mens hair-cutting "lounge". Now, you have lounges on every street corner in Louisiana too, which begs the idea, do they have topless beauticians there, or what?? A bar, for sure and the Tigers playing on the big screen TV. This has got to be the only place that the college football team is more popular than the pro team. We even saw LSU Tigers bottled water for sale in Wal-Mart!! And that’s ok by me, they ARE my favorite collegiate team!

Well, its 4 pm, and not even one load offer yet today……………A truck came in to fuel before, and the name on the door was Empty Pockets Trucking! We feel your pain, brother!

The "Greatest Show on Earth"???

I’ve come to the conclusion that hauling flat bed freight is a lot like working for the circus. You need to be an acrobat, a strongman, a contortionist, get to travel all over the country and work for peanuts!! Any one that has done this will know exactly what I’m talking about.

We unloaded our spools first thing Monday morning, and the we headed over to the truck stop with the other 2 of our drivers that unloaded with us. As we sit and wait for the entire day, the picture emerges that there are about 90 of our drivers also in the immediate area waiting for loads as well. Uh-oh, that’s not a good thing at all. It turns out we wait until almost Tuesday afternoon before we take another load, which doesn’t pick up until Wednesday morning. We have to go meet up with another driver and swap trailers, we need a flat bed for this load, and we have a step deck. The load is structural steel and its 60 feet long, so we will be over dimensional, and need permits. The good thing is its only going to Louisiana so we can deliver it on Thursday, and hopefully get something else before the weekend. That was the plan anyway.

The trip over to Louisiana goes very well. The weather is mid-seventies, sunny, no wind or humidity and just about perfect. I keep looking in the bayous for ‘gators, but all I see are wading birds, white egrets and blue and grey herons. We travel through miles of rice paddies and crawfish farms. Over the Mississippi river and over Lake Pontchartrain,with its view of N’Awlins. We are delivering in Belle Chasse, LA, which is south of New Orleans, on the Gulf, and we see a slew of tug boats and marine cranes. They have this enormous construction project, a huge cement sea wall and there must be 20 cranes in a row working on this.

Right now we are sitting here in Louisiana, waiting for the forklift to unload us, its about 7:30 am, the sun is shining and its already 60 degrees, its going to be another beautiful day, weather-wise.

We will see what the rest of the day brings………..

Pig Candy for Easter

There are lots of reasons that I like the Sweet Potato Queens, but one of the biggest reasons is the recipe for Pig Candy. I guess the proximity to Easter has made me think of this, after all, Easter brings to mind candy, and ham, right? This would make a delightful appetizer for your Easter dinner this year.

Anyway, the beauty of this recipe lies not in its simplicity but in its mouth watering goodness. After all, how can you go wrong with bacon (pork fat rules) and sugar.

All you do is take the amount of bacon of your choice (the more the better, of course) and lay it all out in a single layer in a baking pan. I always put foil down and spray it with no stick spray so I don’t have to waste any time cleaning up and therefor, can dedicate more time to eating. See, there is a method to my madness. Then you sprinkle the bacon with brown sugar to your hearts content and bake ‘til your desired doneness (If you can wait that long) That’s it!!

The sugar cancels out the fat in the bacon, by the way.

You're welcome!!

Spring.....Glorious Spring

While I do love the newly green grass, the blooming tees and flowers and the cavorting of all the little baby critters, spring does not like me. Spring is usually known to me as zombie-time.

Spring has historically, both for myself and others that I know with Fibro, one of the worst times of the year. You would think going from the cold temperatures of winter to the warmer weather of spring would be beneficial, but it just the opposite. Perhaps there is an underlying allergic reaction in play, with all the blooming going on, but whatever the cause, it really takes its toll.

Wake me up when its summer.

Please bear with me while my body tries to adjust , postings will be at a minimum (and boring) during the next few weeks. Its pretty challenging to write a blog when you can’t finish the sentences you start………..the best way I can think of to describe it would be to take a couple extra doses of Benadryl, and

Oh, I forgot what I was going to say..........

See, my point exactly! Uhhh, what WAS my point??

Or this fine example: You know the feeling when you go into another room to get/so/eat something and you get there and forgot why you are there?? (OK, I admit I NEVER forget to eat something!). Its that feeling, but only at the end of every sentence.

Now where was I??

So yesterday, after a long delay, (would it be any other way?) we finally got loaded with our two spools of cable bound for the port of Houston, and then, ultimately Ecuador. FYI, each of those spools weighs in at around 16,400 pounds, and a little over 10 feet high.

Here is a brief synopsis of our trip so far:
Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas. The End.

Oh, and thanks to the dude that trotted his horse across the road right in front of us, I'll be needing that new box of Miss Clairol now. I know all y'all in your cars and pickups are always trying to beat the truck out, but on a horse?? C'mon now, I think your odds are significantly against you on that one. Get with the program. I thought I was bad.

Now be a dear and hand me that gallon of Mountain Dew , would ya? And enjoy that sunshine!!

My Old Kentucky Home

Ahhhh Kentucky, land of fine horseflesh and bourbon, what more could a person ask for?
We pass signs for several different distilleries, then a sign for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
(http://www.kybourbontrail.com/)
It was a pleasant 52 when we got up at 6 yesterday morning. Magnolia's, my favorite, are in bloom and everything is verdant and lush.

