Another 20 days has passed! I need to get my rear in gear and start updating this more often, for the three people that read this anyway. :-)
It has been a really odd month for us. Miles have just been goofy. Well, I don't think it is the miles necessarily, just when we came out from time off, the truck going down and just not being able to get into a good freight lane.
We managed to get a load in to Orlando last night and sent our arrival at 2357 hours. Whew. That was three minutes to spare to get that run onto this payroll. In total we should have about $6300 in revenue, but we sat for over two days total throughout the week waiting on loads and that should have been higher. I was really hoping it would be higher since we have vacation coming up.
This week we are supposed to be in Dallas on Wednesday, and I don't think we will make it. Plus that cuts us short on revenue, which is ok as long as our fixed costs are covered, which they should be. But we will be gone all of the week of the 5th-12th so we will come out in the hole from that, and the week we come back will only be a half week for us so we will have to stay out quite a while when we are done to make up for it!
Right now we are heading to Atlanta to pick up a load going to Montgomery, AL tonight that is a drop. Then we are driving to Donley, AL to pick up a Fed Ex load going to Salt Lake City, UT that gets in at midnight Tuesday. (See why I don't see us making it back to Dallas on Wednesday?) We may end up having to relay the Salt Lake load to another team to get back home.
Since we are going on vacation, I have a dentist appt Friday morning at 0800 so we HAVE to be in Lubbock by then. One way or another, we will make it!
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Dallas, TX
Back in Dallas again, but not for long. We already have a load that will head out around 2130 tonight for Columbus,OH.
I have to say, this has been a crazy two weeks. My last post was also from Dallas and I was lamenting about the lack of miles. Of course, this week has been no different. However it was not because the loads weren't there, it was because our truck had issue.
When we left Dallas last Friday, we had a load that was headed to San Francisco. When we were west of Albuquerque, they called and asked for us to take this load to Los Angeles instead and drop it there and pick up a load headed to Kansas City. I am assuming that they were going to have a solo driver pick up the San Francisco load there in Los Angeles and take it in. It sounded like we were going to be the first team into Los Angeles and they really needed someone to take the load to Kansas City. That worked out great for us because we didn't have to worry about getting stuck in Los Angeles over the weekend. It all worked out pretty good!
Then, our luck changed. Friday night, I woke up because I could tell we were stopped and J was talking on the phone. I got up to see what was going on only to find out that we were getting faults from our regen system. This is not good, considering the truck only had about 43,000 miles on it at the time. We ended up having to have another driver come pick up our load so we could get the truck into the shop. Luckily, we could still drive it, and we were only about 13 miles west of Flagstaff, AZ, so when I got up Saturday morning, J drove us back into Flagstaff and we parked at Little America. Now the really bad part of all of this, is that it is Saturday and the International shop is closed for the weekend. UGH!!
But! There is some good news in all of this! We have a friend that lives in Flagstaff, so I sent her a message to see if she was in town. I got in touch with her about mid-morning Saturday, and being the awesome friend that she is, she came and picked us up so we wouldn't be stuck in the truck all weekend. When she picked us up around 1400 hrs, we drove down to Sedona and had dinner. What a beautiful drive that is and we had never been there. Sunday we just hung out at her house and were lazy. It was awesome. Monday she had to go to Phoenix for the night so she dropped us off at our truck and we took it to the shop around 0730 Monday morning.
I guess around 1000 hrs Monday morning, we decided to get a rental car because it was sounding like it wouldn't be until Tuesday until they had the truck ready. Since our friend was going to be out of town, and there was the possibility that we would be stuck there another night, we stayed at her house again and watched her dogs. Champ, Decker and Adrian are the cutest things ever. Adrian, the Shepard, is definitely VERY vocal, but she is such a sweetheart. Decker is the quiet one. He is brindle and part Labrador. I think I would have stolen him if I thought I could get away with it. :) And then Champ is the small one, black and white, and is a little cuddle bug and loves to give you kisses. Since we don't have Smokey on the road with us, it sure was nice to get to spend the weekend with these guys. Here are some pictures of these three.
After we picked up the rental car, we ran back to the house, checked on the dogs and J took about an hour nap. Then, since we had a rental car, and the Grand Canyon was just a little over an hour away, we headed out to go see it. Neither J nor I had ever been, so this was a first for both of us. I knew it was going to be something incredible to see, but until you are standing by the railing at one of the overlooks, I don't think anyone actually realizes the magnitude of the Grand Canyon. It is called the Grand Canyon for a reason. It was simply breath taking and all I could do was just silently stare out across it. It was one of those moments when you just kinda realize how small you are in the grand scheme of things. We stopped at several overlooks, but since we got a late start, we didn't get to see all of it by any means. But we did find a great spot that we just sat down, enjoyed the view, blocked out all of the other people around and took a moment to take it all in and watch the sunset. The changing colors of the rocks when he sun hits them as it is setting is a true wonder. Here are a few pictures. These were just with my phone, but I think I got some pretty good ones, considering.
Tuesday, around 1100 hrs, we found out that the truck was ready so we got everything packed up, gave the dogs a treat and hugs and headed out to get the truck. When we got there we found out that they could not find the root of the problem. They got all of the faults cleared, but could not determine what caused the actual problem. Maybe it was a fluke thing, or maybe there is an underlying issue, but so far it has been running good and we have not received any more faults. As new as this truck is, I am really hoping that it was a fluke.
After we were all loaded up and had returned the rental car, they were going to have us bobtail down to Phoenix to wait for a load. We hadn't even made it out of Flagstaff, not even to the interstate and they called us back wanting us to pick up a load from a driver that had broken down in Clines Corners. So that is where we headed and delivered that load to Dallas around noon today and now just waiting on our load to be ready to go to Columbus.
I have to say, this has been a crazy two weeks. My last post was also from Dallas and I was lamenting about the lack of miles. Of course, this week has been no different. However it was not because the loads weren't there, it was because our truck had issue.
When we left Dallas last Friday, we had a load that was headed to San Francisco. When we were west of Albuquerque, they called and asked for us to take this load to Los Angeles instead and drop it there and pick up a load headed to Kansas City. I am assuming that they were going to have a solo driver pick up the San Francisco load there in Los Angeles and take it in. It sounded like we were going to be the first team into Los Angeles and they really needed someone to take the load to Kansas City. That worked out great for us because we didn't have to worry about getting stuck in Los Angeles over the weekend. It all worked out pretty good!
Then, our luck changed. Friday night, I woke up because I could tell we were stopped and J was talking on the phone. I got up to see what was going on only to find out that we were getting faults from our regen system. This is not good, considering the truck only had about 43,000 miles on it at the time. We ended up having to have another driver come pick up our load so we could get the truck into the shop. Luckily, we could still drive it, and we were only about 13 miles west of Flagstaff, AZ, so when I got up Saturday morning, J drove us back into Flagstaff and we parked at Little America. Now the really bad part of all of this, is that it is Saturday and the International shop is closed for the weekend. UGH!!
But! There is some good news in all of this! We have a friend that lives in Flagstaff, so I sent her a message to see if she was in town. I got in touch with her about mid-morning Saturday, and being the awesome friend that she is, she came and picked us up so we wouldn't be stuck in the truck all weekend. When she picked us up around 1400 hrs, we drove down to Sedona and had dinner. What a beautiful drive that is and we had never been there. Sunday we just hung out at her house and were lazy. It was awesome. Monday she had to go to Phoenix for the night so she dropped us off at our truck and we took it to the shop around 0730 Monday morning.
I guess around 1000 hrs Monday morning, we decided to get a rental car because it was sounding like it wouldn't be until Tuesday until they had the truck ready. Since our friend was going to be out of town, and there was the possibility that we would be stuck there another night, we stayed at her house again and watched her dogs. Champ, Decker and Adrian are the cutest things ever. Adrian, the Shepard, is definitely VERY vocal, but she is such a sweetheart. Decker is the quiet one. He is brindle and part Labrador. I think I would have stolen him if I thought I could get away with it. :) And then Champ is the small one, black and white, and is a little cuddle bug and loves to give you kisses. Since we don't have Smokey on the road with us, it sure was nice to get to spend the weekend with these guys. Here are some pictures of these three.
After we picked up the rental car, we ran back to the house, checked on the dogs and J took about an hour nap. Then, since we had a rental car, and the Grand Canyon was just a little over an hour away, we headed out to go see it. Neither J nor I had ever been, so this was a first for both of us. I knew it was going to be something incredible to see, but until you are standing by the railing at one of the overlooks, I don't think anyone actually realizes the magnitude of the Grand Canyon. It is called the Grand Canyon for a reason. It was simply breath taking and all I could do was just silently stare out across it. It was one of those moments when you just kinda realize how small you are in the grand scheme of things. We stopped at several overlooks, but since we got a late start, we didn't get to see all of it by any means. But we did find a great spot that we just sat down, enjoyed the view, blocked out all of the other people around and took a moment to take it all in and watch the sunset. The changing colors of the rocks when he sun hits them as it is setting is a true wonder. Here are a few pictures. These were just with my phone, but I think I got some pretty good ones, considering.
Tuesday, around 1100 hrs, we found out that the truck was ready so we got everything packed up, gave the dogs a treat and hugs and headed out to get the truck. When we got there we found out that they could not find the root of the problem. They got all of the faults cleared, but could not determine what caused the actual problem. Maybe it was a fluke thing, or maybe there is an underlying issue, but so far it has been running good and we have not received any more faults. As new as this truck is, I am really hoping that it was a fluke.
