In Albuquerque

So here I sit in Albuquerque. Fridaymorning after Thanksgiving, we called our DBL and she decided to just get us a rental car to come to Albuquerque since we had GTAH here. Then what they are going to do is get us another rental probably next Monday when our TAH is up and we will just drive back to Belgrade,MT because the truck should be done by then. We do need to call though and check on it. Probably wait a few days though because the transmission wasn't even due in until Wednesday.

We have been having a really nice time here. My mom lives with her brother and sister-in-law and we are staying with them. So far I think I have gained more weight because my Uncle loves to cook, and he is darn good! Today we went to a clinic where I had a doctors appointment, but I am ok, and then we ran to Jared's because the center stone on my wedding ring came loose. I also needed that ring and my other ring sized. So I should be able to pick them up tomorrow sometime after 1700. Right now I feel naked without my rings!

I may check back in here in a couple of days, but I doubt everyone wants to know what I am doing on vacation on a play by play. So I'll holla in a few days.

What a small small world.....

In my last post I let everyone know that some really nice people that work at the hotel invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them. So this morning, we got up and did our laundry and got ready for them to come pick us up. About 1330 Sierra called and said she was almost here so we went and met her down at the front desk. From there we went to her house to pick up some food and then headed over to Jenna and Mike's house which is where we were going to spend the day. Once we got there we unloaded the food and then Sierra took off back to go pick up her roommate. We hit is off right way with everyone. It was as if all the stars were aligned or something and we were just the same kind of people, ya know?

Well, turns out Mike and Jenna had just moved to Montana about 1.5 months ago from Florida. Jenna also works at the hotel we were staying at in housekeeping. So it was nice for them also to be spending Thanksgiving with some new friends they had just met by her working at the hotel since they don't have any family here either. We were all just standing around in the kitchen talking about ourselves and what we did and where we were from and J was telling them we were from southern Colorado. Then Mike asked where in southern Colorado because he used to ski at Wolf Creek. We started lauging and said that we were from Pagosa Springs which is at the bottom of Wolf Creek pass where the ski area is. And he couldn't believe it. So he said "Do you know a guy named Lawrence from there?" Well, when you think about that question, it is really funny because everyone says that when they run into someone that has been to a place that they have, and the answer is always no. It was so wierd because J and I looked at each other and thought "No way...." and J says "Animal? Lawrence *****?" Mike was astonished and says, "Yeah, you know him? No way!!" So do you want to know what the wierdest thing is??? Lawrence is J's brother-in-law!!! Lawrence is married to J's sister Tanya!!! The rest of the night we just couldn't believe it. It was one of those things that when you both know a mutual person it is like you have known each other forever and you are the best of friends.

We had the best possible Thanksgiving, next to actually being with family. We came back to the hotel loaded up with food. Thank goodness there is a mini fridge and a microwave here so we can warm it all up. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving today and I hope you all remember what you are thankful for. I for one and thankful for my husband, my family and the incredible kindness of strangers during this holiday season.

Incredibly nice people

So we are sitting here in the hotel and we get a call from the front desk. They say we have something at the front desk. So I walk down there and there really isn't anything for us. The girl at the desk was there with her roommate and she invited us to Thanksgiving dinner with them. She knew we were stranded and they said that it just wasn't right that we spend Thanksgiving in a hotel room and eating lunch at the Flying J. It was incredibly sweet of them. They know we don't have any transportation so they are going to pick us up at 1300 and then bring us back later since Sierra (the one working tonight at the desk) has to be at work at 1700. I just wanted to let everyone know that there are still really decent people out here. This is one of the things I miss about small towns. Everyone is genuinely nice. I am thankful on Thanksgiving that there are people out there who still care about strangers.

Wednesday in Montana

Slept in until around 1100 today. It was so nice!!! Then we got up , showered and headed back over to the Flying J for lunch. Awesome bacon cheeseburger. Oh, it isn't a normal Flying J restaurant. It is owned by someone else, but I can't remember who it is at the moment. I think the restaurant is Bair's. One of the ladies in the convenience store recognized us since we had been here a few days and gave us a coupon for Thanksgiving lunch there tomorrow. That was nice.

Talked to Freightliner today. They talked to Schneider today who gave the ok for them to order a new transmission. So they ordered it. Bad news is that it won't be here until next Wednesday. We have guaranteed time at home starting next Thursday. So first thing Friday morning we will be calling our DBL and finding out what they want us to do. In the mean time, we are just going to enjoy this down time here while we can. Since we are planning to get our own truck in March, the we probably won't really have a vacation any time soon so we have to make the most of out of this time off while we can.

