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?
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