After we were all loaded up and had returned the rental car, they were going to have us bobtail down to Phoenix to wait for a load. We hadn't even made it out of Flagstaff, not even to the interstate and they called us back wanting us to pick up a load from a driver that had broken down in Clines Corners. So that is where we headed and delivered that load to Dallas around noon today and now just waiting on our load to be ready to go to Columbus.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Dallas, TX
I was beginning to think that this week was going to turn out as bad as last week, as far as miles are concerned. Since we came out from time at home last week, we only ended up with about 3400 miles. That isn't good as far as a team operation goes, but we were missing basically three working days.
This week has been weird though. Right now we are sitting in Dallas with about 3450 miles and inadvertently got a restart on hours. We were down to about 20 hours each, which would have left us enough time for at least one more load, but it turns out we are getting one without asking. J got us into Dallas last night from Las Vegas about 0330. When I woke up and he went to bed, I ran to Walmart and stocked us up on groceries. He was a sweetheart and did laundry while I was still sleeping. I waited and waited to hear something on a load. Finally after sending in a message, they responded back saying the only thing they had was a load to San Francisco. Perfect! Give me the load! That beats sitting here wondering if we will get anything, even if it doesn't leave until 0400 Friday morning. We are the second truck going there tonight so hopefully our load won't cancel. What really sucks though is that if we would have known we were going to get this restart on hours, we could have went down to see the kids and slept in a real bed instead of being stuck in the truck. But, it is what it is.
Now what I am looking forward to is vacation next month! Our favorite place to go is to a little island off of the coast of Honduras called Roatan. But next month we are going to Cozumel with my cousins and some friends. I won't go into all the details, but extended family owns a vacation rental there and it will sleep I think 14? I have heard first hand from family how awesome it is and all the reviews online are extremely high. So if you ever want to get a group together and go to Cozumel, then this is the house you want to rent. I will give more details on it when we get back from vacation, but I doubt I could review it any higher than the reviews I have seen! Here is the link. http://www.vrbo.com/370901 If that doesn't work, google Villa Torres Cozumel!
This week has been weird though. Right now we are sitting in Dallas with about 3450 miles and inadvertently got a restart on hours. We were down to about 20 hours each, which would have left us enough time for at least one more load, but it turns out we are getting one without asking. J got us into Dallas last night from Las Vegas about 0330. When I woke up and he went to bed, I ran to Walmart and stocked us up on groceries. He was a sweetheart and did laundry while I was still sleeping. I waited and waited to hear something on a load. Finally after sending in a message, they responded back saying the only thing they had was a load to San Francisco. Perfect! Give me the load! That beats sitting here wondering if we will get anything, even if it doesn't leave until 0400 Friday morning. We are the second truck going there tonight so hopefully our load won't cancel. What really sucks though is that if we would have known we were going to get this restart on hours, we could have went down to see the kids and slept in a real bed instead of being stuck in the truck. But, it is what it is.
Now what I am looking forward to is vacation next month! Our favorite place to go is to a little island off of the coast of Honduras called Roatan. But next month we are going to Cozumel with my cousins and some friends. I won't go into all the details, but extended family owns a vacation rental there and it will sleep I think 14? I have heard first hand from family how awesome it is and all the reviews online are extremely high. So if you ever want to get a group together and go to Cozumel, then this is the house you want to rent. I will give more details on it when we get back from vacation, but I doubt I could review it any higher than the reviews I have seen! Here is the link. http://www.vrbo.com/370901 If that doesn't work, google Villa Torres Cozumel!
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Los Angeles, CA
Today as I was driving back into Los Angeles, I started thinking about our very first trip out here when we first started driving. I was so excited to get to go to California, let alone Los Angeles! Growing up we didn't travel much except for a few trips to Colorado during the summers before we moved up there. We didn't do the annual summer vacations like a lot of families did. Both of my parents worked but we were definitely lower middle income, maybe even considered low income for some years. But we always had a good roof over our head, food in the fridge and we had what we needed. Maybe not what I "wanted", but we never went without. But I digress....
As I was thinking about that first trip out here, I remembered how it was such a big deal to finally get to see California. After all, at that time I was 37 and had never been. Since I had never been, and only seeing it on television, I have to admit that the desert part crossing I-40 threw me for a loop. I didn't know that there were mountains of that size out here in the desert. Big huge mountains with nothing but dead scrub brush on them. Absolutely no green as far as the eye could see unless it was a car. I found it very strange and yet fascinating at the same time. At one time, that whole area was basically the bottom of the ocean. Can you imagine a prehistoric shark swimming in that area? Or what about the dinosaurs before it was ocean? Or maybe they were after it was ocean? That was something that I had to think about.
We kept heading west and slowly we started seeing civilization. The first town of any size is Barstow. Just a town out in the middle of nowhere at the junction of I-40 and I-15. This is where I-40 starts on the West Coast. If you go north on I-15 you head up into Las Vegas and when you go south, you will end up in Los Angeles. We headed south and continued our way towards LA.
The next towns we got to would have been Victorville and Hesperia, respectively. There are a lot of long climbs and downhills coming across the desert but I think we were surprised when after passing Hesperia, we started a rather long downhill grade starting into the valley that had a truck speed of 45 mph and "suggested" that you use a lower gear. There is a reason. Dang, it is a long downhill and I remember seeing several trucks smoking their brakes. Of course, since we were new drivers, we really paid attention to the signs and probably came down the hill too slow. But you know that saying, "You can come down a hill too slow a million times, you can only come down it too fast once."
We realized we were actually starting to come into the Los Angeles area, and I have to say, it was not all that I hoped it would be. It was actually rather disappointing. They are always talking about how the weather is always perfect in California. I wondered how they could even see the sun through the immense haze of smog. Imagine a HUGE valley, as far as you can see, covered in fog. Now imagine that fog is brown. Yep, that is what it looked like. Perfect blue sky above it, almost a perfectly straight line delineating the smog from the blue sky. I imagine if the smog hadn't have been there, it would have been a sight to see.
After my disappointing first glimpse of the Los Angeles area, I realized it got worse. People don't know how to drive here. At all. The freeways constantly resemble one two things. First, Daytona Speedway and secondly, a Walmart parking lot on Black Friday. They are either doing 90 mph or it is at a standstill. Maybe I should have compared it to an Indy race instead of Daytona. That is probably a better description. It is like a road track with the drivers weaving in and out of traffic, all trying to get past each other while doing 90 mph. That is definitely a better description. And never mind using your signals. You can go miles with it on, trying to change lanes, and no one will let you over. If you want over, you better force your way, because that is the only way you are changing lanes.
Over the years, we have been in and out of the Los Angeles area a lot, and have figured out how to maneuver around here, but I will never get used to the mentality of the people here. So for all of you people that call the Los Angeles area your home, I know there are some very nice people out here because we have ran across them, but you guys can keep Los Angeles. I would rather have an open highway any day of the week. :-)
As I was thinking about that first trip out here, I remembered how it was such a big deal to finally get to see California. After all, at that time I was 37 and had never been. Since I had never been, and only seeing it on television, I have to admit that the desert part crossing I-40 threw me for a loop. I didn't know that there were mountains of that size out here in the desert. Big huge mountains with nothing but dead scrub brush on them. Absolutely no green as far as the eye could see unless it was a car. I found it very strange and yet fascinating at the same time. At one time, that whole area was basically the bottom of the ocean. Can you imagine a prehistoric shark swimming in that area? Or what about the dinosaurs before it was ocean? Or maybe they were after it was ocean? That was something that I had to think about.
We kept heading west and slowly we started seeing civilization. The first town of any size is Barstow. Just a town out in the middle of nowhere at the junction of I-40 and I-15. This is where I-40 starts on the West Coast. If you go north on I-15 you head up into Las Vegas and when you go south, you will end up in Los Angeles. We headed south and continued our way towards LA.
The next towns we got to would have been Victorville and Hesperia, respectively. There are a lot of long climbs and downhills coming across the desert but I think we were surprised when after passing Hesperia, we started a rather long downhill grade starting into the valley that had a truck speed of 45 mph and "suggested" that you use a lower gear. There is a reason. Dang, it is a long downhill and I remember seeing several trucks smoking their brakes. Of course, since we were new drivers, we really paid attention to the signs and probably came down the hill too slow. But you know that saying, "You can come down a hill too slow a million times, you can only come down it too fast once."
We realized we were actually starting to come into the Los Angeles area, and I have to say, it was not all that I hoped it would be. It was actually rather disappointing. They are always talking about how the weather is always perfect in California. I wondered how they could even see the sun through the immense haze of smog. Imagine a HUGE valley, as far as you can see, covered in fog. Now imagine that fog is brown. Yep, that is what it looked like. Perfect blue sky above it, almost a perfectly straight line delineating the smog from the blue sky. I imagine if the smog hadn't have been there, it would have been a sight to see.
After my disappointing first glimpse of the Los Angeles area, I realized it got worse. People don't know how to drive here. At all. The freeways constantly resemble one two things. First, Daytona Speedway and secondly, a Walmart parking lot on Black Friday. They are either doing 90 mph or it is at a standstill. Maybe I should have compared it to an Indy race instead of Daytona. That is probably a better description. It is like a road track with the drivers weaving in and out of traffic, all trying to get past each other while doing 90 mph. That is definitely a better description. And never mind using your signals. You can go miles with it on, trying to change lanes, and no one will let you over. If you want over, you better force your way, because that is the only way you are changing lanes.