Tuesday in Montana

Today was our second full day in Belgrade. So far we have had a good day. Of course, I woke up at the crack of dawn. Played around on the computer for a while then watched the Price is Right with Drew Carey. He does a decent job on there. But he talks too fast like he is rushing the show and he doesn't seem quite comfortable yet. But I guess he will get there in time.

So around 1045 I woke J up and told him he had to take Mama to get some breakfast, I was hungry. Then we checked out the casino next door. It sucked. Basically just video poker and video Keno. And only about 10 machines. Bleh... At least it will save me from spending a lot of money there.

So back to hang out in the room. Watched a couple of movies and then sent J to the store around 2100. He mentioned ice cream and that was it, I had to send him for some. :) It is like 10 degrees outside and we are sitting in bed eating ice cream. Funny how I crave ice cream when it is cold outside and not when it is hot outside.

Talked to Freightliner today and they said they are still waiting on Schneider to make a decision. The paperwork is supposed to be on someones desk in Green Bay waiting for them to sign off on the repairs and cut a check since Eaton Fuller said it wasn't warranty. Hopefully tomorrow sometime we will hear back from them with what Schneider decided to do. Then at that point maybe we will have a more definitive time frame on when we may get out of here.

So now we are chilling out watching XXX:State of the Union so I guess that is all for now.

Stranded in Montana

Stranded in Montana

Well, I will get to the stranded part here in a minute. I have a few days to make up for so you can catch up on what has been going on.

Last I posted we were leaving the Pilot in Knoxville,TN. J drove us from Knoxville up to Gary,IN and I took over there the next morning (Saturday) and drove up into Neenah,WI. I got in there around 0830, dropped the load and then went up to the Green Bay OC to pick up an empty trailer because Kimberly Clark didn't have any empties to give me when I dropped that load. Drove the 30 miles or so up there and ran into a few snow flurries, but nothing bad. Got fuel there and then headed up to Escanaba,MI to pick up our next load. Ran into more snow, but it was still flurries and nothing was sticking. Did you know that there is part of Michigan that is right above Wisconsin? I didn't realize that till I looked on the map when I was trying to figure out where Escanaba was at. Also, when you go north on US-41 out of Mariette,WI (I think that is the town) the road follows the shore line of Lake Michigan all the way up. It is a gorgeous drive up there. And that lake is HUGE! It is like looking at an ocean beach. You can't even tell it is a lake, it looks like an ocean because you can't see the other side. It is pretty impressive.

Anyway, I get up there, get the load picked up and figure out which way we are going to cross WI to get to I-94. Being that far north, there are no interstates so we had to take state routes and US Hwys to get down there. So J drove us out of there and got us just east of Fargo. (This was all on Saturday and Saturday night.) So Sunday morning, I wake up, drive us about 60 miles into Fargo. Stop at the Petro and get fuel, shower and head out again. It was darn cold!!! I drove all the way across North Dakota and got us into Miles City,MT around 1515 hours. J took over and started driving there. This is where the fun begins.....

So J is driving along and I am in the back sleeping. We are maybe 20 miles east of Butte,MT going over a pass and the transmission on the truck faults. It was trying to shift from 8th down to 7th because of the incline. It couldn't grab a gear and faulted out. J coasted to the side as quick as he could but it is hard to coast up a hill when you are at about 75,000 lbs and don't have a gear. You lose speed FAST! The tail end of the trailer was still out in the lane about a foot but there was nothing that we could do about that since the truck wouldn't move. Now the transmission has faulted before. Usually it happens when it is shifting from 5th to 6th, from low gears to high gears. When it has happened in the past, we could shut the truck down for about 5 minutes, let the computer re-set and then it would start back up and things would be fine. So this time, we let it sit, were able to get it restarted, but we couldn't put it in gear. When we would high idle it, you could hear metal on metal just grinding. J said it initially sounded like a bent flywheel. Well, we called Emergency Mainetenance. They said it may be the next morning before we were able to get anyone out there because of where we were. Luckily, about 20 minutes later we got a call from a tow company and about 45 minutes after that they were out there to tow us. They ended up towing us back east about 60 miles to Bozeman,MT because there is a Freightliner dealership here. Got to the hotel, which is a block from Freightliner, about 0230 this morning. 0700 comes and I call the dealership to tell them the truck is there and let them know what we think the problem is. Then I have to get up and walk down and take them the keys. It was a little chilly outside to say the least. So I come back, crawl back into bed and get some much needed rest. About noon, I call Freightliner to see what they had found out. Apparently the rear bearings on the transmission went out which caused the seals to fault, lost all transmission fluid, and that caused the transmission to lock down and 3rd gear on up have teeth broke off. Lots of metal in there. Not a good sign. We were told they had talked to Eaton Fuller and were going to e-mail them photos of the damage today and then wait to hear back from them whether it will be warranty or not. After they get that decision back from Eaton Fuller then they will decide whether to rebuild the tranny or put a whole new one in there.

