Gordonsville,VA

We made it! Ok, granted it is a day late, but we had to reschedule the appointment due to the problems with the reefer. We finally got it fixed around lunch on Sunday. Spent about 8-9 hours at the shop. Turns out the fan clutch went out and it wasn't a quick fix. I felt really bad for the guy that was fixing it. Him and his wife came up to the shop. She said they left the shop at around midnight Saturday night and on the way home got another call. Headed back up there and a guy just needed a belt. Said they were there about 5 minutes and headed home again. Got a shower and got to bed about 0230 and then get the call for us at almost 0400. So they basically got no sleep. On top of this, his wife just had a hysterectomy a week ago and the guy working on the trailer is scheduled for hernia surgery this Wednesday. He has a double hernia there in his stomach. And on top of that, he is skinny as a rail and she said he has some kind of pancreatic disease, but I don't think she said cancer. Anyway, super nice couple but he was moving REALLY slow. All things considered, who could blame him. Then they got another truck in about 0700 to work on. They thanked both of us trucks for being so patient. I am sure they get their share of drivers who are rude and in a hurry and they were just grateful we understood and were nice. What can I say, I am a nice person. LOL Do unto others, ya know?

So we got the appointment moved to 0630 this morning. We stopped in Knoxville at the Petro yesterday afternoon and grabbed lunch, a shower and did some laundry. J took over from there and got us to a rest area around midnight last night. That only left me with about 37 miles to go this morning. We can't park on Walmart property overnight and you can only show up 1 hour early for your appointment. I got some good rest last night except for Smokey being a bed hog. The bigger he gets, the more bed he hogs! But at least if it is cold, he will keep you warm. :)

Not sure where we are headed from here. There is a small truck stop on the other side of I-64 at the exit we took so I will head over there when we get done here to wait for our next load. We will need fuel but we can't get it there. I could head back to the Pilot over on I-81 but with my luck, if I do that, our next load would be the opposite direction. Guess we will just have to wait and see on that one.

Craig & Diane, I am glad to hear that it is so beautiful up there. We haven't actually been up there, but found some property on LandsofWashington.com (which has already sold) but that got us interested in that area. At some point we are hoping to take a few days off up in that area so we can rent a car and go look around. We grew up in a small town in southern Colorado, Pagosa Springs, so I completely understand what you mean about the locals. They don't like out-of-towners! But hopefully we can get up there at some point and scout the area. We are still in the looking stage and won't be looking to buy for another few years though. Gotta get that money saved up!

Heffard, funny you should mention that. About 2 weeks ago I was driving up I-24 I think it is through that area and was wondering about the LBL area. Not sure what kind of stuff there is around there for winter activities, but I would imagine Spring, Summer and Fall would keep us busy. Is there any kind of hunting season in that area? That is something else I need to check into. That would be good for the Winter season if they have something like that around there. Oh, I was looking at the map, and the actual LBL area between the two lakes, is that all like a State Park area or is there private property between the lakes? Seems like that would be a prime area for something like what we are wanting to do. I'm definitely going to check into that.

Oh! I almost forgot! This morning I pulled up to the guard shack to check in and guess what we saw. There is a chain link fence surrounding the property right next to the outbound gate. Right smack on the other side of the fence, probably 40 ft from me and about a foot on the other side of the fence, there were 5 does standing there grazing. I guess they are pretty used to the trucks coming and going because they didn't so much as look up when the truck behind me set his air brakes. It was a really nice way to start the day off. See, that is why I love this job. You get to see things like that where most people don't have that opportunity. I love my life!