Over the years, we have been in and out of the Los Angeles area a lot, and have figured out how to maneuver around here, but I will never get used to the mentality of the people here. So for all of you people that call the Los Angeles area your home, I know there are some very nice people out here because we have ran across them, but you guys can keep Los Angeles. I would rather have an open highway any day of the week. :-)
Monday, August 10, 2015
Salt Lake City, UT
Things have been pretty crazy the last two weeks with taking time off and trying to get back into a good freight lane. Some times things just all fall into place and other times it seems like nothing works out!
I had a great birthday, although we were on the road. I believe we were headed to LA. Again, I won't bore you with those details, but here is where we have been since then.
Los Angeles to Phoenix
Phoenix to Houston
Houston to Orlando
Orlando to Dallas
Home Time
Dallas to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City to Tulsa
Tulsa to Columbus
Columbus to Phoenix
Phoenix to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Las Vegas
Las Vegas to Salt Lake City
......And that brings us up to date on where we have been. We have had a really hard time getting back into a good rhythm this time out. When we came back out from home time in Dallas, they sent us with an empty trailer up to Oklahoma City to pick up a load that has an additional pick up in Tulsa and then delivered in Columbus. Lots of storms on that trip. Then once we got to Columbus, we ended up sitting for over 24 hours waiting on another load. We finally got a load to Dallas, but they called and said that load was too full with a bunch of stuff for a second stop in Phoenix, so they were loading a trailer specifically for Phoenix and wanted to know if we would take that one. Yeah?!? More miles = more money!
We had a good trip to Phoenix, of course we hit more rain. UGH. Rain isn't so bad, but it is the high winds that have been accompanying the storms that are the problem. Anyway, I made it into Phoenix on Saturday morning, and guess what, they are closed on the weekends. We have picked up and delivered there quite a few times, just never on the weekend. I ended up calling dispatch to find out what they wanted me to do and they just had me drop it in a door and pick up an empty trailer and head to Los Angeles. Sounds like a plan!
I was hoping that I would make it all the way in to the terminal in Los Angeles, but I ran out of time on my 14. I guess us stopping for a shower and dinner had something to do with that. :) So J got us the rest of the way in, a whole 50 miles, we dropped the empty and went to go park to wait for another load.
Now in the previous weeks, when we have gotten into Los Angeles on a Saturday, we haven't had a problem getting a load out, because they have been having more loads on Saturdays than they have had drivers sitting there waiting. We figured we would have something right away. No such luck. We waited a few hours and they called and offered us a load to Seattle. Sweet! I headed to bed while J waited up for the load to be ready. The next morning I wake up and we are still there. They cancelled the load! Well, since I am awake, J heads to bed and I start sending messages asking about our next load.
After I got up, I was up for about 4 hours when they finally called and said they had a load to Vegas. Not great miles, but when I got there, they would add more freight to our trailer and we would continue on to Salt Lake City. That was better, but still only about 700 miles total. Better than nothing I suppose.
And here we are, Monday morning, having dropped in Salt Lake City and I am now parked at the Love's. I delivered about 0730 local time this morning. When I called in to ask about another load, they told me they don't get the load sheet out of Salt Lake until around 1200-1300 hrs and then it would be another hour or so after that before they would have everyone's loads planned out. That means 5-6 hours of just sitting here. I think my butt is going numb. :)
Now that you are all caught up on THAT stuff, I will catch you up on the home front stuff. Jessica and Ruben did get the house, so we were in Dallas the 1st, 2nd and 3rd to help them get moved in. This was by far the easiest move we have ever done. It took two trips in two pickups to get everything from storage. That was it! And it only took about 2 hours. It was awesome! We did go get a bed for our room and a table for the dining room for them which was put to use. It was nice eating at a table after being out on the road all of the time. Even better getting to sit there with our kids and little Elijah. This little man is so cute and I am so in love with him. He is just absolutely precious and we are so blessed. He has such a sweet disposition and is always smiling. Now don't get me wrong, when he gets mad, he gets MAD! But the smiles far outweigh the crying. :) It is going to be so nice with them having a place big enough for us to be able to spend time with them and actually spend the night, instead of getting a hotel like we had to do before since they were in a one bedroom apartment. It is a 3/2/2 with a backyard and the dogs are loving having a yard to run around in!
Hopefully we will get moving again soon, but right now I am either going to finish reading my book or take a nap. I have a feeling which one will win out, but who knows?
I had a great birthday, although we were on the road. I believe we were headed to LA. Again, I won't bore you with those details, but here is where we have been since then.
Los Angeles to Phoenix
Phoenix to Houston
Houston to Orlando
Orlando to Dallas
Home Time
Dallas to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City to Tulsa
Tulsa to Columbus
Columbus to Phoenix
Phoenix to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Las Vegas
Las Vegas to Salt Lake City
......And that brings us up to date on where we have been. We have had a really hard time getting back into a good rhythm this time out. When we came back out from home time in Dallas, they sent us with an empty trailer up to Oklahoma City to pick up a load that has an additional pick up in Tulsa and then delivered in Columbus. Lots of storms on that trip. Then once we got to Columbus, we ended up sitting for over 24 hours waiting on another load. We finally got a load to Dallas, but they called and said that load was too full with a bunch of stuff for a second stop in Phoenix, so they were loading a trailer specifically for Phoenix and wanted to know if we would take that one. Yeah?!? More miles = more money!
We had a good trip to Phoenix, of course we hit more rain. UGH. Rain isn't so bad, but it is the high winds that have been accompanying the storms that are the problem. Anyway, I made it into Phoenix on Saturday morning, and guess what, they are closed on the weekends. We have picked up and delivered there quite a few times, just never on the weekend. I ended up calling dispatch to find out what they wanted me to do and they just had me drop it in a door and pick up an empty trailer and head to Los Angeles. Sounds like a plan!
I was hoping that I would make it all the way in to the terminal in Los Angeles, but I ran out of time on my 14. I guess us stopping for a shower and dinner had something to do with that. :) So J got us the rest of the way in, a whole 50 miles, we dropped the empty and went to go park to wait for another load.
Now in the previous weeks, when we have gotten into Los Angeles on a Saturday, we haven't had a problem getting a load out, because they have been having more loads on Saturdays than they have had drivers sitting there waiting. We figured we would have something right away. No such luck. We waited a few hours and they called and offered us a load to Seattle. Sweet! I headed to bed while J waited up for the load to be ready. The next morning I wake up and we are still there. They cancelled the load! Well, since I am awake, J heads to bed and I start sending messages asking about our next load.
After I got up, I was up for about 4 hours when they finally called and said they had a load to Vegas. Not great miles, but when I got there, they would add more freight to our trailer and we would continue on to Salt Lake City. That was better, but still only about 700 miles total. Better than nothing I suppose.
And here we are, Monday morning, having dropped in Salt Lake City and I am now parked at the Love's. I delivered about 0730 local time this morning. When I called in to ask about another load, they told me they don't get the load sheet out of Salt Lake until around 1200-1300 hrs and then it would be another hour or so after that before they would have everyone's loads planned out. That means 5-6 hours of just sitting here. I think my butt is going numb. :)
Now that you are all caught up on THAT stuff, I will catch you up on the home front stuff. Jessica and Ruben did get the house, so we were in Dallas the 1st, 2nd and 3rd to help them get moved in. This was by far the easiest move we have ever done. It took two trips in two pickups to get everything from storage. That was it! And it only took about 2 hours. It was awesome! We did go get a bed for our room and a table for the dining room for them which was put to use. It was nice eating at a table after being out on the road all of the time. Even better getting to sit there with our kids and little Elijah. This little man is so cute and I am so in love with him. He is just absolutely precious and we are so blessed. He has such a sweet disposition and is always smiling. Now don't get me wrong, when he gets mad, he gets MAD! But the smiles far outweigh the crying. :) It is going to be so nice with them having a place big enough for us to be able to spend time with them and actually spend the night, instead of getting a hotel like we had to do before since they were in a one bedroom apartment. It is a 3/2/2 with a backyard and the dogs are loving having a yard to run around in!
Hopefully we will get moving again soon, but right now I am either going to finish reading my book or take a nap. I have a feeling which one will win out, but who knows?
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Pratt, KS
Apparently I didn't do a good job when I said that I would try to post again sooner rather than later. So here is a quick rundown of where we have been since we were in Dallas and I posted last. From Dallas we went to LA, then back to Dallas, up to Chicago, up to Milwaukee and now we are on our way to LA again. Nothing eventful to post with the exception of Thursday night.
Thursday night we got into Chicago and dropped our load and immediately hooked up to another trailer to take up to Milwaukee. It was supposed to be ready around 0300 but they had it ready when we got there around 2300. That worked out good for us so that J could get it delivered before his shift ended since I needed to take Friday off to reset my hours. Anyway, hooked up and headed out. We were taking the on-ramp from Elmhurst to get on I-80 when we heard this awful noise hitting the truck. At first we thought it was something we ran over. The on-ramp had the concrete barriers on each side due to construction and it was pretty tight. We knew we didn't hit the barrier but we thought maybe we ran over something. We came to a complete stop (unfortunately stopping traffic behind us also since the ramp was narrow) and jumped out an checked the tires and underneath the truck. Didn't notice anything obvious so we jumped back in and took off.