SOOOOO..... It is now Monday night and we are at the Super 8 here in Bozeman,MT and it looks like we will be here until at least Friday if not until next Monday or Tuesday. We will have a better idea hopefully tomorrow. AND now, the interesting part. Last night, we were trying to hurry and get through Montana because snow was coming in. Well, the snow has arrived. It started snowing this afternoon and so far there is about 6 inches. They are forecasting that there is another 6-9 inches coming in. I know the passes are going to be horrible. I think it was a sign that we broke down when we did. I guess everything happens for a reason. They did say that they were going to get a team up here tomorrow morning to pick up the load we had. I hope the team they send up here drives really safe because it is treacherous out there. But, it does look like we will be spending Thanksgiving up here in Montana and it looks like it will be a VERY white thanksgiving if this snow keeps up. But things are good. We had good miles so far this month, so we are ok on money. There is a Flying J across the street and a CASINO!! Also, right across the freeway is a grocery store that is in walking distance so we are all set. I figure we may as well enjoy the down time while we have it. We even had a snowball fight this afternoon. It feels great to be a kid sometimes.....

Some days are just a Fuster Cluck

And this has been one of those days. At about 0430 this morning, J wakes me up as he is pulling into the consignee in Asheville,NC. So I get up and hop in the front seat. Make our way through this TINY town and find the place. I had called the evening before and they said opened at 0430. After banging on numerous doors, J gets someone to answer and they say we have to wait until our appt time at 0700. Oookay. We are dropping a trailer, not waiting to be unloaded. Anywho, he then asks about a bathroom. Guy tells him they don't have one that us drivers can use. WTF? Seriously? Ok, at this point, we are an hour and a half early for our appointment. (It was 0430 Central time but we were on Eastern time in NC). So we hope in the truck, drive back 15 miles to a TA where we can go to the bathroom. Take care of that business (I felt much better thank you very much!) and I hop in the drivers seat, get my logs done, and start my day by driving us back to the consignee. We get there right at 0700 their time. So I go to the door again. A lady answers the door and tells me to back to door 6 and someone would be right out to break the seal. 45 minutes later, I am at the door again, because no one has come out. Finally get someone out there and I am able to leave the place around 0800.

Ok, got that done and am now bobtailing over to pick up my empty trailer in Mountain Home,NC. Initially, there wasn't an empty in a 250 mile radius, and I called back this morning and they found this one for me. So I go pick it up and head to my next load which had a 1000 appt for a live load. As I am pulling into the shipper to get loaded my Qualcomm goes off and ther is a msg from my trip planner that says the following: "Hey team, since we can't find any empties in the area, we are going to send a solo over to pick this load up and relay it to you in Knoxville,TN so you can head that direction." Again, WTF I say? So I get on the phone and call my Trip Planner and explain to him there must be some kind of misunderstanding. I am AT the shippers as we speak I tell him. My log history that he should be able to see, should show that I am assigned an empty trailer and that the problems of the empty trailer was taken care of. He informs me that the box planners called him in a tizzy because there were no empties for us. Well, they said there was one but we couldn't have that one. If that was the case, then why did they assign it to me and let me leave with it? ARGH!! To make a long story short, I told him I was at the shipper, cancel the solo driver and find him another load, we have this one covered. Ok, great, get the load and head out.

Now I am sitting at a Pilot in Knoxville while J gets a couple hours of non-moving sleep. As I am sitting here, we get our next load which we will pick up tomorrow after we drop this one. Cool. Drive 144 miles from Neenah to pick up a load in MI then drive 1987 miles to deliver in Portland,OR for a 1100 appt on Monday. Huh? How do they think I am going to drive 2000 miles in a company truck in a day and a half? Not happening. So I let them know it will be more like 1800 when I deliver, maybe earlier, but I will keep them updated on that. :)

And another thing, RED RED RED!!! That is all I say today! RED leaves! Not orange or yellow or green, but RED. It was beautiful.

