Home Time

This is going become a familiar site! The nose of the truck stuck into the shop.

We were in Knoxville TN and did not receive any load offers so on Friday evening Bob drove a couple hundred miles to get us a little closer to home. I got up at my normal time and started driving towards the house. The morning started out very nice as I was listening to a book on my IPOD, drinking my morning coffee, traffic was light and just waiting for the sun to come up! Well the sun did not come up all I saw was ominous clouds! Yep snow clouds. In a short period of time it starts raining then that turns to snow and ice. What a mess. Poor Bob gets out of bed looks out the window and says what the heck is all THAT!! I figure he must still be asleep as it is pretty plain to me it is snow and ice! He turns back around and goes back to bed! He gets up about the time we get to the bridge to Saint Louis where the arch is a great land mark and by that time it had quit snowing but the truck was not thawing very quickly. He starts getting excited with go here and go there so he can get PARTS!! His first time to really work on the truck in his SHOP!! Well I get him to the first parts store and off he goes. Like normal they only have a few off his parts so off we go again. After four parts stores he is happy and time to get fuel and head for the house! It has quit snowing the sun is out but boy is it bitter cold. That does not slow Bob down a bit. We pull up to the house and he is in a sprint to unload all the laundry, shower stuff, and some personal stuff and off he goes to his shop for a few hours. I look out the windows and he has his coveralls on and he is working away and I am sure if I had been closer I would have seen a smile on his face.

I know I was smiling as I started getting our laundry done and putting stuff away. It sure felt good to come home to the house. Nicki and her friend Jen had painted the kitchen and it is really gorgeous and I will post pictures later as next Sunday we are going to do a little more painting!

Well we are off to "Mouseland" for a few days. I am sure I will post one or two pictures of Disneyland the most wonderful place on earth!

Free Showers!!!!

It is a truckers life out here! We tried a new thing today following the guidance of another FedEx Custom Critical truck we are running with. We stopped in Wendover, NV for a free shower and a two for one buffet. The deal is you have to show your CDL drivers license and you are then given a very nice fluffy towel and a shower key. Showers were clean and well lit and had nice water pressure. You can also get a coupon for a buffet at the two casinos next to the Truckers Lounge. We went to the Peppermill and they had a fantastic buffet with Prime Rib being the main item. Lots of food to choose from and many of the items really very healthy. The buffet was 12.99 for one person so we felt as if we got a bargain as I ate for free. Often showers are 9.00 if you have not purchased 50 gallons of fuel at that truck stop. So we felt as if we made out like bandits. We figure someone else will lose enough at the tables to cover the fact none of us gamble!

Our destination changed from Chicago to Green OH to work on our Driver Tech. The Driver Tech is our communication with FedEx Custom Critical and is the newest and best thing out here. That is what the sales people will tell you anyway. We have really enjoyed using the unit and we like it much better then the QualComm we used to use. We are having some new software installed and we will be testing a new printer and scanner. Amazing the technology out here going up and down our roads. Just thing the truck that is running next to you could be scanning all of their paperwork in and sending it across the country! Just amazing.

Chicago here we come.....

We just made it over Donner Pass without having to chain and that is always a good thing. Since we have had our Super Single tires we have not had to use our chains and that is a very good thing as those chains are really heavy.

We have been sitting over in Gilroy CA the garlic capital of the world! It does smell odd as you pull in but then you get used to the smell. We always buy a jar of olive oil infused with garlic as it has awesome flavor. I do not cook with this in the truck as the smell would drive us out of this small space.

We had sad news this week as a fellow trucker passed away. Peggy was from New York and did she have an accent. She would set your teeth on edge when she got excited. She was an awesome women though and her and her husband had a truck just like us. She had many many hints she shared with me on how to store things in our truck. We did not talk daily but we talked often enough that she will be missed. The trucking world sure lost a character with a lot of heart.

We hauled one short load while in California of 200lbs which did not take up much room in our truck. The funny part was a semi was unloading right in front of us who by the way had loaded at the same place as us. The has one little bitty cylinder that they un nailed from the floor and carried off. We as a small truck had a pallet and he had a little cylinder it was really funny! Needless to say they were shipped this way as they were not a compatible hazmat.

We do some really funny things out here!

Time to sit and read!

We made it to our delivery 28 hours early and have been waiting in the safe haven to get unloaded. When this happens after catching up a little on our sleep we usually get a lot done and this was no exception.

First is clean up the truck on the inside the wind and forecast was not good for the outside of the truck. It is amazing in such a small space with two people and a cocker spaniel how quick the truck gets dirty. After cleaning the sleeper and the cab of the truck it was time to exercise. Brandy gave me a IPOD Nano and a Niki + that is pretty darn cool. You put the little Niki sensor on your shoe and the reader into your Nano and then you take off walking. This neat gadget tells you how far you have walked or ran, how long it took you, the distance you went, and how many calories you used. Well I thought I had walked over a mile and looked at the Nano and nope .80 so I walked more. Love the little gadget and how easy it is to use. Anything that can get me out of the truck and moving is going to be worth it's weight in gold. That will not be to much on this new gadget as it is very light.