About a mile down the road was an Oasis (on the Turnpike) so J pulled in there and parked in their fuel aisles so we could get out and get a better look since their parking area is all lit up. J checks his side and didn't see anything so he walks around to my side. I am still looking under the truck, not at eye level, so I completely missed it. It turns out some little shits got us good with a paintball gun. Green, orange, yellow and pink dots are all over the side of the truck. They probably hit us 10-12 times. Thank goodness they didn't dent the truck. If they had, I would have found a way to get that truck turned around and went back and kicked some juvenile ass. I am really glad J went ahead and stopped when he did. The paint was still wet so we just used the window squeegee and got most of it off while it was still wet. I did wonder if they hit anyone else while we were stopped on that on-ramp since that is where they got us. After realizing what happened, I felt bad for the traffic behind us because by us stopping it made them sitting ducks. I almost imagine they took off though after they hit us since we came to a screeching halt. Probably surprised them as I am sure they weren't expecting anyone to stop!
In other news, Jessica and Ruben got the house they were trying to rent! I have put in for us to get some time off so we can go help them get moved in this coming weekend. Hopefully we can get a load back to Dallas on the 31st.
Today is also my birthday! Another year older and another year spending my birthday on the road. It isn't bad though since I get to spend it with my husband and best friend, which in case you are wondering, is one in the same! :) I guess now I can not claim to be in my early 40's since 45 is smack dab in the middle. Ugh! Well, age is just a number right?
Thursday night we got into Chicago and dropped our load and immediately hooked up to another trailer to take up to Milwaukee. It was supposed to be ready around 0300 but they had it ready when we got there around 2300. That worked out good for us so that J could get it delivered before his shift ended since I needed to take Friday off to reset my hours. Anyway, hooked up and headed out. We were taking the on-ramp from Elmhurst to get on I-80 when we heard this awful noise hitting the truck. At first we thought it was something we ran over. The on-ramp had the concrete barriers on each side due to construction and it was pretty tight. We knew we didn't hit the barrier but we thought maybe we ran over something. We came to a complete stop (unfortunately stopping traffic behind us also since the ramp was narrow) and jumped out an checked the tires and underneath the truck. Didn't notice anything obvious so we jumped back in and took off.
About a mile down the road was an Oasis (on the Turnpike) so J pulled in there and parked in their fuel aisles so we could get out and get a better look since their parking area is all lit up. J checks his side and didn't see anything so he walks around to my side. I am still looking under the truck, not at eye level, so I completely missed it. It turns out some little shits got us good with a paintball gun. Green, orange, yellow and pink dots are all over the side of the truck. They probably hit us 10-12 times. Thank goodness they didn't dent the truck. If they had, I would have found a way to get that truck turned around and went back and kicked some juvenile ass. I am really glad J went ahead and stopped when he did. The paint was still wet so we just used the window squeegee and got most of it off while it was still wet. I did wonder if they hit anyone else while we were stopped on that on-ramp since that is where they got us. After realizing what happened, I felt bad for the traffic behind us because by us stopping it made them sitting ducks. I almost imagine they took off though after they hit us since we came to a screeching halt. Probably surprised them as I am sure they weren't expecting anyone to stop!
In other news, Jessica and Ruben got the house they were trying to rent! I have put in for us to get some time off so we can go help them get moved in this coming weekend. Hopefully we can get a load back to Dallas on the 31st.
Today is also my birthday! Another year older and another year spending my birthday on the road. It isn't bad though since I get to spend it with my husband and best friend, which in case you are wondering, is one in the same! :) I guess now I can not claim to be in my early 40's since 45 is smack dab in the middle. Ugh! Well, age is just a number right?
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Dallas, TX
Wow! I got really behind! I will spare you all of the boring details and give you a quick run down of where we have been since I last posted in Salt Lake City. We were on our way to San Francisco, dropped there, picked up a load to Sacramento. Got an empty trailer in Sacramento after we dropped and headed to Los Angeles. Picked up a load there to Dallas.
Got to Dallas and did a restart on hours and got to have dinner with my cousin Dean. He is a riot. Unfortunately he crushed his wrist falling off of a truck and just had surgery a week ago, but he was in good spirits. Definitely in some pain still, but he wasn't taking the pain meds because they make him completely loopy, as in seeing things, so a few margaritas helped out. :) From there we hauled a load to Phoenix. Dropped in Phoenix and grabbed an empty trailer and headed to Las Vegas. Dropped in Las Vegas and picked up a load that brought us back here to Dallas. We got in around 0930 this morning. We have another load heading back to Las Vegas and it should be ready around 1500 so we are just sitting here waiting for it to be ready. I should say that "I" am sitting here waiting. J is crashed in the bunk sound asleep. :)
Jessica and Ruben are waiting to hear back from a realtor to see if they are able to rent a house. Hopefully they will hear something back on Monday, tomorrow. It is super cute and it is a three bedroom, so since our "home" terminal is Dallas, we get one of the bedrooms to crash in when we are here. It will be nice to get to spend more time with them and Elijah and not have to get a hotel every time we are in town! Heck, even if we just do a restart on hours while we are here, at least we can get out of the truck since it is only about 45 minutes down to where they are. That sure beats staying in the truck!
We are still working on the house in Lubbock. My mom has had the painter come in and finish the drywall and paint and now she is having someone come out and put all the baseboards, door trim and crown moulding up. The painter painted all the trim, so the guy she is getting just has to put it up. We will still have to do the window trim, but hopefully we can get that next time we are in Lubbock.
Oh! My mom also went out and got a riding lawn mower! We have been talking about getting one for years and we finally did it! She has been having so much fun out mowing the yard. I know she is still a little scared of it, but she is doing small areas at a time to get used to it. We have almost an acre so there is a lot of grass to mow. We have a small front yard and a small fenced in backyard but probably half of an acre behind the house is just grass. That is something we have to keep mowed down since it is usually pretty dry and we don't want it to be a fire hazard. Especially since we are out in the county and there is no real wind block. We are excited to have it though and I can't wait to get home and try it out! We got it when we were home last time, but the battery was dead on it and we had to leave out the next day. Luckily my brother came over and figured out what the problem was and got it going.
Not much else going on right now. I will try not to wait another week before I post again!
Got to Dallas and did a restart on hours and got to have dinner with my cousin Dean. He is a riot. Unfortunately he crushed his wrist falling off of a truck and just had surgery a week ago, but he was in good spirits. Definitely in some pain still, but he wasn't taking the pain meds because they make him completely loopy, as in seeing things, so a few margaritas helped out. :) From there we hauled a load to Phoenix. Dropped in Phoenix and grabbed an empty trailer and headed to Las Vegas. Dropped in Las Vegas and picked up a load that brought us back here to Dallas. We got in around 0930 this morning. We have another load heading back to Las Vegas and it should be ready around 1500 so we are just sitting here waiting for it to be ready. I should say that "I" am sitting here waiting. J is crashed in the bunk sound asleep. :)
Jessica and Ruben are waiting to hear back from a realtor to see if they are able to rent a house. Hopefully they will hear something back on Monday, tomorrow. It is super cute and it is a three bedroom, so since our "home" terminal is Dallas, we get one of the bedrooms to crash in when we are here. It will be nice to get to spend more time with them and Elijah and not have to get a hotel every time we are in town! Heck, even if we just do a restart on hours while we are here, at least we can get out of the truck since it is only about 45 minutes down to where they are. That sure beats staying in the truck!
We are still working on the house in Lubbock. My mom has had the painter come in and finish the drywall and paint and now she is having someone come out and put all the baseboards, door trim and crown moulding up. The painter painted all the trim, so the guy she is getting just has to put it up. We will still have to do the window trim, but hopefully we can get that next time we are in Lubbock.
Oh! My mom also went out and got a riding lawn mower! We have been talking about getting one for years and we finally did it! She has been having so much fun out mowing the yard. I know she is still a little scared of it, but she is doing small areas at a time to get used to it. We have almost an acre so there is a lot of grass to mow. We have a small front yard and a small fenced in backyard but probably half of an acre behind the house is just grass. That is something we have to keep mowed down since it is usually pretty dry and we don't want it to be a fire hazard. Especially since we are out in the county and there is no real wind block. We are excited to have it though and I can't wait to get home and try it out! We got it when we were home last time, but the battery was dead on it and we had to leave out the next day. Luckily my brother came over and figured out what the problem was and got it going.
Not much else going on right now. I will try not to wait another week before I post again!
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Salt Lake City, UT
Today as I was driving along I-80, I did a lot of thinking. Not about anything in particular, just lots of random things. Some days I can get in the truck and pop on some music and sing at the top of my lungs for a whole shift. Thank goodness J is a sound sleeper. :) Other days, like today, I leave the music off and just enjoyed the view and the quiet. It really is quite peaceful.
This morning J woke me up outside of North Platte, NE where I took over driving. He picked up this load last night in Kansas City and we have to have it in San Francisco around 0300 in the morning. So we have about 15 hours or so left to get it there. We only have 684 miles to go and I covered 659 today so it should be a piece of cake.
As I was driving across Wyoming today I was reminded of what a beautiful area the northwest is. Nothing but rolling hills as far as you could see with mountains further out past them. Lots of cattle grazing and lots of little calves. They were so cute. Nothing prettier than a herd of black cows in a really green rolling pasture with mountains as a backdrop. Well, I am sure there are prettier sights, but not for me today. I really feel blessed to be able to do what we do for a living. There is so much of this country to see and it all is beautiful in it's own way. Even West Texas is pretty. At times. Like when the cotton is in full bloom right before they start stripping. Rows and rows and acres upon acres of green cotton that has opened up. Of course, that is only for about a month out of the year, and the rest of the time it is flat and brown, but that time of the year it is really pretty. Yes, we are truly blessed.