So that was my day. J is up now so I am gonna pull around and get fuel then he is going to take us out of here.

Holla later!

Almost to the east coast again

We are 3/4 the way to destination on this load which is Asheville,NC. We managed to stop in W. Memphis during their normal working hours. That was a good thing. Our DBL/DBR are here in W. Memphis and we needed one of the stickers that say "Team Operation Co Driver in Bunk" and we can only get them from them. We had asked before at a fuel desk and they said we had to get them from the DBL. Personally I think that is kinda stupid. I mean, the only reason any one would want one on their truck is if they are team and for safety reasons, right? It isn't so the truck will look cool. And it isn't as if Solo drivers are going to be asking for one. Just struck me as odd the way they treat these stickers as if they are top secret or something.

So we are still here in W. Memphis and J is taking a nap. I'm going to wake him up at 1800 hrs. He "tried" to sleep through Oklahoma but I-40 just sucks so bad through there that he only got about 5 hours sleep after driving almost 600 miles and getting to bed around 0400. There is no real rush though. He only has 513 miles to destination and that shouldn't be a problem. Even if he starts at 1830 he will just about make it by 0300-0330. I am about to look at google earth and check out the destination and see if it is a big facility or not. We have an 0700 appointment, so I have to see if there is room to park there or if he will need to park elsewhere and me drive us in at appointment time. It is times like this that a laptop comes in SO handy! Getting a visual of a place that you will be arriving at in the middle of the night really helps with your sense of direction.

Today I drove from Clinton,OK to W. Memphis,AR. Because it is just now really cooling off this far south, a lot of the trees are changing colors. I really enjoyed my drive through eastern Oklahoma and all of Arkansas. Absolutely gorgeous! I kinda wish I could drive this time of the year all the time. LOL!

Something wierd just happened. We got our next load on the Qualcomm for when we drop this one off tomorrow. FIRST, we aren't showing available until 0730 Eastern time. We get a message that is sending us 143 miles to pick up an empty then driving back 114 miles for a 1000 am appointment for a live load. NO WAY that is going to work. There is just no way that I can drive 254 miles in 2.4 hours AND include the time spent dropping and hooking up. So I called Operations and they said they would check with the trip planners and see what is up or at least find us a closer trailer for us. I know the computer does a lot of the work and just matches available teams to the loads in the area, but shouldn't a live person be overseeing things and catching stuff like this? Hmmmmm AND it is only a 815 mile run. Seems like a short run for a team. Oh well, I guess I just do what I am told..... haha

34 hr restart

Well, got up this morning and left out of Barstow,CA for Patterson,CA. I had about 320 miles to go. It had rained during the night and there was a ton of fog out. At one point I could only see about 3 car lengths in front of me and I had slowed WAY down. But it finally cleared up. Made it to consignee around 1100, dropped and bobtailed out of there.

Currently sitting in CA at a TA taking our restart. Got hooked up to IdleAire while we were here. Currently watching CSI which is cool.

Driving in today they tried to send us another load. I ended up sending a message in and then calling to figure out what was going on since I had us showing available tomorrow at 1300, not today. When I spoke to our trip planner, he was confused also as to why we were sent a load. Anyway, got that taken care of and here we sit.

Quick post

I have to post before I lose my connection. I always seem to lose it over here in Arkansas!

Not much new to report today. Stopped in Atlanta last night. Got up this morning and got a shower and headed out around 0730. Got to W. Memphis at 1500 and switched out. Got something to eat at DQ first. By the time we ate, and got fuel, we pulled out around 1430. We were taking our time.

We have right at 2000 miles left to go to destination. If we each drive 500 then we will be there by 1500 Monday which will be in plenty of time for payroll and we don't have to kill ourselves by rushing.

Gonna go for now! More later!

Sunny South

What a nice break after the snow flurries in New York state! So last night J got us to just outside of Columbus,GA and I got us in to Kohl's in Macon around 1100 am today. After we dropped we didn't have our next load yet so I got directions from the guard to Wal-Mart. We bobtailed over there and stocked up on supplies. While we were pulling in we noticed a BBQ place so we stopped there and had lunch. Pretty good meat, great spicy BBQ sauce, but the mac-n-cheese left a lot to be desired.

Anywho, we got our next load. We dead-headed (pulling an empty trailer) 170 miles to Savannah,GA where we picked up a load going to Patterson,CA. SWEET! We will deliver Monday morning, which is before payroll cutoff, and that will give us 6400 miles on this coming Friday's paycheck. Not bad at all for a weeks work. Last week we had 5100 miles and had the restart mixed in there. We are happy with the past two weeks. Looks like the next two weeks will be just as good. Which is a good thing since we will be seeing my Mom for her birthday at the first part of December and I want to spoil her since it is her 60th!