Frankfort, despite being Kentucky’s capital, still maintains that small town feel. Surrounded by acres of blue grass farms, redolent with thoroughbreds and cattle, the area is one of serene pastoral, beauty. Sign me up folks.

The picture of the horses was taken at the Kentucky Horse Park, a sanctuary for retired race horses in Lexington. (you can read about it here: http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/horse_racing/articles/2007/12/11/post__time/)

We made it to the Kentucky national guard base while it was still dark and were unloaded in about one hour. There is a Love’s truck stop about 9 miles away, so we head there to wait for a new load. It takes about two hours to get the heads up. I don’t want to jinx anything, but we finally were able to get a load only 50 miles from where we delivered in Frankfort. it’s a load of cable reels going from Richmond, KY to Houston TX.

We stopped at a local Wal-mart for some supplies, and walked over to Chili’s for lunch. I have always wanted to try Chili’s; we’ve been to a Chili’s2 at one of the PA service plaza’s (which was awesome) and I liked the items on the menu on the website. We were not disappointed in the least. We both had a hard time narrowing down the extensive menu, but Joe had the Memphis dry rub ribs and Monterrey chicken combo, and I had the Margarita chicken. Both were delicious. Chili’s is definitely up there along with Cheddars as a favorite eating place.

Chili’s Margarita Grilled Chicken
Serving size: 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup liquid margarita mix
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Pour margarita mix over chicken breasts, and marinate for 2 hours in refrigerator.

When ready to prepare, drain and dust chicken breasts with black pepper.

If you do not have a grill use an iron skillet. Bring to medium high temperature and spray skillet with an oil coating. Braise the chicken breasts until done on each side. Place chicken breasts atop Chili's Black Beans.

Serve with a serving of your favorite Mexican rice and Chili's Pico de Gallo.

I haven't been posting that much, I have been having a terrible time trying to get internet service lately, I’m not sure if AT&T changed something in their software or their towers, but it will work for a minute or two, then get hung up and I have to sign off and reconnect again. Constantly. Certain areas it works fine, like it used to, but other areas its almost worthless, however, I will try and post as often as I can. So bear with me, and I will post the promised photos when I am able.

You really never get what you pay for these days. AT&T does not live up to the promises it has made with its products and service, but if I were to cancel my contract, I am liable for the balance remaining on the contract. Why is it that we, the consumer, can never void a contract without recourse when the promised service is not provided?

I’ll have that julep now, Jeeves.

Back to Civilization!

Well, folks, we’ve finally made it back to civilization, did you miss us? Back to the land of (sometimes) working internet service. I don't know what AT&T changed on their internet card software or towers, but whatever it was made it a lot worse. If you are shopping around for a cell phone provider, go with Verizon, for sure. Especially if you travel in the western part of the country.

Anyhow...........

The weather has really been working against us lately, we were shut down for bad weather more in the past week and a half than we have been all winter!

I’ve got lots of pics to try and post later, but here is an update of the last few days:

We arrived at the power plant site late Sunday afternoon. The sun was still shining and the temps are still hovering in the mid-fifties. It was a beautiful ride up, with no threat of the promised rain or snow.

The gates are closed at the site, so we park in front and watch the antics of a herd of about a dozen pronghorn and 4 deer in the fields across the road from us. I can think of worse things to do. They seem agitated and constantly on the move, probably sensing the incoming storm.

The security guard takes a ride over to our gate and gets us all checked in, she lets us know the gates will be open at 5 a.m.., and if we want to avoid waiting in a long line, to be there bright and early when they open for business.

We set the alarm and are waiting at the gates at 5 a.m., however the world has undergone a startlingly transformation over night. The blizzard has hit hard for about 2 hours and the foreman advises us that they will be shutting down operations for the day. He brings us to our unloading area, where we can leave our trailer and then bobtail to the truck stop to wait out the storm.

The truck stop lot is packed full, another bobtail calls us over the radio that we can park in front of him, his tranny is down and he isn’t going anywhere. He had been sitting there for a week. Another driver announces the manager of the Kmart across the street says we are all welcome to park in their lot. After taking showers, we head over to Perkins and Walmart, which is in the same lot as Kmart and park there for the night.

We manage to make it back to the jobsite in the morning, the roads are in pretty bad shape. Once we get through the gates, the wait isn’t too long before the crane gets us unloaded. We head back to Gillette, and the truck stop to wait for another load. Nothing worthwhile comes over the boards, our driver manager advised us to head to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. On the way there, we come to a roadblock, the interstate is shut down due to blowing snow. The weather had been clear, so we were surprised, but SD doesn’t have snow break fences along their interstate like Wyoming does.

Finally at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, they open I-90 back up. We can see why they had closed it down, parts of it are a real mess. We finally get a couple load offers and after much deliberation, decide to take one going from Rosemount, a suburb of the Twin Cities, to Frankfort, Kentucky.

We made it to the National Guard facility at about 8 a.m. this morning. Its one military truck (I believe its some type of emergency shelter on wheels), which we get loaded and chained down in less than an hour. We have to deliver this tomorrow morning, so its hammer down time.

We will be heading through Wisconsin (yipee!!) then Illinois, Indiana and finally into Kentucky.

Let’s hope the weather starts cooperating with us for a change.

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.