This morning J woke me up outside of North Platte, NE where I took over driving. He picked up this load last night in Kansas City and we have to have it in San Francisco around 0300 in the morning. So we have about 15 hours or so left to get it there. We only have 684 miles to go and I covered 659 today so it should be a piece of cake.
As I was driving across Wyoming today I was reminded of what a beautiful area the northwest is. Nothing but rolling hills as far as you could see with mountains further out past them. Lots of cattle grazing and lots of little calves. They were so cute. Nothing prettier than a herd of black cows in a really green rolling pasture with mountains as a backdrop. Well, I am sure there are prettier sights, but not for me today. I really feel blessed to be able to do what we do for a living. There is so much of this country to see and it all is beautiful in it's own way. Even West Texas is pretty. At times. Like when the cotton is in full bloom right before they start stripping. Rows and rows and acres upon acres of green cotton that has opened up. Of course, that is only for about a month out of the year, and the rest of the time it is flat and brown, but that time of the year it is really pretty. Yes, we are truly blessed.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Kansas City, MO
I must say it feels good to be back on the road after a week off. You know that saying that you need to get back to work after vacation to get some rest? That is how J and I felt when we got back in the truck and headed back out. It was such a whirlwind time off that I don't think we slowed down at all. It seemed that each night we were off we were only able to get about 5-6 hours of sleep with everything going on. We went to Lubbock, up to Pagosa Springs, back to Lubbock and then to Ft Worth all within 7 days. Whew! It was a great trip, but it was nice to get back in the truck and get some rest!
Thursday morning after we had breakfast with the kids and that adorable grandson of ours, we stopped at Walmart to restock the truck and the headed to Irving to our yard to check in and get a load. They didn't have anything there for us so they had us grab an empty trailer and head to El Paso to pick up a load coming to Kansas City. We got into El Paso around 0400 and grabbed our load and I headed out around 0500.
I took the shortest route which was US 54 up through New Mexico and the Texas panhandle. I honestly don't think I have taken that route all the way through before. It was a really pretty drive. There is a town called Carrizozo in New Mexico that is the cutest little town. It is down in a valley with mountains on each side of it. It is an old town but looks like they have really taken care of if. Most of the houses and building on the main street were painted really nice and the lawns kept up. It was just clean. It was one of those little towns that I wouldn't mind living in. Here is a little history on this town.
http://www.townofcarrizozo.com/history.html
I made it a whopping 459 miles to Stratford, TX before I stopped for the day for J to take over. I should have had about 600 miles but I stopped in Santa Rosa, NM at the TA for a PM on the truck. Goodness gracious PM's (basically the equivalent of a premium oil change for a car, check fluids, filters, tires, etc) are expensive! A whopping $371.00 and two hours later I was back on the road, so that took up some time.
After we switched over, J got us into Kansas City around 0130 and now we are still sitting here waiting on a load. We told our dispatcher a few days ago that we want to stay running on the Western board. Everytime we get back to Atlanta, or anywhere that the Eastern board controls, we end up sitting several days and we don't like that. We don't get paid for sitting! Chad told us that there is a lot of freight out of Kansas City to the West so we will see what happens here in a bit. Hopefully we won't be sitting all day!!
Thursday morning after we had breakfast with the kids and that adorable grandson of ours, we stopped at Walmart to restock the truck and the headed to Irving to our yard to check in and get a load. They didn't have anything there for us so they had us grab an empty trailer and head to El Paso to pick up a load coming to Kansas City. We got into El Paso around 0400 and grabbed our load and I headed out around 0500.
I took the shortest route which was US 54 up through New Mexico and the Texas panhandle. I honestly don't think I have taken that route all the way through before. It was a really pretty drive. There is a town called Carrizozo in New Mexico that is the cutest little town. It is down in a valley with mountains on each side of it. It is an old town but looks like they have really taken care of if. Most of the houses and building on the main street were painted really nice and the lawns kept up. It was just clean. It was one of those little towns that I wouldn't mind living in. Here is a little history on this town.
http://www.townofcarrizozo.com/history.html
I made it a whopping 459 miles to Stratford, TX before I stopped for the day for J to take over. I should have had about 600 miles but I stopped in Santa Rosa, NM at the TA for a PM on the truck. Goodness gracious PM's (basically the equivalent of a premium oil change for a car, check fluids, filters, tires, etc) are expensive! A whopping $371.00 and two hours later I was back on the road, so that took up some time.
After we switched over, J got us into Kansas City around 0130 and now we are still sitting here waiting on a load. We told our dispatcher a few days ago that we want to stay running on the Western board. Everytime we get back to Atlanta, or anywhere that the Eastern board controls, we end up sitting several days and we don't like that. We don't get paid for sitting! Chad told us that there is a lot of freight out of Kansas City to the West so we will see what happens here in a bit. Hopefully we won't be sitting all day!!
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Cleburne, TX
I have some catching up to do! I will try to make this the short version. We ended up spending 60 hours in Atlanta waiting on a load to get home. They ended up and had us bobtail to Memphis to pick up a load on Wednesday afternoon that we delivered to Columbus,OH that night around midnight. We had a load to Lubbock that was supposed to be ready at 0300 Thursday morning, and it was, but the roller door on the trailer wouldn't shut. It had to go into the shop so we didn't get out of there until around 0500.
At this point, we hit the road to get to Dallas by 2300 Thursday night. Keep in mind, we were supposed to be home on Wednesday so we could be at J's class reunion in Pagosa Springs, CO on Friday. We made it into Dallas around 0100 (lots of storms to get through) and dropped our load and headed to Lubbock. I started driving at 0230 and got us into Lubbock around 0730 Friday morning. We literally parked the truck, threw our suitcases into our pickup and hit the road. I got us into Pagosa Springs around 1600 hours. I was exhausted to say the least. We were able to get about an hour nap before the festivities began.
Thursday night we met up for dinner and drinks with J's classmates and it was so much fun. We both went to the same High School so I knew all of his classmates. It was nice having it over the July 4th holiday because there were a lot of other people in town that we knew and we were able to catch up with them also. An added benefit also is the parade that we got to see. I love small town parades!! Saturday morning was the parade and then that afternoon we all met at a park and did some more visiting. After that we ran back to the hotel and took about a hour nap then it was time to meet back up for dinner and drinks and then go watch the fireworks.
Sunday morning we had to get up bright and early and meet a few other friends for breakfast and then head back to Lubbock. We have the best friends! Susan and Ron got up at 0400 Sunday morning to drive over to Pagosa to see us before we left. They rock! :)
After a very long weekend on very little sleep, we made it back to Lubbock. We thought we were going to get to relax a little, but our remodel is never ending! Monday and Tuesday we ended up laying about 400 sq ft of new flooring in our living room and hall and today we are paying the price. We are so sore! While we were out on the road this last month my mom had a contractor come in and tape and mud all of the drywall we put up and she had him scrape the popcorn off of the ceiling and then pain everything. Even though we don't have the trim put up yet, it has been purchased and the contractor painted that also. We went with a light/medium gray wall with white trim and white ceiling. The hardwood we put in is a dark hickory. Here is a picture of what we have done so far. The first is the before we started on the floor and the second two pictures is after the floor is down. The first picture is of the left side of the room and the other two that are finished are on the right side of the room. But it is all done. The painted baseboard is just set up against the wall for the effect.
This morning we got up early and threw everything in the semi again and headed out to Cleburne where we got to see our daughter, son-in-law and our grandson Elijah. He is our first grandchild and this is the first time we have been able to see him since he was born in February. He is absolutely amazing and our daughter and son-in-law did a really good job! I am going to hate having to leave in the morning and go back on the road, but now that we are back OTR we are hoping that we will get to see them at least once a month which is much better than the last few months. Here are a few pictures of the little man that has stolen my heart!
That is all for now. I have a jacuzzi tub that is calling my name right now. Breakfast with the kids tomorrow and then back to the grind for another 3-4 weeks!
At this point, we hit the road to get to Dallas by 2300 Thursday night. Keep in mind, we were supposed to be home on Wednesday so we could be at J's class reunion in Pagosa Springs, CO on Friday. We made it into Dallas around 0100 (lots of storms to get through) and dropped our load and headed to Lubbock. I started driving at 0230 and got us into Lubbock around 0730 Friday morning. We literally parked the truck, threw our suitcases into our pickup and hit the road. I got us into Pagosa Springs around 1600 hours. I was exhausted to say the least. We were able to get about an hour nap before the festivities began.
Thursday night we met up for dinner and drinks with J's classmates and it was so much fun. We both went to the same High School so I knew all of his classmates. It was nice having it over the July 4th holiday because there were a lot of other people in town that we knew and we were able to catch up with them also. An added benefit also is the parade that we got to see. I love small town parades!! Saturday morning was the parade and then that afternoon we all met at a park and did some more visiting. After that we ran back to the hotel and took about a hour nap then it was time to meet back up for dinner and drinks and then go watch the fireworks.
Sunday morning we had to get up bright and early and meet a few other friends for breakfast and then head back to Lubbock. We have the best friends! Susan and Ron got up at 0400 Sunday morning to drive over to Pagosa to see us before we left. They rock! :)
After a very long weekend on very little sleep, we made it back to Lubbock. We thought we were going to get to relax a little, but our remodel is never ending! Monday and Tuesday we ended up laying about 400 sq ft of new flooring in our living room and hall and today we are paying the price. We are so sore! While we were out on the road this last month my mom had a contractor come in and tape and mud all of the drywall we put up and she had him scrape the popcorn off of the ceiling and then pain everything. Even though we don't have the trim put up yet, it has been purchased and the contractor painted that also. We went with a light/medium gray wall with white trim and white ceiling. The hardwood we put in is a dark hickory. Here is a picture of what we have done so far. The first is the before we started on the floor and the second two pictures is after the floor is down. The first picture is of the left side of the room and the other two that are finished are on the right side of the room. But it is all done. The painted baseboard is just set up against the wall for the effect.
