Is anyone out there?

Gads, I spend all day talking to myself........should I type to myself as well?  I think I will take the holidays off.....unless I hear or read otherwise.

My cell phone has been quiet too as well as messages, etc.  I thought, the last few times I called a few, they were too busy to talk so I wonder if they were really busy or just tired of hearing my same whine story.  So....I decided to wait until they wanted to talk. 

You see folks, this life is nothing but solitude.  You drive all day and sleep all night, to just start over again and again and again.......until you get home time.  So, you get damn lonely and unintentionally call those that you care about way more than you ever would if you had a LIFE and being a trucker, you really don't have much to say......just wish for someone to listen anyway as you are lonely. 

I use to be the life of the party.....this is hard, especially as I have missed so many holidays, birthdays, time with family and friends. 

I miss being missed...........

I miss being hugged........

I miss hearing laughter other than my own.......

I miss who I use to be.......

I miss those in my life.......

And.........

To continue, the whine bottle is capped!

No Whine Thursday!

Did you enjoy your "no whine Thursday"?  I could have had a full day to fill my "whine" bottle yesterday but decided to give you and myself, the day off!  I had better things to do..............such as:

Sit in West Memphis, Arkansas, at the Pilot since 10 AM yesterday!  Yehaw!  We got a few nice walks in, ate a couple of good meals and enjoyed some of my favorite shows on my flat screen TV.  One of the nice things about bob tailing, you can usually park right next to the truck stop which sometimes; gives you better WiFi.  At this truck stop, it was excellent!  I am all caught up with CSI, Survivor, and House.  Now I am getting caught up on Rescue Me as Netflix finally added this show to their instant.

We were up at 4 AM, showered and logged in at 5:30 to start my clock and my day.  No load has been assigned........gads, it has been 20 hours and they couldn't find me a load.  This company is falling fast...

I am going to finish my coffee, eat breakfast, watch a little TV and head to Walmart if I am still sitting in an hour.  Check in with you later!

34 Restart........didn't restart!

Good evening from the Pilot in Birmingham, Alabama.  That lovely 34 hours of down time was taken away this morning at 7 AM.

I slept well and never did hear a knock on the door or a message on the truck computer.  But......I thought I better contact dispatch to make sure this load was OK to be a day late and guess what, it wasn't as it was a live unload.  I told the dispatch I WAS on a 34, sent in the messages stating this load would be late and not a single peep from anyone.  Well, it was better to dog paddle than to sink and I took the load to the drop.

I arrived 30 minutes late which was not an issue.........that fun part was sitting for 5 hours waiting to get unloaded.  I cleaned the truck and myself up (it has been awhile since I felt like wearing makeup), flirted a little and laughed alot while killing time.  The client stated he wished he had more truckers like me.....smiling  :)

Now we have a load to drop in Memphis, AR, tomorrow morning as they SLOWLY head me west to Yuma.  I am upset that I didn't get to spend some time with a dear friend of mine but who knows, he might be in Georgia the next time I am here.

Rocking the boat.......will I sink or swim or stay dry??

Good evening from Atlanta, GA!  I could not drop my load tonight as I had only 1.75 hours on my clock and I was 2 hours away.  Soooooooo.............

I called my dispatcher.  She wanted to swap me out with another load that is due tomorrow at 8 AM, 53 miles from me, with only 5.5 hours that I will be able to drive.....and I am like......NOT!

I am taking my 34 as I will only get 5.5 miles tomorrow and only 6.5 the day after.  The logical choice, stay parked and gain all my hours back the day she wanted me to drive 6.5!   Then we got into this hissy fit about me not being in Yuma two days ago (a planning issue while she was on vacation), etc., and she decided that if I take a 34, it would be my fault if I was not on time for home time in Yuma on the 21st.  And I am like.........NOT!  It would be PLANNING fault!  I am only 3 days away from Yuma and I am sure they can screw up a few days before I get there!

So.......here I sit, with a load that is due in the morning and I am not moving.............will I sink......swim (I can only dog  paddle) or deliver a load that was already late when I got it............hmmmmmmm

As for me..........catching up with a dear friend tomorrow........and smiling thinking about it!

Killing time in Russellville, AR!

We had a lovely two hour breakfast in OK, and now just ending a 3 hour lunch in Russellville.  Next stop, Walmart in Conway, 56 hours east for a couple of hours (Gonja's food container finally got a leak and we have mold that should not be introduced into his diet) and that will leave us with one hour before my clock is up today.  We should find ourselves at the Pilot in Little Rock, AR.  Now.........that is trip planning!

The load has until midnight tomorrow so I will not be late delivering.  Not a money making day but that is ok, we lost only 3.5 hours of drive time in order to see the sights.  We will be running the full 11 hours tomorrow.

Time to load up!

Good morning from Checotah, OK!

I know, it has been a few days but my mind has been elsewhere (with my Mother) and trying to get to Yuma which never happened (thank you dear company for caring).  But I spoke with my Mother two days ago and she is doing much better and doesn’t want to risk the company taking away our  holiday time so I accepted a load in Albuquerque to Georgia, 1400 mile run.

We only have 7 hours on our clock today so we get the great fun of stretching those 7 hours into 14!  They just tried to tell me again that I can deliver the load by 11 AM tomorrow which means they expect me to end my 7 hours early, sleep from 3 to 11 PM and drive all night.....not.  OMG people!  They have been working with me for 10 months now, they SHOULD know better!

Let me tell you about Saturday morning!  We hit the road at 5 AM, driving through the isolated lands of Colorado on the old US 350, a lonely long stretch of a two lane road with spotted dried up little towns scattered over the landscape.  This was the morning of the eclipse.  When I first spotted the moon, it was so bright that you could see across the heavily frosted barren land for miles.  As I was driving due south, I had the morning sun rising to the left of me and the beginning of the eclipse to the right.  As the sun started to peak over the horizon, the thick frost took on the light red of the beginning sunrise to the left while the frost shone bright white to the right under the disappearing moon.

The moon itself began to slowly fade into the sky as if the sky was engulfing its morning meal.  Once that red sun reached above the horizon, the temperature hit zero degrees and the sky took its last bite….and the moon was no more.  It was amazing!

I could never take pictures of what I witnessed……it was just something you would have to be lucky to witness!

Off to search the web for a bit and walk Gonja……..later!

There is a house in all that frost!

We played here........there was no breeze so the reflection of the sun off the frost and snow made it a perfect stop for breakfast.

Now that is a heavy load!

Merry Christmas!