A Weekend of Much-Needed R & R

We are back in Indiana for a 3-day weekend but not close enough to go home. We're in Evansville waiting for a pickup on Tuesday morning. That load will take us near Columbus, Ohio which is a good thing because we need to be in Green, Oh. on Wednesday morning so the truck can undergo a routine test on the reefer box. As soon as the testing is done we are going home for a much needed rest until after a family reunion in Lafayette the following weekend.

I want to wish my dad a belated 80th birthday. It was yesterday and we didn't stop the truck until after 10:00 to eat dinner and get to bed. I did talk to him on the phone at least. Happy Birthday, Dad. We love you.

This has been a very tiring week, physically and emotionally. We have had to try to keep in the midwest area because of the testing next week. Consequently we've had a bunch of little short runs that will run a person ragged. The hot, humid weather isn't helping much. The rain only makes it more humid and when I open the truck door it feels like a blast furnace. Ron says it's been storming during the night a couple of times but I never heard a thing. Either he's dreaming it or I'm doing my best sleeping through it all. :)

I have a few more things to take care of on the computer so I better get busy. Ron likes to have his turn on it once in a while. We are seriously considering buying a notebook so he can do his thing at the same time as me. If he's playing a game or surfing I could wait for hours for him to finish so I get a chance. So, until next time . . . . . .

47 Out of 48

We have made it to Vermont, making it 47 of the continental 48 states. Maine is still out there just waiting for us. On the way to our pick up we were guided by Tom (gps) and brought to a ferry crossing to get from New York to Vermont. We were a little skeptical but willing to give it a try. We paid our fare and drove onto the ferry along with about a dozen cars. We happened to make it to the last crossing of the day. The ride was smooth, water like glass and the sun was setting behind us. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL !!! We didn't come back the same way. Darn!

In my last blog I mentioned how busy we were the previous week. I did some calculations and discovered we had logged over 6,000 miles in one week. No wonder we were so exhausted. This week was a little slower but not much. We are now spending the weekend in Bordentown, New Jersey. We do have a load out of Philadelphia Monday morning that will bring us to Columbus, Ohio.

I don't know about you but I am tired of all the heat. No matter where we go, north-south-east-west there is nothing but hot, hot, hot! We had a nasty thunderstorm yesterday afternoon that made no difference in themperature or humidity. The wind did a little rock-n-roll number with the truck which was a welcome to our naptime since we had been driving all night before.

P.S. The rest areas in Vermont shut down after dark and don't open until after sun up. We learned that lesson the hard way. Fortunately we found a small 24 hr. truck stop not too long after and spent the night there. Until next time . . . . . . . . .

TGIF

Thank Goodness It's Friday !!!! It has been an even crazier week than last week and I didn't think that was possible. We left California last Friday evening, arrived in New Jersey Monday morning, picked up in Pennsylvania, then to Tennessee, on to Alabama, then Georgia and delivered today in Upstate New York. It had to be well over 5,000 miles just this week. Whew !

And to top it all off, Ron caught a terrible cold. Summer colds are the worst and his is no exception. He's been doctoring with everything and we have the next 2 days off because we ran out of weekly hours (We each started with 70 and now have 5 & 10 respectively so must be off over 34 straight hours to reset) so maybe he can get caught up on some much needed rest. One thing that is helping is something I read in an email. I made him rub Vicks VapoRub on the soles of his feet. I read that it stops coughing at night. Guess What---IT REALLY WORKS !!!!!!

I must tell you about the latest "Tom, the GPS Guy" episode. Yesterday morning as we were going to our pick up, a load of weapons, and were following Tom's directions and thought he led us astray. I checked the Qualcomm in the truck and the local directions from our dispatch was exactly the same as Tom's. Let me just say that in the middle of Farmer's Market the only weapons were rotten fruit and veggies! After asking directions from Market security we finally made it to our pickup about 20 miles later. It seems the street we needed stops and picks up quite a distance away. Always a learning experience! Until next time . . . . . . .

California

Well, we are still in San Jose. It's been almost a week here including the 4th (without fireworks). It's very hot here. Some days hotter than others. Today is a milder one with temperatures in the high eighties. I think it was triple digits over the weekend. I wish we could get a load that takes us out of here. The landscape and freeways are becoming way too familiar. We have been doing some local runs that aren't paying too bad but not like a cross country run. I'm ready for a change of scenery.

We did have a little fun yesterday at lunchtime. We were across the street from the truckstop, eating at Wendy's (they have the most wonderful Berry Almond Chicken Salad) when we looked out the window and saw the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile pulling in. The drivers had stopped for lunch too. It seems they travel the Southwest doing promotionals and were just passing through. As we walked out with the drivers behind us I was able to snap a quick picture with my phone. It's really a pretty cool thing. Ron said he checked out the job once and discovered that the drivers must hold an associate's degree in business and public relations. Just to drive a weird looking vehicle?

Well, I feel like my brain is becoming stagnant with so little to do while waiting. This seems to be a rather slow week and I hope it picks up soon. Until next time . . . . . . . . .

Back to Work

We are spending the holiday weekend in San Jose, California. We were here for Memorial Day also. We had lunch today at Pea Soup Andersen's across the street. Food was great again. It's been a crazy hectic week after a week at home. But we had to come back to work to get some rest from all the chaos of putting together a yard sale. Now, that's work! We had a four-family sale in our back yard. It rained all week until noon on Friday. We opened at noon and ran all day on Saturday. It was fun but tiring. When it was all over, we loaded everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) left over and took it to Goodwill. Ron said that he was taking nothing back into the house once it came out. I guess he meant it.

We started this week out by going to Kalamazoo, Mi. for a load to Pennsylvania, then on to Memphis and finally here in California. We delivered our long load yesterday and did a small local run this morning. Now it's time to give the truck a little rest. It's been on the go 24 hrs ever since leaving South Bend. Plus the fact that both of us have TB (tired buns)!! :)

It looks like we will have to wait until Tuesday to get a load out of here. So, we wait! Until next time . . . . . . . . .