This morning we got up early and threw everything in the semi again and headed out to Cleburne where we got to see our daughter, son-in-law and our grandson Elijah. He is our first grandchild and this is the first time we have been able to see him since he was born in February. He is absolutely amazing and our daughter and son-in-law did a really good job! I am going to hate having to leave in the morning and go back on the road, but now that we are back OTR we are hoping that we will get to see them at least once a month which is much better than the last few months. Here are a few pictures of the little man that has stolen my heart!
That is all for now. I have a jacuzzi tub that is calling my name right now. Breakfast with the kids tomorrow and then back to the grind for another 3-4 weeks!
Monday, June 29, 2015
Atlanta, GA
Hello from Atlanta again! Let me try to catch you up on the last few days. We were here last Thursday doing a re-start and waiting on a load. We finally got a load out Thursday night. Well, kinda. Our load was in Charlotte, NC and it picked up at 0500 on Friday morning. Around midnight on Thursday night, J hooked up to an empty trailer and headed to Charlotte. When we got there, we dropped the empty and only had to wait about 20 minutes until our load was ready. This load was going to Dallas. Since it was 0500 in the morning, J woke me up and I took off driving. I drove through NC, SC, GA, AL and into MS. About 1600 hrs I woke J up and he took over driving and got us into Dallas where we dropped that load.
When we got to Dallas they had another load ready for us to take to Chicago. J picked it up and got us out of the DFW area and woke me up and I took off driving. I got him into Troy, IL where he took over and got us the rest of the way into Chicago on Saturday night. Things were going good because when we got there, they had another load for us ready and it was coming back to Atlanta. J got that load hooked up and got us almost to the TN border where he woke me up and I got us the rest of the way to Atlanta. I pulled into Atlanta around 1300 hrs on Sunday.
I should have known coming to Atlanta would not be a good idea. Right now it is about 1030 hrs Monday morning and we are still sitting. I was in the drivers lounge talking to a couple of drivers and they said that on Mondays about the only thing that goes out of this terminal is dedicated freight. That means that we are probably going to be here until tomorrow sometime. They do pay us layover pay, which is $150 (each I believe) when we sit for over 24 hours without a load. That helps, but when we can cover over 1200 miles a day at $1.12 a mile, that $150 really isn't much. But I guess it is better than nothing.
Another bad thing is that we are supposed to be home on Wednesday. So it looks like when we leave here that we will probably have to get a load to Dallas so we can take our time off. With weekly payments on this truck, I have a feeling that we will come out in the hole when we come back from our time off. We need about 2000-2500 miles to break even and I don't see that happening this week. We are taking time off because J's 30th Class Reunion is over the July 4th weekend in Pagosa Springs, Colorado and we are not going to miss that! It is a small town where we grew up and we know so many people there, so we are really looking forward to getting back and seeing everyone.
Another thing I am looking forward to on this time off is seeing our house. We have done a lot of remodeling to it but haven't been able to get some things finished. My mom has hired a contractor and is getting some stuff finished. I know she said he taped and mudded the sheetrock that we put up, scraped the ceiling (to get the popcorn off of it) and then painted. The walls are a gray color and the ceiling an trim are white. I am so excited to see what it looks like. We still have to get the windows cased in and painted but it is going to be a great surprise to see what he has gotten done. Also, we still have to get the flooring installed. When we put the new flooring in the new kitchen, we bought extra for the living room and the hallway. If we can't find anyone that can install it for a decent price, then we will probably have to spend a full day getting the flooring done. But it will be worth it to see the final result! There are so many little things that still need to be done but we have managed to get most of the bigger stuff done ourselves. Now that we are on the road again, we will just have to pay someone to come in and get it finished up.
Sorry I don't have any pictures to post today. It is hard to take pictures while you are driving. There is some beautiful scenery out here. I need to take pictures when we switch and I am in the passenger seat. We are also looking at getting a dash cam. I bet if we did that then I would be able to upload some of it on here so you can see some of the awesome things that I see. That is something to think about!
When we got to Dallas they had another load ready for us to take to Chicago. J picked it up and got us out of the DFW area and woke me up and I took off driving. I got him into Troy, IL where he took over and got us the rest of the way into Chicago on Saturday night. Things were going good because when we got there, they had another load for us ready and it was coming back to Atlanta. J got that load hooked up and got us almost to the TN border where he woke me up and I got us the rest of the way to Atlanta. I pulled into Atlanta around 1300 hrs on Sunday.
I should have known coming to Atlanta would not be a good idea. Right now it is about 1030 hrs Monday morning and we are still sitting. I was in the drivers lounge talking to a couple of drivers and they said that on Mondays about the only thing that goes out of this terminal is dedicated freight. That means that we are probably going to be here until tomorrow sometime. They do pay us layover pay, which is $150 (each I believe) when we sit for over 24 hours without a load. That helps, but when we can cover over 1200 miles a day at $1.12 a mile, that $150 really isn't much. But I guess it is better than nothing.
Another bad thing is that we are supposed to be home on Wednesday. So it looks like when we leave here that we will probably have to get a load to Dallas so we can take our time off. With weekly payments on this truck, I have a feeling that we will come out in the hole when we come back from our time off. We need about 2000-2500 miles to break even and I don't see that happening this week. We are taking time off because J's 30th Class Reunion is over the July 4th weekend in Pagosa Springs, Colorado and we are not going to miss that! It is a small town where we grew up and we know so many people there, so we are really looking forward to getting back and seeing everyone.
Another thing I am looking forward to on this time off is seeing our house. We have done a lot of remodeling to it but haven't been able to get some things finished. My mom has hired a contractor and is getting some stuff finished. I know she said he taped and mudded the sheetrock that we put up, scraped the ceiling (to get the popcorn off of it) and then painted. The walls are a gray color and the ceiling an trim are white. I am so excited to see what it looks like. We still have to get the windows cased in and painted but it is going to be a great surprise to see what he has gotten done. Also, we still have to get the flooring installed. When we put the new flooring in the new kitchen, we bought extra for the living room and the hallway. If we can't find anyone that can install it for a decent price, then we will probably have to spend a full day getting the flooring done. But it will be worth it to see the final result! There are so many little things that still need to be done but we have managed to get most of the bigger stuff done ourselves. Now that we are on the road again, we will just have to pay someone to come in and get it finished up.
Sorry I don't have any pictures to post today. It is hard to take pictures while you are driving. There is some beautiful scenery out here. I need to take pictures when we switch and I am in the passenger seat. We are also looking at getting a dash cam. I bet if we did that then I would be able to upload some of it on here so you can see some of the awesome things that I see. That is something to think about!
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Atlanta, GA
Good morning folks! Sorry I didn't post the last few days. I usually post before I go to bed, when J takes over driving, but that was impossible due to the roads.
After we dropped out last load in El Paso, I headed over and got the truck washed and we hung out at the Petro so J could get some non-moving sleep. After he woke up, we went in and grabbed some dinner and then headed back to our terminal to wait for the load that night. I headed to bed and J stayed up and waited for the load to be ready. Once it was ready, he hooked up and hit the road.
He made it to Van Horn,Texas and that is where he woke me up and I took over. At this point, we had a little over 1200 miles to go and about 24 hours to get there. I drove all day and got him to Shreveport,LA where we switched out. After we switched, I grabbed the laptop to blog, but it wasn't going to happen. I-20 through Louisiana is horrible! The laptop kept trying to leap out of my lap! I decided it would have to wait until later. I decided to head on to bed and get some sleep, what I could anyway with the bumpy roads. J got us into Atlanta around 0200 hours, so we dropped the trailer and came around back to park. We had run out of hours so we have to sit here and do our re-start so that we have our full 70 hours back. Our re-start ended this morning and we have been available since 0500, but we still haven't gotten a load yet. They better hurry up and get us something. We are not getting paid if we are sitting, and that is no good.
Driving OTR has reminded me of a lot of things that bug me that 4-wheelers do around trucks. That is what we call cars and pickups. With that being said, I will just point out one thing today that drives me nuts and not EVERYTHING in this post!
A semi truck and trailer can weigh up to 80,000 lbs. For comparison, your car probably weighs around 3,500 lbs. A semi truck weighs the equivalent of about 22 cars. That being said, a semi truck going 55 mph needs a MIMINUM of 100 yards to come to a complete stop. That is locking up the brakes to get stopped. How many highways are 55 mph anymore? Not many. There is a reason why we leave space in between ourselves and other semis or 4-wheelers. We need that room to stop. Please, please, please do not think it is ok to jump in front of a semi , right on our front bumper, in the middle of traffic! If you do that, and we are in traffic, what is going to happen to you when the truck in front of you stops and the other lanes are blocked and you can't get over? I will tell you, and it is sad. You will most likely get stopped in time. But that semi that you jumped in front of, and took up his stopping space? He will probably get stopped also, but not before ramming your car into the back end of the truck in front of you and quite possibly killing you and anyone that is in the car with you. That is the cold hard truth, and something I want you to think about next time you take up the space a semi needs to stop. 80,000 lbs does not stop on a dime like a car can. When we hit you, it will be like 22 cars just piled up on you. I pray to God that it never happens to anyone and that it never happens to us while we are driving our semi. But I see 4-wheelers do it every day, and it makes me cringe, because they have no idea what kind of a situation they just put themselves into. And if you have children that are at the age where they are starting to drive, please share this with them, because they have no clue. Or heck, share it with anyone you know regardless of how long they have been driving. Chances are they don't know anyone that drives a semi and are probably clueless also.
