4th of July

Saturday, July 5, 2008

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th at Midway Community Center, listing to a pretty good band out of Nashville and had some home made ice cream. We had gone to Center Hill Lake earlier; got sun burned, and I cooked ribs on the grill. It was a very good day. We are going to the Fiddlers Jamboree this evening. It is in Smithville, Tennessee. It started in 1972 by Joe L Evins, the Tennessee congressman from Smithville. I was living in Smithville at the time, spending most of my time on the lake with friends. This is a very beautiful area and Smithville is a great place to live. A lot of people from the Nashville area have homes here on the lake. http://www.smithvilletn.com/jamboree/history.htm

We have a load assignment from Nashville to Laredo, Texas. We pick up Monday at 08:30 and delivery in Laredo at12:00 Wednesday. We have been home for a week. I am glad to get the assignment so that I know what to plan. It is a pain to wait not knowing when you are going to leave. Now I can enjoy the rest of the time I have home. I didn’t expect to picking up today. Who has anything that needs shipped the Saturday after the 4th of July? I have been home longer that I expected or wanted to be but I have enjoyed it.

Alien World

Monday July 1, 2008

Alien World

Being back home for a few days and getting back into a normal life of a home with beds, your own bathroom without getting permission, real meals, going to restaurants without needing a 40 acre lot to park, I realized what a total alien life truck driving really is. Once you climb back into the cab and hit the road you enter a twilight zone; traveling through different worlds and making stops on different planets at weird hours. You are treated as a necessary entity, but an alien that they really don’t care to deal with but are willing to use to get their goods transported to a foreign port in a distance galaxy. As you make your journey you deal with the intergalactic cops, the local planetary cops, and the discrimination of the local residents. You fly like crazy trying to meet your appointments while making fueling stops, fighting for areas to stop for the required shut down times as required by the IGC Federation Laws. You deal with a lack of spaces to dock, no space ship docking allowed signs, use only right traveling lanes, and loading docks that weren’t build to accommodate a freighter your size. You deal with the extreme colds of planet Minszar to the extreme heat of planet Texmexzoid. Then you deal with meteorite showers, traffic jams, and skyjackers. Every few years you get home for a few days to pretend you are normal. But while out you visit the universe and see places that you would not normally see. You experience places in all seasons. An occasionally you meet some very nice people.

Home Time

Monday, June 30, 2008

Home Time

We got home for a few days of rest and relaxation. Mowed the lawn and doing some work around the house before we head out again. It is good to be home. The weather is beautiful and we hope to go to the lake tomorrow. On the 4th we go to Midway Community Center for fun and games. They serve homemade ice cream, grill burgers, and have several bands playing during the day. It is all in a good country setting with fire works at night. It is always enjoyable time.

Two days before we got home our inverter in the truck went out and we had to get rid of stuff from the refrigerator. I tried to find a cooler in a truck stop but couldn’t find anything but the electric type. I have a cooler in my vehicle in Joplin. I am going to spend some time to get things better organized in the truck while I am at home. We use the top bunk for the refrigerator and a crate for Sweet Pea but it is mostly wasted space. In the T600 you don’t have much space for two people so I need to make the best use of what space we do have.

We got a Garmin navigation system that we are going to take with us. I hope that it will make it a little easier to find places.

Middletown, NY

Houston, Texas

Thursday, June 26, 2008

NY

The days pass so fast. You are in Texas and then a few days later in NY headed for Tennessee. It all starts to run together. We left Texas and went with a load to Ohio. Then we went to Pennsylvania and then to Middletown, NY for a load to Alcoa, Tennessee. We have highlighted for home so we have been routed to Tennessee. However we don’t need to be there yet. We pick up a load 20:30 tonight and I will then talk to the dispatcher tomorrow about my home time.

The weather up north has been cool and we haven’t had to idle at night. NY is a no idle state so it being cool has been a blessing. It rained a little today but rather than that we haven’t had much rain to deal with although I hear that the Mississippi river valley that had been flooding got more rain.

We have now been to 19 States.

Eagle Pass, Texas

TX 53


Friday, June 20, 2008

Eagle Pass, Texas
We went from Iowa to Laredo, Texas and then to Eagle Pass, Texas when we got a load of Air Conditioner parts to take to Indiana. That seems a little ironic with it being 110 here. I have enjoyed this trip. The trip from Laredo to Eagle Pass was real pleasant. We traveled TX 53. It is a straight 2 lane road that runs up the South West part of Texas. We are loaded and spending the night here tonight

Iowa

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Iowa

We got to Iowa today about 12:00 but we have to wait till 07:00 tomorrow for our appointment. I called dispatch and ask then to get it sooner but they sent back a message that they couldn’t get it changed. I don’t know if he even tried. I am not to sure about my dispatcher. After I get unloaded tomorrow I will give him another call. I have only had two loads since Thursday. One trip was for 750 miles and this one for a little over 400.

It is at least it is pretty weather today. It is sunny in the 70’s and we have a cool breeze. We saw several wind farms in the Iowa area. They are pretty neat. Rather than that there was not much to see. It is pretty country but flat and all large farms. Lot of the new corn fields are standing in water from all the rain and flooding.

Sakateh Lake in Minnesota

Monday, June 16, 2008

Headed to Iowa

We got a load of paper towels and toilet tissue and taking it to Iowa. It is another short trip of 420 miles and we have till 07:00 Wednesday to deliver. We will get there tomorrow and hope they will take it. It is a distribution center and they are open 24/7. We sit all day Sunday so I hope we don’t have to do it again so soon. I need to get some miles.

It was cool today. It only got up to the mid 60’s and we had wind. The most of the day was cloudy so we wore long sleeves. It has now gotten sunny and it’s a very pretty day.