End of the Road

We're hanging up the reins, so to speak.

Lori has turned in the truck back in Springfield today and is on her way home. I drove back from Denver last Monday while Lori waited for the truck to get fixed (a job that wasn't completed until Friday, a full week after we dropped it off.) She then picked up a load of beef from Fort Morgan, CO and drove the trailer to Springfield for someone else to pick up.

While it was great being able to see so much of the country, I underestimated how much I would miss being at home. I knew that being away for weeks at a time was part of the deal but I didn't think it would be that big of a deal; it was. It's rather humbling to realize I didn't know myself any better than that.

In addition to not being at the house on a regular basis, I struggled with the feeling that I was never "off duty." Even when we were between assignments, we always had to be ready to head out at a moments notice. That made it hard for me to "unwind" and really relax.

Even so, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. We went places and saw things we probably never would have otherwise. And there are lots of great memories of life on the road.

Not sure what we'll do next. Local driving jobs are an option and I'm looking into part-time or contract work back in local government public affairs. Whatever happens, we know God is in charge and is putting us exactly where He wants us to be.

Thank you all for following our adventures, for sharing your thoughts, and for providing the encouragement to keep this blog going.

Take care and God bless!

REALLY holed up in Denver

We're still in Denver. That's because the repair shop has discovered the need to bore the engine core - and the guy that does that isn't in until Monday.

So, we're here until at least late Monday, if not Tuesday. We'll make the best of it.

Holed up in Denver

More truck troubles have us overnighting in Denver. After making our delivery this morning (NOTE - Arizona Ice Tea is NOT from Arizona; this batch came from Sacramento CA!), we decided to take the truck into the shop to have the latest coolant leak checked. (As you may recall, we had a new water pump installed three weeks ago.)

The good news is it isn't the water pump. The bad news is it's a blown head gasket - and that means an overnight stay.

In keeping with our philosophy of being 40 Ton Tourists, we decided to get a room at the Hyatt Regency across from the Denver Convention Center (site of this year's "DenverCrat" Convention, but we won't hold that against the hotel.)

The outdoor 16th St Mall is just a few blocks away so we did some quick window shopping, got some dinner, and high-tailed it back to the hotel. We did NOT bring warm enough clothes for walking at night.

The technician says the truck should be ready tomorrow. We'll see...

To Colorado

It's back over the Sierras for us.

We're picking up our next load in West Sacramento first thing tomorrow morning and heading for Englewood, Colorado for a Friday morning delivery. It will probably be slow going since the load assignment lists the weight as nearly 45,000 pounds and there will be lots of hills and mountains to get over. Luckily, we have plenty of time to get there.

We'll be on the road for Thanksgiving. With any luck, we'll be able to find a turkey dinner somewhere.

Lori and I want to say how thankful we are for all the blessings our Creator has provided for us, especially family and friends. If we don't get a chance to talk to you personally, please accept our warmest wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving.

Milk run

We're back at it with an assignment that feels more like a delivery route than cross-country truck driving.

After picking up at a warehouse in Ontario, CA it's off to the San Francisco Bay area for four different deliveries - one in Union City, the next in South San Franciso, inland to Stockton, and then finally back to Union City. And they're all due tomorrow.

The only way we're going to make all the deliveries on time is if we get in and out quickly at each stop. That's a big "if" given the speed at which we are usually unloaded.

Chicago to Sacramento

At least we're coming to California.

It would have been nice to get a load going directly to Southern California but this assignment will get us into the state by late Wednesday. This is another "go dog go" load as it MUST deliver 40 hours after we leave Chicago. It's do-able if we average 50 mph all the way across, which could be a challenge given some of the terrain, particularly Donner Pass over the Sierras.

The weather forecast looks good for the entire route so that shouldn't present any problems. Given the driving schedule we probably won't have any more posts until we've delivered this load.

Hi in the middle and round on both ends

Yes, we're in the great state of Ohio (or as truck drivers calll it, "slow-hio," given the 55 mph speed limit for trucks).

We were supposed to be making a delivery of hams from Nebraska right about now but, just as we were stopping to take a short sleep break last night, we got a call from our relief dispatcher asking if we could "repower" a load from another driver and take to the Harry & David facility in Hebron, OH about 50 miles away. Sure, no problem. So we swapped trailers at the local truck stop and headed down the road.

It was an easy delivery since it was a drop and hook (leave the loaded trailer there and go hook up to an empty one). After that, it was over to a truck stop to get some sleep and wait for our next assignment.

We're scheduled to be home this Friday so we're thinking/hoping our next load will take us right to California.

Fix it

We've spent most of the past two days getting work done on the truck.

It was time to have our 22,000-mile routine maintenance done, so we scheduled an appointment at the truck stop in Ontario to have it done. While we were waiting, we noticed a nice leak out of the back of our water pump. We figured they could fix that along with doing our maintenance.

No such luck. Since the truck is under warranty, we had to go to a Freightliner dealer to have the water pump fixed. By the time we finished with the maitenance work and drove over to the dealer in Ontario, it was 4:15 - which meant having to wait until the next morning to get the work done. So, we spent the night in the dealer parking lot.