That is my rant for the day. I figure I will share a little of them so that people understand what we, as truck drivers, have to contend with on a daily basis out here. I do understand that there are those truck drivers that are just jerks, and I get that, but you should not judge all truck drivers actions based on the actions of idiots that you have ran across in the past.
On a happier note, I did get some pictures while we stopped at a rest area. There are some really crappy rest areas across the US, but there are also some really nice ones. This particular rest area was in Mississippi. They had some cool tile work in the restroom and the grounds were beautiful. They even had 24 hour security on site. Very nice!
After we dropped out last load in El Paso, I headed over and got the truck washed and we hung out at the Petro so J could get some non-moving sleep. After he woke up, we went in and grabbed some dinner and then headed back to our terminal to wait for the load that night. I headed to bed and J stayed up and waited for the load to be ready. Once it was ready, he hooked up and hit the road.
He made it to Van Horn,Texas and that is where he woke me up and I took over. At this point, we had a little over 1200 miles to go and about 24 hours to get there. I drove all day and got him to Shreveport,LA where we switched out. After we switched, I grabbed the laptop to blog, but it wasn't going to happen. I-20 through Louisiana is horrible! The laptop kept trying to leap out of my lap! I decided it would have to wait until later. I decided to head on to bed and get some sleep, what I could anyway with the bumpy roads. J got us into Atlanta around 0200 hours, so we dropped the trailer and came around back to park. We had run out of hours so we have to sit here and do our re-start so that we have our full 70 hours back. Our re-start ended this morning and we have been available since 0500, but we still haven't gotten a load yet. They better hurry up and get us something. We are not getting paid if we are sitting, and that is no good.
Driving OTR has reminded me of a lot of things that bug me that 4-wheelers do around trucks. That is what we call cars and pickups. With that being said, I will just point out one thing today that drives me nuts and not EVERYTHING in this post!
A semi truck and trailer can weigh up to 80,000 lbs. For comparison, your car probably weighs around 3,500 lbs. A semi truck weighs the equivalent of about 22 cars. That being said, a semi truck going 55 mph needs a MIMINUM of 100 yards to come to a complete stop. That is locking up the brakes to get stopped. How many highways are 55 mph anymore? Not many. There is a reason why we leave space in between ourselves and other semis or 4-wheelers. We need that room to stop. Please, please, please do not think it is ok to jump in front of a semi , right on our front bumper, in the middle of traffic! If you do that, and we are in traffic, what is going to happen to you when the truck in front of you stops and the other lanes are blocked and you can't get over? I will tell you, and it is sad. You will most likely get stopped in time. But that semi that you jumped in front of, and took up his stopping space? He will probably get stopped also, but not before ramming your car into the back end of the truck in front of you and quite possibly killing you and anyone that is in the car with you. That is the cold hard truth, and something I want you to think about next time you take up the space a semi needs to stop. 80,000 lbs does not stop on a dime like a car can. When we hit you, it will be like 22 cars just piled up on you. I pray to God that it never happens to anyone and that it never happens to us while we are driving our semi. But I see 4-wheelers do it every day, and it makes me cringe, because they have no idea what kind of a situation they just put themselves into. And if you have children that are at the age where they are starting to drive, please share this with them, because they have no clue. Or heck, share it with anyone you know regardless of how long they have been driving. Chances are they don't know anyone that drives a semi and are probably clueless also.
That is my rant for the day. I figure I will share a little of them so that people understand what we, as truck drivers, have to contend with on a daily basis out here. I do understand that there are those truck drivers that are just jerks, and I get that, but you should not judge all truck drivers actions based on the actions of idiots that you have ran across in the past.
On a happier note, I did get some pictures while we stopped at a rest area. There are some really crappy rest areas across the US, but there are also some really nice ones. This particular rest area was in Mississippi. They had some cool tile work in the restroom and the grounds were beautiful. They even had 24 hour security on site. Very nice!
Monday, June 22, 2015
El Paso, TX
Whew! It is HOT here today. It is 1500 local time (sorry, but military time is what we use and what I am used to!) and it is 104 outside! I feel like I am melting!
We headed out of Houston last night around 2200 hours and I got into El Paso around 1300 hours. We had only picked up at this terminal once and it was at night. There wasn't much going on and the terminal was pretty much empty. During the day however is another story. It is a fairly small terminal and it is tight getting a trailer into one of their docks. Especially when there are bobtails (just the semi truck by itself with no trailer attached) parked along the fence line in front of the docks. But, seeing as how I am a professional (LOL) I managed to get it backed in without any problems. Next time I try to back it into a dock it may be a different story, but today went well. :)
After we dropped it off we headed over to the Blue Beacon so we could get the truck washed. She needed a bath. Here is a picture of her all cleaned up. I didn't get the tires all shined up this time though.
Speaking of how hot is is here, you see that white truck I am parked next to? That is another Forward Air driver. I got out and was talking to him for about 30 minutes and I got sunburned in just that short amount of time. My face is all red!
Anyway, tonight we will be picking up our next load going to Atlanta. It picks up around 2200 and we have to have it there by Wednesday morning at 0600. It is only about 1450 miles, so that is easily doable. (Is "doable" actually a word? I guess I could Google it!?)
We just go back from having a nice big dinner, and that is something that we rarely do out here. Since my tummy is good and full, I think I will have to call it a night.
Charlene, I will try to take and upload more pictures on here. :) I am trying to get back in the habit!
Have a great evening everyone!
We headed out of Houston last night around 2200 hours and I got into El Paso around 1300 hours. We had only picked up at this terminal once and it was at night. There wasn't much going on and the terminal was pretty much empty. During the day however is another story. It is a fairly small terminal and it is tight getting a trailer into one of their docks. Especially when there are bobtails (just the semi truck by itself with no trailer attached) parked along the fence line in front of the docks. But, seeing as how I am a professional (LOL) I managed to get it backed in without any problems. Next time I try to back it into a dock it may be a different story, but today went well. :)
After we dropped it off we headed over to the Blue Beacon so we could get the truck washed. She needed a bath. Here is a picture of her all cleaned up. I didn't get the tires all shined up this time though.
Speaking of how hot is is here, you see that white truck I am parked next to? That is another Forward Air driver. I got out and was talking to him for about 30 minutes and I got sunburned in just that short amount of time. My face is all red!
Anyway, tonight we will be picking up our next load going to Atlanta. It picks up around 2200 and we have to have it there by Wednesday morning at 0600. It is only about 1450 miles, so that is easily doable. (Is "doable" actually a word? I guess I could Google it!?)
We just go back from having a nice big dinner, and that is something that we rarely do out here. Since my tummy is good and full, I think I will have to call it a night.
Charlene, I will try to take and upload more pictures on here. :) I am trying to get back in the habit!
Have a great evening everyone!
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Houston, TX
Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there! This year there are three special guys. My dad, and of course J, and then there is our son-in-law who is celebrating his first Father's Day as a Dad!! After we dropped this load here in Houston, we grabbed a shower and went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner. I am so full right now. As soon as I get this all typed up, it is time for bed.
I kind of feel like we are going in circles. I should get used to it though since we run from terminal to terminal and not customer to customer. We got our first load on June 9th out of Columbus. Here is a list of where we have been.
Columbus to Cleveland
Cleveland to Pittsburg
Pittsburg to Chicago
Chicago to Phoenix
Phoenix to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Chicago
Chicago to Phoenix
Phoenix to El Paso
El Paso to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Houston
We delivered to Houston at 1:00 PM CST and we have a load coming out of here going to El Paso that should be ready around midnight.
It looks like in about 12 days we have covered close to 11,000 miles. I did have two shifts where I didn't drive at all due to the loads not being ready and we got a complete restart on our hours when we spent the night in Genoa, IL with my closest high school friend and her husband. I guess actual working days is has been about 9 working days. I think it is safe to day that we are covering some ground!
For those of you that are not familiar with the transportation industry, there are a ton of regulations. For instance, you can not work more that 70 hours in an 8 day period. Once you have hit your 70 hours, you have to stop and completely reset your hours. We call this a "re-start" and this is done by taking 34 hours off and not working. You can also gain hours back. Every 8 days, the 1st day falls off, and you gain those hours back to your 70 that you would be available to work. It is confusing and I am not going to try to explain it! LOL If you are interested, you can Google it! :) J and I can do what is called a rolling re-start where he would start his re-start in the Sleeper Berth while I am driving. After my shift, I would have to park for 24 hours. Then J can take off driving because he has had his 34 off. I would finish my re-start in the Sleeper Berth while he is driving. It is a little easier for teams because we only have to "sit" for 24 hours, where a solo driver has to sit the whole 34.
They also have regulations on how much we can drive and how long we can work. You can only drive for 11 hours. You can only work for 14 hours. You have to take a minimum 10 hour break before your 11 hour and 14 hour clock will restart. Out of that 10 hour break, you have to have at least 8 of those hours logged in the Sleeper Berth.