Oh, also last night, we were going to try to meet up swith Jack and Sharon, some friends of ours that work for the same company. We were south bound on I-95 and they were north bound on I-95 but we couldn't find a place. So we passed in the dark. Maybe next time we will get to visit with them.

J is going to get us to Atlanta I think tonight, maybe a little further, then we are going to call it a night. Gonna have to kick ass to get this load 2600 miles by Monday so we will get a few hours non-moving sleep tonight, then hit it hard till Monday. Probably have to do a re-start again because we will be almost out of hours. But we like the re-starts. They get us rested up so we CAN do the 6000 mile weeks without feeling like we are killing ourselves.

Darn Maggie!

Well, Maggie (our GPS) tried taking J onto a Parkway in NJ and not the Expressway. Bless his heart, I told him she would do that, and he remembered after he got lost in a residential area and it woke me up. :) So last night I got about 3.5 hours sleep before this happened. We had actually dropped our load in Wurtsboro,NY and were headed into NJ to pick up the next one when this happened. So I got up and together we figured out how to get back to the road we needed. Then I just stayed up until we found the drop lot to pick up the empty trailer and got to our shipper for pick-up. Then we headed down I-95 about 10 miles to the next Service Plaza and pulled in and parked for the night. I was so exhausted! So I didn't get up and get on the road until 1000 hrs this morning. I couls have got up earlier, but I figured traffic in Newark and down past DC would be horrible at 0800. It just made more sense to wait the 2 extra hours instead of spending them stuck in traffic.

Anyway, got up and was starving so we grabbed lunch at Nathan's Famous Hotdog's at the Service Plaza. SHIT! For each of us to have 2 chili cheese dogs, fries and a medium coke, it cost us $26!! WTF???? Ain't no damn hotdog worth that much! Guaranteed we won't be doing that again!

So we headed on out. Traffic was a nightmare from DC down south. I was at a crawl for about 40 miles. UGH!! Finally made it to a Pilot to get a shower and couldn't park there. That place was a mess! Only room for about 50 trucks, if that. So we went across to the Petro and there was PLENTY of parking. Probably room for 250 trucks there, minimum. Went in got something to eat and a shower and are now back on the road. We are just about to cross into North Carolina headed to Macon,Georgia. Have about 515 miles left to go.

That is about all for now. We are about to hit a Love's so I can go to the restroom. I knew better than to drink all that sweet tea at the Petro. But it was so dang good.......

Snowing in PA

Today was a great day for driving! Cool and brisk out but sunny. I started driving in Effingham,IL around 0300 this morning and entered PA around 1300 hours. I was driving along thinking what a beautiful view. Stunning is all I can say about the scenery. The leaves are changing and I was lost in a sea of color. Reds, yellows, purples, greens, and just about every color in between. I was actually thinking how it would be so cool to have a house up in the area so we could enjoy the fall. We could sit on our back porch wrapped up in a blanket, cup of hot chocolate (with marshmallows of course) and just breathe. You know, actually breathe in the scent of Fall. Then out of now where, SPLAT! Right on my windshield. Of course this brought me out of my reverie. Much to my dismay, it was raining! No, wait a minute, that isn't rain. It is sleet! That immediately turned into big wet snowflakes! What the hell? I am daydreaming about FALL, not winter!

Now that my beautiful visions are shattered, I decided to grip the steering wheel and hold of for dear life. I drove a few miles and it turned into a really heavy snowfall and it was starting to cover the ground. Finally I got out of the snow and into the sunshine and the snow stopped. Very wierd! I checked online and there are scattered snow showers all through PA but is doesn't look like any of them will amount to anything. Thank goodness!! Snow is not my favorite thing to drive in!

We are actually running a little ahead of schedule with us kicking ass on miles yesterday and today. We should make it in around 2100 or so. We are scheduled to be available around 0030 so that will give us time to go get a shower. I sent our DBR a message telling her to tell the Trip Planners to find us something to California where it is warm because it was snowing up here in PA! Haven't heard from her so we will see what happens!

New York bound.....