Then I was able to read for a bit in between watching a coyote come in and steal trash from a dumpster full of MRE's. He was a scrubby looking little thing and Bob was not sure what he really was. Molly of course never saw a coyote! Anyway the book I am reading is called People are Idiots and I Can PROVE it! By Larry Winget. Wow talk about an in your face book and he is blunt very blunt. Several of his ideas sure hit home and made me stop and think. There will be some life changes going on in our lives starting now. A lot of what he talks about are ideas I have played with and somewhat skirted around but after this book it is time to get real and fix a few things. The book is also good for couples as some of what he talks about is goal setting and I love goals but how much better they would work if our goals would match! We have been meandering now like a stream for to long it is time to become a straight canal. Anyway I really enjoyed reading this book and I will probably get it from audible.com and listen a few more times to it to stay motivated. I have liked all of Larry Winget's book but this one by far is the best.

Inspection Stations

I found a really good use of having placards all over your truck that are orange and say Explosives on them! When you cross into California, Florida and Arizona you have to go through a inspection station where they ask you about fruits, vegetables and plants. Well when you have orange placards on they do not ask you anything just wave you on. Kind of funny to tell you the truth.

We have made it to California a little early so we will have to sit a day in a safe haven on a base. The safe havens come in all kinds. The safe haven is a place you can sit with explosives loaded on your truck. The haven is fenced and most have wires running across the tops to lightening rods in the ground. Some places let us stay with our truck and some do not. The semi's are lucky in this situation as they can drop their trailer and leave. If we cannot stay we have to get a cab go to usually a pretty nasty hotel room and then get a cab back to base. Sometimes you will only be in the hotel room a few hours before it is time to go back to base. We much prefer the lots where we can stay with the truck. The safe havens are usually in the middle of no where on the base and so they are quiet. This is one is really the pits as they do not provide a restroom. Our favorite base to go to is in New York and a place called Tobyhanna. This safe haven is in the Poconos and has a small lake you can go sit at or walk around. Really a very pretty place.

We will be looking forward to Monday and getting unloaded so we can go get a shower and start another week!

Back to Work sort of

We went back in service yesterday morning! We are ready to go back to work and rest up after our hectic week. We had our first FedEx guests with a couple we know from Ohio delivering in Saint Louis came out to the house for breakfast. No we do not have breakfast items so they stopped by and got eggs and bacon and then proceeded to make them! Boy am I glad I just do not make eggs very well. I did stir the bacon a few times though. It was fun to show them the house and Bob did a tour of his shop. Dave has listened to Bob all through this house buying project talk about different houses we have looked at and sure been a support to us that we would find the right one.

We decided we would have better luck in Saint Louis getting a load so we came to town did not get a load but spent the night in the truck. We took the truck over to some friends and had a great dinner and then proceeded to get our butts whipped at Cribbage. It was really a lot of fun and we really enjoyed the company and the dinner! Molly also love to go visiting as there is always plenty of her favorite treats in the house! CARROTS her teeth are getting bad enough you have to give her small pieces but she loves them.

It was nice last night to sleep in the truck and we are ready to hit the road this morning!

Bob's Pride and Joy

Here it is Bob's Pride and Joy!! I guess there are really two things in this picture Bob is very proud of. His truck and now his new shop. The shop as you can see in almost tall enough for the truck. Later we are going to try and lift the center of the roof so he can drive in side. Right now at least he can have all his tools and the truck close to where he is going to be working. He just installed his new air compressor and the first thing he did was put new shocks on the truck.

New House and what a move!

Our new house! As you can see by the snow you should not buy a house nor move into a house in January. There is a lot less snow here then there was in Lake Saint Louis so that created a mess. On the day we moved all of our heavy stuff the snow was melting and the ground was very soft. As you can see in the back of the picture there is forest and we have about 3 acres of forest that is just gorgeous with a nice ravine and when the water flows a nice little water fall. Great area. The grass here is amazing and we cannot wait to get it all fenced in and an electric gate put up at the drive and I hope our real estate lady who is now our great friend will bring a horse or two to graze and make the house look complete.

Here is a great picture of Bob right after we signed our life away. His shop is 40X 60 and is awesome. We are going to have to raise the center peak of the roof at some time so the truck will fit. Right now though he has a great area to work in and to keep his tools. He is hoping to finally be able to do more work on the truck and do some special things to it that he has not been able to do. He also purchased a drill press and he is thrilled with that. The shop has lots of great shelves in it so he has plenty of storage. I will post a picture of the truck next to shop when we get the truck moved.

Here we are backed up to the house, lift gate out and the help ready to unload the truck. We were very lucky that Nicki has exceptional friend to help us. Our main heavy duty mover was Josh and he really went above and beyond after getting all of the big stuff out of our second floor apartment he got it into the house and exactly where we wanted it. With out Josh, Ben and Jim and then Jen, Angie and Sara we would still be trying to get out of the apartment. After we got the truck unloaded Josh and Jen stayed and organized us. Jen unloaded box after box putting stuff away and Josh put up all of our heat detectors then helped Bob get the washer and dryer set and did tons of odds and ends. When we could just not go any longer we all went to supper a few miles down the road at JR Diamonds who has excellent food and is super reasonable. We have all ready grown to enjoy all of the homemade dishes. The desserts are all home made along with the ice cream. Anyone that comes to visit could get a homemade meal here at the house or we just might run down the road to the local cafe!