A new one that has come about since we were last driving is the mandatory 30 minute break during your 11 hours of drive time. DOT regulations state that you have to have a 30 minute break BEFORE you have been driving for 8 hours. If you are on electronic logs, like we are, and you go 1 minute over the 8 hours, it will flag you with a violation. UGH! More stuff to remember. I don't really feel like we need to take that break. Of course, I am a woman, so during that first 8 hours I probably stop twice to go to the restroom, so it isn't like I drive for 8 hours straight! But I know some people do that, and then they get fatigued and get in accidents, so we have them to thank for more regulations.
I suppose that is all for today. J will pick up this load and we will head to El Paso. We have to have it there by 16:10 hours and it is only 753 miles so it will be a piece of cake!
I kind of feel like we are going in circles. I should get used to it though since we run from terminal to terminal and not customer to customer. We got our first load on June 9th out of Columbus. Here is a list of where we have been.
Columbus to Cleveland
Cleveland to Pittsburg
Pittsburg to Chicago
Chicago to Phoenix
Phoenix to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Chicago
Chicago to Phoenix
Phoenix to El Paso
El Paso to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Houston
We delivered to Houston at 1:00 PM CST and we have a load coming out of here going to El Paso that should be ready around midnight.
It looks like in about 12 days we have covered close to 11,000 miles. I did have two shifts where I didn't drive at all due to the loads not being ready and we got a complete restart on our hours when we spent the night in Genoa, IL with my closest high school friend and her husband. I guess actual working days is has been about 9 working days. I think it is safe to day that we are covering some ground!
For those of you that are not familiar with the transportation industry, there are a ton of regulations. For instance, you can not work more that 70 hours in an 8 day period. Once you have hit your 70 hours, you have to stop and completely reset your hours. We call this a "re-start" and this is done by taking 34 hours off and not working. You can also gain hours back. Every 8 days, the 1st day falls off, and you gain those hours back to your 70 that you would be available to work. It is confusing and I am not going to try to explain it! LOL If you are interested, you can Google it! :) J and I can do what is called a rolling re-start where he would start his re-start in the Sleeper Berth while I am driving. After my shift, I would have to park for 24 hours. Then J can take off driving because he has had his 34 off. I would finish my re-start in the Sleeper Berth while he is driving. It is a little easier for teams because we only have to "sit" for 24 hours, where a solo driver has to sit the whole 34.
They also have regulations on how much we can drive and how long we can work. You can only drive for 11 hours. You can only work for 14 hours. You have to take a minimum 10 hour break before your 11 hour and 14 hour clock will restart. Out of that 10 hour break, you have to have at least 8 of those hours logged in the Sleeper Berth.
A new one that has come about since we were last driving is the mandatory 30 minute break during your 11 hours of drive time. DOT regulations state that you have to have a 30 minute break BEFORE you have been driving for 8 hours. If you are on electronic logs, like we are, and you go 1 minute over the 8 hours, it will flag you with a violation. UGH! More stuff to remember. I don't really feel like we need to take that break. Of course, I am a woman, so during that first 8 hours I probably stop twice to go to the restroom, so it isn't like I drive for 8 hours straight! But I know some people do that, and then they get fatigued and get in accidents, so we have them to thank for more regulations.
I suppose that is all for today. J will pick up this load and we will head to El Paso. We have to have it there by 16:10 hours and it is only 753 miles so it will be a piece of cake!
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Phoenix, AZ
I am back! It has been about 4 1/2 years since we were OTR but we are out on the road again. If you followed my other blog, and somehow make your way to this one, I will try to catch you up on what has been going on. Well, the short version anyway. If you are new and happen to stumble upon my blog, then WELCOME! Happy reading!
Due to my fathers health, we came off of the road in 2010. I think in my head I was thinking that his health was worse than what it was, so I wanted to be back home and close. Now I realize he is not on his death bed, THANK GOD, and we have gotten back in the truck. For four years we worked at Empire Paper in Lubbock, Texas. It is a facilities supply company and we started out doing local delivery for them. After two years I moved into Customer Service and after a year of that I moved over to Sales. J (my husband and better half) was a driver for two years and then moved into a Field Service Tech position. It is a GREAT company, and GREAT people. After four years, the lure of the truck started pulling at us but we wanted to stay close to home.
In October of 2014, we moved our RV down to Big Lake, Texas and went to work hauling water in a tanker for Nabors in the West Texas oil fields. The money was awesome, granted we were working 70 hours a week, but the money is in the overtime. Things were going well until February when it got very slow. Oil prices had tanked and they stopped drilling and started closing in some of the wells. That meant the water we had to haul was drastically cut back. We went from 70 hours a week to maybe getting 30-35 and that wasn't going to cut it. We still keep in touch with drivers that we worked with previously while we were OTR. After talking to a few of them, we made a decision to come back to the road.
June 1st of this year we started with Forward Air. So far we are really happy with them. We will just have to learn more about their terminals and routes and that should only take about two months to figure out. We are on the LTL side, so we go from terminal to terminal and it is all drop and hook. No customers to deal with! YAY!! Now, this pays a bit less that the TLX division that goes customer to customer, but we decided it was worth a little less pay to not have that hassle.
We have a 2016 International LoneStar, and it is sweet! We are leasing, but at the end of the lease, there is a $1 buyout, yes, one dollar. So the truck will be ours and they consider us Owner/Operators and not Lease Operators. We are still going to look around and save up some money and maybe go the conventional route of buying another truck, because it will be cheaper to have a monthly payment as opposed to a weekly payment. Plus, if we are going to be paying this much money for a truck, I really want a truck with a custom sleeper. That is something we will consider when we start looking. But this was our foot in the door to get back on the road and we can't complain.
On a personal note, this February, our daughter Jessica and son-in-law Ruben gave us our first grandchild, Elijah Cole!! He is absolutely precious and we can't wait to see him again. We were there when he was born, but haven't been able to get back. Hopefully in the next month we will make that happen.
We also bought a house in Lubbock that is in a constant state of remodeling. We got a lot done, but now that we are on the road, my mother (who lives with us) is taking care of getting a contractor out to get it finished up. We got the majority of the stuff done, so for now it is just finish work they will come in and get done. Of course, there is a bathroom that is going to be enlarged and completely re-done, and our master bath needs tile put up, but one project at a time is all we can afford!
It feels really good to be blogging again! I hope you stay tuned for more of our adventures!
T-Net
P.S. If you DID happen to follow my previous blog, Smokey is alive and well, but he is not on the truck with us this time. After we came off the road he ended up having knee surgery from all of the jumping in and out of the truck. So now he is enjoying a nice lazy life of luxury at home with my mom and our other dog, Dexter, that we acquired after we came off the road. :-)
Due to my fathers health, we came off of the road in 2010. I think in my head I was thinking that his health was worse than what it was, so I wanted to be back home and close. Now I realize he is not on his death bed, THANK GOD, and we have gotten back in the truck. For four years we worked at Empire Paper in Lubbock, Texas. It is a facilities supply company and we started out doing local delivery for them. After two years I moved into Customer Service and after a year of that I moved over to Sales. J (my husband and better half) was a driver for two years and then moved into a Field Service Tech position. It is a GREAT company, and GREAT people. After four years, the lure of the truck started pulling at us but we wanted to stay close to home.
In October of 2014, we moved our RV down to Big Lake, Texas and went to work hauling water in a tanker for Nabors in the West Texas oil fields. The money was awesome, granted we were working 70 hours a week, but the money is in the overtime. Things were going well until February when it got very slow. Oil prices had tanked and they stopped drilling and started closing in some of the wells. That meant the water we had to haul was drastically cut back. We went from 70 hours a week to maybe getting 30-35 and that wasn't going to cut it. We still keep in touch with drivers that we worked with previously while we were OTR. After talking to a few of them, we made a decision to come back to the road.
June 1st of this year we started with Forward Air. So far we are really happy with them. We will just have to learn more about their terminals and routes and that should only take about two months to figure out. We are on the LTL side, so we go from terminal to terminal and it is all drop and hook. No customers to deal with! YAY!! Now, this pays a bit less that the TLX division that goes customer to customer, but we decided it was worth a little less pay to not have that hassle.
We have a 2016 International LoneStar, and it is sweet! We are leasing, but at the end of the lease, there is a $1 buyout, yes, one dollar. So the truck will be ours and they consider us Owner/Operators and not Lease Operators. We are still going to look around and save up some money and maybe go the conventional route of buying another truck, because it will be cheaper to have a monthly payment as opposed to a weekly payment. Plus, if we are going to be paying this much money for a truck, I really want a truck with a custom sleeper. That is something we will consider when we start looking. But this was our foot in the door to get back on the road and we can't complain.
On a personal note, this February, our daughter Jessica and son-in-law Ruben gave us our first grandchild, Elijah Cole!! He is absolutely precious and we can't wait to see him again. We were there when he was born, but haven't been able to get back. Hopefully in the next month we will make that happen.
We also bought a house in Lubbock that is in a constant state of remodeling. We got a lot done, but now that we are on the road, my mother (who lives with us) is taking care of getting a contractor out to get it finished up. We got the majority of the stuff done, so for now it is just finish work they will come in and get done. Of course, there is a bathroom that is going to be enlarged and completely re-done, and our master bath needs tile put up, but one project at a time is all we can afford!
It feels really good to be blogging again! I hope you stay tuned for more of our adventures!
T-Net
P.S. If you DID happen to follow my previous blog, Smokey is alive and well, but he is not on the truck with us this time. After we came off the road he ended up having knee surgery from all of the jumping in and out of the truck. So now he is enjoying a nice lazy life of luxury at home with my mom and our other dog, Dexter, that we acquired after we came off the road. :-)
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