Sorry I didn't update last night. I stopped for the night around 0315 at a rest area in Ohio right before the Indiana state line. I cooked me some taquitos and had some chips and was reading a book. I got all involved in the book that I didn't even log on the computer.
I woke J up around 0430 and he wanted another hour of sleep since we weren't rushed on this load but Smokey wasn't having any of that. About 0500 J decides he better get up before Smokey full out play attack mode. He drives us to Charleston,MO where he wakes me up and I take over. At 0245 in the morning and 528 miles later I call it a night in Sulpher Springs,TX. Stick a fork in me I am done! One plus side I have found to going slower is that I get MUCH better gas mileage. We have been having a hard time keeping the MPG up over 6.0 and once we moved the position of the fifth wheel we have been getting about 6.3-6.5. After driving through OH at 55 and seeing the better mpg I was getting, I decided last night to keep it at 55 mph and see what I got. After the miles I drove, when I stopped for the night, my average mph for that leg of the trip was 7.19 mpg! Hell yeah!!! And we had only been driving about 58 so what does it matter if we slow down 3 more mph? You aren't going to really notice that time wise through out the trip, but you WILL notice that you are using less fuel and that my friends is money in MY pocket. Now, I realize that the MPG we get depends largely on the terrain and every trip won't be this good. But is a good enough for me to slow down just a tad more if we can keep up the better mpg because of it.
One thing that I really love about this job is that we get the chance to see family and friends that we normally wouldn't get to see. Example. When J graduated from high school he spent the summer with his cousins Gary and Marty back in Indiana before he went to basic training. He has kept in touch with them periodically through the years but he hasn't seen them. A few days ago he called Gary out of the blue only to find out that Gary was working in Indiana,PA which happened to be only about an hours drive from where we would be passing through. So when we picked up this load heading to Waco, he gave him a call back to see if he could come meet us for dinner. Sure enough, he was able to get away, and bring a friend of the family that he was working with that J was familiar with, and they met us for dinner at the Flying J in New Stanton,PA. These guys haven't seen each other in 23 years and it was awesome for them to be able to see each other again. And it was really nice for me to meet someone from his family back east that I have heard so much about. It is things like this that we really enjoy about driving a truck. We have had dinner with friends in Nebraska, Minnesota and Florida because of this job. People that we would never get to see if we weren't doing what we are doing. I just think that is really cool.
When we drop this load in Waco we are going to bobtail back to the house and we should get there around 0900 or so this morning (Monday). We have decided we aren't going to go back out until probably Thursday so that we can spend Tuesday and Wednesday trying to get some of the house packed up. Since it is up for sale and since we have had the break in we just decided to go ahead and get a storage unit and get as much as we can put in storage when we have the chance. That way when it does sell, we won't have as much to do and it also eliminates the chances of getting broken into again and them taking something of value. So even though we are going to be home for a few days, they will be spent working our asses off. I have a feeling we will be ready to get back in the truck Thursday just so we can get some rest.
That is really all for now. I'll update while we are at home!
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2 comments:
I agree on the part where you are able to meet up with people on the road that you would normally not see in years!:)
As for the house, are you thinking on keeping a little place tho, just something to come "home" to when in TX? I understand the no need to keep a big house while on the road all the time!
We are planning on getting a small apartment. J's son is graduating this year and him and his fiance are wanting to get a place. We may get a small two bedroom and split the cost with them. It will help them get started and it will be better for us to have a small place to come home to for a few days each month. And for them it will basically be like living on their own since we will never really be there. I think it will be a win win situation. Now he is thinking of joing the Navy though so we will see how this plays out. If he does that then we may just get a small efficiency apartment somewhere.
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