They started working on the truck about 6:30 a.m. but it took until after 3:00 to finish! However, the waiting wasn't all that bad. Since we were the first ones in the customer lounge, Lori got to pick the TV channel. It was quite amusing seeing a room full of truck drivers watching Regis & Kelly and The View.

We're now waiting at a cold storage facility in Riverside to pick up a load of produce going to a Wal-Mart distribution center just south of Kansas City. It doesn't deliver until Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. so we can actually take our time getting there. It would be nice to stop at a grocery store along the way so we can restock the pantry and cooler.

Looking forward to being home next weekend for our annual Family Reunion picnic.

West again

We're heading back to Southern California with a load of tomatoes for Trader Joe's, right from the same place where we dropped off our peppers. Prime's"recommended" route takes us through Iowa and Nebraska and then across the Rockies to Utah; we will NOT be going that way as the weather for the next two days calls for snow and ice. We'll be heading south through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, eventually hooking up with I-40 through New Mexico and Arizona. It's only about 85 miles longer and much better weather-wise.

Our preferred route will be taking us past one of our favorite restaurants in a town called Pocahantas, IL. Keeping with the obvious Native American theme of the town, the restaurant is called the Powhatan. Great food and too-large portions; but that means leftovers to take on the truck.
The town has another claim to fame. It's the hometown of country music star Gretchen Wilson, who recorded "Red Neck Woman." The restaurant has named a breakfast menu item after her, Gretchen's Favorite.

Middle men

Sorry for not posting for a few days. I've either been driving or we've been in poor reception areas.

Many of the items we haul seem to be going to or from some sort of middle man. From what we've seen, very few products go directly from the producer to a direct retailer. More often than not we're picking up at a processor and taking it to a distributor. With as many hands that "touch" or handle a product it's little wonder things cost so much.

The load we have now takes the concept of middle man to the extreme. We have a load of red bell peppers that are being hauled all the way across the United States but were not grown by or will they be consumed by Americans. The peppers were grown, picked, and packaged in Mexico and then taken to a warehouse in Chula Vista, CA where we picked them up. We are now hauling them to a warehouse in Romulus, Michigan where they will be picked up by a Canadian trucking company and taken to Ontario, Canada for ultimate consumption.

For those folks who are worried that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will result in foreign trucks driving all over America it obviously doesn't affect ALL items.

Home time

We made it home late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. It wasn't as warm as we'd hoped (and it was raining) but it's always nice to come home.

We spent Sunday with the grandkids, went to church, and helped out our son, Jason, who broke his foot earlier in the week. On Monday, we made our delivery to the local Costco distribution center and then headed back to Jason's again.

We had asked our FM, Cheryl, if we could stay through Tuesday so I could vote. Lori had mailed in her absentee ballot during our last trip home but I hadn't sent away for a mail-in ballot soon enough. I was grateful to have the opportunity to vote in this election given that I believe there are some very important issues to address this time (particularly Prop 4 and Prop 8) in addition to selecting our next president.

Haven't heard where we're headed to next or when we're going but will update you all when we do.

Go west

We got our wish; we're heading home.

This load is going from southern New Jersey to Mira Loma, just up the street from the house. It doesn't deliver until Monday morning but we should be there by Saturday so we're hoping to leave the trailer in Prime's yard in Ontario and spend the rest of the weekend at home.

We won't mind being in warmer weather, either.

October surprise

What a difference six weeks makes!

We stopped last night at a rest area in the Poconos that we had stopped at back in September. Here's the photo I took back then.

We woke up this morning to find the ground covered with 2 inches of snow.

Fortunately, we missed the worst of the storm, which had closed highways in Pennsylvania and New Jersey yesterday. By the time we got down into the city, there was no more snow on the ground, though we did get a few flurries while we waited to get unloaded.

We hope this isn't an indication of the kind of winter we're going to have this year.

We're waiting at a service plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike for our next load assignment. Would love to go somewhere out west or south where it's warm.

Back to Jersey

We spent most of the day Monday having our QualComm messaging system fixed. It wasn’t a total loss, however, as we got to enjoy lunch at an authentic Chicago hot dog stand across the street from the repair shop.

We were hoping we’d be done in time to pickup a load going to Fresno but no such luck. Instead we were assigned a load of beef going from Forest Park, IL (more about this city in the following post) to Woodbridge, NJ (just south of NYC).

The weather turned very cold and windy. We even saw a few snow flurries in Chicago and as we drove across Indiana today. We’re hoping the bad weather in New Jersey clears up before we get there tomorrow morning.

Our route took us by Grandpa’s Cheese Barn in Ohio so I got to experience the aisles of cheese, meats, canned veggies and relishes, and candy for myself. We picked up a variety of cheese and meats for dinner along with a jar of peaches and some sweets, including chocolate-covered Fritos, which are surprisingly good! We would have bought more but our refrigerator isn’t big enough to hold everything we wanted to get.

