Good evening from ............. somewhere!

I think we are in Council Bluffs, Iowa (spelling provided by a local)!  I just know that I down loaded my last three paychecks and they are sweet but I have deductions that I need to discuss with Payroll.  It is nice to have a check that I earned.......and did not have to fight for but on that same note, they really need to discuss why certain things are not as straight forward as they should be.

It appears that my trip planning as totally flunked as I am trying to plan as if I was in my old truck........a difference of 5 to 7 miles per hour in the rears.  No wonder I can't make my time match as that adds up to an hour a day of less driving time.  You know, if fuel prices continue to climb, we might be down to 45 miles per hour...........ewwwwwww

It looks like we might be able to spend the night with Lorene and Mom Saturday night............ :)

This chair was a little scary as its legs were chained to the tree and barbwire around the top...

was someone BAD?

I love this picture as you don't know what angle I took it from and it is KEWL! 

Good evening from South Bend, IN

We finally dropped that load yesterday afternoon at 1 PM and was informed to take a 10 hr as a new load hadn't been assigned.  By the time we got the truck and trailer washed and parked, we had our load to pick up today at 2 PM.  Sweet, I get to sleep in!

I have a week of various driving hours and this load is taking us west....all the way to western Oregon!  We have another cross country trip but this one is going to go a tad slower as we can't run a full 11 hours everyday. By my calculations, we drove today a total of 5 hours, tomorrow 9 hours, the day after 11 hours, the day after 8 hours and we should only be 3 hours away come Sunday morning.  This load is not due to the receiver until Monday morning at 8 AM.  So if this was a perfect world and we finally had perfect driving conditions going back the same way we got here, we will be doing a 34 hour restart before we even deliver!

I got so use to always being late as the loads given to me were so it is nice to have a run like this on occasion with good weather to really enjoy the ride as time is on your side.  ;)  Marcus thinks I am nuts as he prefers to run his backside off down to the minute.......but you know what, you don't know if you will ever have the opportunity to see these roads again and with spring right around the corner, it is going to be awesome!

Good Monday Morning from a chilly Omaha....

We woke up to a frosty morning and more flashing lights on the dash.  If this ole truck is going to bust, it might as well happen right where we sit!  I am enjoying my first cup of coffee while waiting for our turn in the shop.  I added more items to the work order so let's hope we get the OK for ALL the repairs.

List so far:  starter, headlight, bunk heater, bunk lights, and it won't regenerate.........which will eventually shut the engine down.  Great way to start a Monday.......

Sitting in Omaha....

Not only did my starter/solenoid die, I lost a head light too in route to the shop.  We are here safe and sound.  Good news is I get to sleep in since they can't touch the truck until 7 AM, they have driver's lounge and WiFi.  Bad news.....no laundry or showers.  We can't have everything now can we......and we are 11 hours from our drop........AUGH!

After my morning coffee and Gonja walk, we might have time to take the shuttle to Walmart for supplies.  Let's see how our morning goes!

Good morning from Sidney, Nebraska!

I am broke down and waiting for road assistance. 

It has been a crazy two days and this load keeps getting delayed each time I turn around!  First delay was that (three hour) wait for the chain restriction to be lifted in Oregon.  Next was the delay that evening at the Rupert DOT scales.  It appears that scale I used to weight this load at the truck stop next to the pickup was off by 4000 pounds on my trailer!  I wasn’t 4000 pounds light but 840 pounds heavy.  With three scale runs and adjusting the back tandems, I was able to get legal with a warning ticket (if I hadn’t had scaled, it would have been a real ticket) but had to spend the night there as I ran out of hours.

OMG……then there was the snow storm just before Laramie on the Medicine Bow and Snowy Range mountains.  Just after leaving Rawlins, there were wind advisories of wind gusts of 50+ per mile.  I could see one of those mountains to my right covered deep in a menacing black cloud that I know wasn’t friendly as well as the wind that was coming from that direction.  Soon the drifting snow started and the more I climbed, the more it became ice on the road.  Accidents were starting around me as the wind was blowing over light trailers being pulled by cars.  There was warnings for no light trailers but I guess personal vehicles don’t think they count.

At one point, my lane of traffic came to a stop, on an incline covered in ice.  I crawled at 5 miles an hour in order to keep traction as just a hint of more fuel would have got my wheels spinning and I wouldn’t be going anywhere!  Once on top of that incline, I was able to gain speed but now…….blinding vertical snow!  The visibility was 20 feet at times!  I forgot about my full bladder, I forgot to let go of the steering wheel, I might even have forgotten to blink as my eyes were glued to what I could see of the road ahead of me.  This is one of those storms you wanted OUT OF; there is no room for error and getting stuck in the middle of it!

And……to my relief, I did just that.  This trucking princess became a real trucker and I didn’t like it at all!  Gads! 

So, the storm delayed us an hour and we spent a windy night in Cheyenne.

We were back on the road at 5:15 this morning, drove two hours and stopped at our current location for a 15 minute break for breakfast.  When I was ready to roll……..the truck wouldn’t start!  Not a click, not a grind, not a sound came from the engine.  The battery was down to 12 which is unusual as we have been driving for two hours and the gage should be at 14+.  I turned on the APU as it will charge the battery; checked my fluids and now just sitting waiting for a shop truck.  It could be the starter, the battery, wiring, who knows, but it is another delay that I just don’t dang nab it need!

Mechanic is here…….chat later!

We have a bad solenoid!  I had to be pulled jumped in order to start the truck.  I am to keep the truck running while they try and find me a shop.  Augh……….