Well, out layover in Fontana is over and done with and we are headed to New York! We had a really nice time while we were there. Of course we were stuck at the OC the entire time, but as I mentioned before, we met Justin and Melissa. While J was sleeping I was talking to a driver that was an "Old Timer" and we exchanged stories. I learned some stuff from him which was nice. He also pointed out some alternate routes on the map that aren't bad and are very scenic so we may have to take those some time. Also ran into Brandon while we were there. Didn't see him until right before we left but we got to say hi. Also saw Randi, she works at the Cafe there and we got to meet her husband Robert when he came in to see her. He was hit by a semi while he was on his motorcycle. YIKES! He is spending time recovering and still has some recovery to go. But it was good to see him and great to know that he even made it out of that alive. And the truck was at fault so he should have all his medical covered which is awesome since he has already has several surgeries on his eye. He is wearing a patch at the moment, which I'm sure sucks for him, but the kids think it is super cool. :)

So now that we are all rested up, we are heading out. This load has to be in New York by midnight on the 7th or 2359 hrs on the 7th. Which ever way you want to look at it. We should make it on time, and if not, it will only be a few hours late. It really depends on how much ground we can cover each shift. If we can cover more than we are planning on, then we can make it on time.

We didn't make it to the Volvo dealership, but maybe we can make it when we take time off next time.

I guess that is all for today.

Sunny California

Well, we managed to drop that load in Laredo and pick up the other one they had waiting on us. I dropped that load in Ontario,CA at around 0630 local time this morning. So it was only about 6 hours later than what they had it down far. Not bad considering when we actually picked it up.

So now I am sitting in the yard at the Fontana OC. We already have our next load but when I checked a little while ago, it wasn't here yet. It is a relay that we are taking to NY. I will keep checking though. We actually aren't going to leave until around 1500 tomorrow. I can only work 12 more hours and Joe has 22 but that won't get us the 2700 miles to New York without running out of hours. So we decided to take our restart here since it is a high value load. If we stop on the road to take a restart, we will be stuck with the truck since we can't leave it unattended. If we take it here at the OC, then we can come and go and do what we want. Also I need to do laundry and this is the perfect time to do that. I just hope they actually drop off the load fairly soon so I can hook up to it so that I am parked closer to the OC than what I am now. I hate this long walk up there when I have to go to the bathroom!

When we got here this morning we ran inside to grab some breakfast. As I was sitting there chowing down with my mouth full, Justin and Melissa came around the corner. Justin's mouth was full too. It was pretty funny! They were on break from class so we got to visit with them some. I'm looking forward to visiting with them more during lunch and after class since we will be here until tomorrow. If you read this Justin and Melissa, it will all make sense! Don't worry too much about class. Just pay attention and listen to your truck instructors. It is going to be a long two weeks, but you will do just fine!

So that is what is going on with us. OH!!! Maybe since we are taking a restart, we can go check out a Volvo truck! Yeah!! That sounds like a plan!

Laundry in Laredo....Part Deux??

Well, headed to Laredo again. Looks like we won't have time to do laundry though because we already have our next load from there. We will be picking it up tonight and they want it in Ontario,CA by 2300 tomorrow night. Not going to happen. Just no way we can make it that far in that amount of time. So we will just send in what time we can make it and then be off. We will probably only be about 5-6 hours later than what they are wanting it. It is funny because we hadn't sent in a message telling them when we would be available, and they assigned us this load anyway. Weird. So it isn't our fault technically that it will be late because they assigned it to us without knowing when we could pick it up. Yeah, that sounds like good rationalization. :)

I am going to try to type better on here. J was reading these and he told me my spell check sucked. Well duh! Of course it sucks. I don't use it. LOL! I just get off on a typing tangent and just go and then hit enter. So I will try to make an effort to be grammatically correct and use the proper punctuation. (It probably won't last for long though..... just fair warning.)


So, today we were able to meet up with HD Guy from Pumpkindriver.com and we had a great time. We were only going to meet up for a coke and have a quick chat and answer some questions and it turned into a three hour conversation! But it was really worth it. He is a great guy with a good head on his shoulders and is going into the Trucking profession with his eyes wide open. We figure he will do really well. Hopefully we will be able to keep track of him and keep in touch. We also laughed for most of the three hours telling stories so a good time was had by all.

Now we are headed to Laredo,TX to drop this load off and then we are headed to Ontario,CA. That is cool because there is a couple starting school there in Fontana tomorrow that we may be able to meet who we have been talking to on Pumpkindriver.com also. We are hoping that after we drop that load off that we can get back to the OC there in Fontana and fuel up and see if we can track them down.

I was up at 0330 this morning and it is now 1900 so I think I am going to log off and see if I can get some sleep. Well, as soon as we get out of this stop and go Austin traffic that is.