This little piggie went to Chic-hog-o

We're on our way to Carpentersville, IL just northwest of Chicago with a load of hams. Obviously, they are going to be processed further as they are literally just piled into giant cardboard bins (much like the ones you're seeing at the grocery stores right now filled with pumpkins) that are lined and covered with plastic.

We picked them up in Smithfield, which is famous for its country hams (along with lots of other pork products). Unlike "city hams" which still have the water in them, country hams are cured and then air dried. They have a very rich, intense taste; I had some for breakfast yesterday.

Anyway, this load is due for delivery on Monday morning at 9:30 so we can take our time, which is good since we're having to lug our way over the Smokey Mountains past lots of coal-mining towns. Not surprisingly, we've seen lots of billboards touting coal as a viable source of alternative energy.

Land of the moose

I think we've now been as far away from home as possible while still being in the continental United States. (It actually made Lori a little homesick.)

Maine is beautiful but very remote.; thick pine forests and rolling hills. We literally drove for hours without seeing a building. There were also lots of signs warning about moose on the roadway. Unfortunately, we never saw one (though we did stop to have lunch at the Blue Moose Restaurant). The high temperature was somewhere in the low 40s after dropping into the 20s the night before; a brisk autumn day.

The load we picked up was frozen french fries, though this plant makes fries and Tater Tots for a variety of companies (including McDonald's and Ore-Ida; maybe they should change the name of their company to Ore-Ida-Ma).

Fortunately, the load was going to a warmer location; Suffolk, Virginia. We're sitting at the loading dock now waiting to get unloaded.

Our route took us over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel, a 20-mile structure crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Here are some photos of the bridge and the tunnel (though the tunnel picture looks a bit surrealistic).

We may not get another assignment for awhile since our QualComm message device isn't working properly.

Switcheroo

We never made it to Pottsville with our Sara Lee frozen pies. That's because we got a call from headquarters asking us to swap trailers with another driver who didn't have enough driving hours left to make his delivery. So he took our trailer to Pottsville and we took his trailer full of Yoplait yogurt to Haverhill, Massachusetts (just outside of Boston).

Even before we got there we had a pre-planned assignment going from Leominster, Massachusetts to Easton, Maine. Which brings us to today's geography question; where the heck is Easton, Maine? It wasn't listed in our atlas so we had to ask headquarters where it is. Turns out it's on the border of Maine and New Brunswick.

I have decided that 53-foot tractor trailers do not belong in New England. Since many of these towns were originally laid out in the 1700's, (the city limit sign on one town we went through - Lancaster, MA - said it was established in 1683), they didn't leave a lot of room on the roads for trucks this size. Give me the wide open spaces of the west any day!

Lori and I were wondering what the heck we would be taking to Maine and what (if anything) gets shipped out of there. Answer: We're bringing empty cardboard boxes to hold frozen french fries and we're taking out filled boxes of frozen food. It should be a quick turn around; drop the trailer of boxes, pick up the pre-loaded trailer of frozen food, and then hit the road for Suffolk, VA.

Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee

Yep, we've got a load of Sara Lee products going from one Sara Lee plant in Traverse City, Michigan (just across the lake from Michigan's Upper Penisula) to another Sara Lee plant in Pottsville, PA (near Allentown).

It's a fairly short run with lots of time so it should be a bit more relaxed than last trip (crossing fingers).

Motor City salad

You've heard of America's breadbasket. Well, today we're in America's lettuce bowl - California's Central Coast and Central Valley.

First, we're picking up lettuce in Lompoc, CA, which is on the coast just north of Santa Barbara and west of Santa Ynez, CA. You may know the area as the location of President Reagan's ranch and the Danish town of Solvang.

Driving through the area we've seen fields of lettuce, peppers, and artichokes. The fields sit on a large flat plain between the ocean and the coastal hills.

After we pick up the lettuce, we're going to Arvin (just south of Bakersfield) to pick up fresh carrots. From there, it's onto Detroit by early Monday morning.

Deja vu all over again

We're back in Seguin, TX, sitting at the Tyson plant, waiting for a load of fresh chicken headed to - you guessed it - Walnut, CA and Oxnard, CA. Seems like these two Sysco Food Services centers have a standing weekly order for chicken.

This trip isn't exactly the same as last time, however. This morning we had to swing by Big Rig Truck Accessories in New Braunfels, TX and pick up a new cover and latch kit for our APU generator compartment. It seems we "lost" the old ones somewhere between Deming, NM and San Antonio last week.

I thought it would be a fairly straightforward process to put on the new latches (and being a good "company man" I figured we could save Prime the cost of an installation), so we just picked up the new items and headed for Seguin where I proceeded to undertake the installation while Lori did a load of laundry at the local laundramat.

I don't think my hands will ever be clean again. What I thought would be a relatively quick and simple job ended up requiring my crawling around under the truck to remove the bottom cover of the APU compartment and then squeezing my fingers into two little openings to loosen and re-attach some screws, a process that took a good hour to complete. I'm still on the lookout for a bar of Lava soap to get the grease out from under my fingernails.

Anyway, we're hoping to be back at home again Thursday afternoon/evening.