Pre Assignment for Monday

We were able to stop and see family wintering in Yuma, AZ. We were able to pull the truck right up to their camper which was really nice. They took us around town and showed us what snow birds do in the winter. We attended a HUGE flea market which I had never done before. It is an amazing place. We also went and checked out the RC Airplane Airfield with which they are heavily involved with. I can see why after coming from the cold of the Midwest they enjoy their time in Yuma as much as they do. As usual though our truck drew a lot of attention and many of the neighbors stopped by for a tour of the truck and to ask a lot of questions. A few of them wanted additional information on expediting and how to get into the trucking industry. We always keep extra copies of the Expedite Now magazine to hand out in these situations. We always enjoy showing off our truck and listening to new acquaintances on their amazement at how many miles are on the truck (696,000), how many miles are on our rear tires or drive tires (331,000). We will continue south on Sunday and have heard that another one of our trucking friends is picking up a load at the same location we are, so we plan on spending the evening with them- once again proving what a fun and goofy life style we lead.

Warm Weather

As we sit in Arizona in the warmth and talk to family in the Saint Louis area and they are talking snow, blizzard conditions and frigid cold we are truly glad to be out of that area. We were able to get our truck washed at the Triple T truck stop in Tucson AZ. The truck had so much road salt on it if you got near the truck you had white on your sleeves or whatever got close. The truck looked so much better all clean and shiny once again and it sure felt nice to not get out of the truck and not think your nose was going to freeze off before you get inside the truck stop. I was able to get outside and enjoy a nice walk today. We also found out we are not picking up our load till Monday so we are able to enjoy the weekend and stop and see family in Yuma. We also on the weekends have to catch up on laundry and odds and ends that need to be done on truck so we are ready for another week.

Family Member

We can see the truck sitting out by the shop from our front door and we are constantly reminded that due to our truck we are able to have our fun. We are proud of our truck and what we do for a living so we enjoy seeing it in the background of many of our pictures. Often we are asked how the truck is doing. Seems as we are not the only ones who think of the truck as a member of the family. We receive comments regarding how good the truck looks for its age. It really has aged well and shows how careful we are. As we meet new friends and they view the truck they ask us about the age of the truck and are amazed that the truck is 5 years old and has almost 700,000 miles. I have to write the truck has been good to us. For me the truck inspires confidence as it is easy to see out of the windshield and over the short sloped hood. The height of the truck makes it very easy to see over cars and so my visibility when driving is awesome. The mirrors are also placed well and easy to adjust so I can see all that is beside me or behind me. The truck has an automatic transmission and so you push a button and off we go. I have now become so accustomed to driving the truck a small car scares me. Instead of looking eye to eye with other trucks I see under them. We finally sold our car and bought a pickup which is much easier to drive in traffic. The truck is looked on fondly as it sits out in the cold waiting for us to finally come out and of the house and head it on down the road like it was built to do.
I am sure the truck will end up in many more of our “family” pictures and we continue to enjoy seeing the country through our trucks windshield!

Fisrt Load Out

We typically get load offers in the afternoon when someone figures out they are short on a much needed item. We had the truck loaded with all of the essential but we still needed to gather the last minute items. When the call came and we accepted the load we both hit the ground at a dead run trying to gather last minute things. In our mad dash I forgot the book I was reading, one headset charger and some awesome flavored vinegars I had purchased. If you could watch what happens after I hang up the phone from getting a load you would just have to laugh as we both go dashing about. After all of this time we do each know what we need to grab so we do not trip over each other as much as we used to. We finally made it to the truck loaded down with our last minute items and just threw them on the bed. It is now time to get the load information, get the GPS programmed, get the log books up to date and get on down the road to the shipper. The freight was ready but we had 196 miles to drive before we got there. After we arrive at our pickup I start putting the last minute things that were thrown onto the bed and try to make some semblance of order in the truck. By the time we are loaded and on the way to our delivery we are pretty much organized. After the first load we are back in truck mode and ready to make some money!

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Keep the sleeper warm while home

We have learned when we are at home that we need to keep the sleeper from freezing. It is pretty amazing how fast the temperature in our sleeper can drop below the freezing point. Bob spreads out an extension cord to a space heater in the truck from the shop. He then lifts up the bed and also opens the cupboard that has our water pump stored. We also fill our water tank as full as possible when we get home. The little space heater will just keep the sleeper above freezing and keeps everything in good working order. When on the road we do not have this problem as we keep the generator set at 65 and the sleeper stays pretty warm.

Keeping the water from Freezing

We have learned when we are at home that we need to keep the sleeper from freezing. It is pretty amazing how fast the temperature in our sleeper can drop below the freezing point. Bob spreads out an extension cord to a space heater in the truck from the shop. He then lifts up the bed and also opens the cupboard that has our water pump stored. We also fill our water tank as full as possible when we get home. The little space heater will just keep the sleeper above freezing and keeps everything in good working order. When on the road we do not have this problem as we keep the generator set at 65 and the sleeper stays pretty warm.

2010 Happy New Year

We have been home for awhile and are starting to get antsy wanting to get back on the road. We have started thinking of what we need to get put back in the truck, groceries to buy, and where the first load will take us. We have a lot of irons in the fire for 2010 and hope we will be able to balance all we have going on without to much stress. We are going to be involved with the Expediter Online Workshops which will be a new experience for us. Speakers we are not but there is not time like the present to start learning. It is relatively easy to talk one on one about something you truly enjoy but to put together a talk? Now that is pushing the comfort zone. I am sure we will stress but we will get it all pulled together and I hope give a good presentation. After that comes the Middle America Truckshow (MATS) which we always enjoy and catch up with a lot of friends at. This year we are on the planning committed on planning a 1.5 health walk. The symbol for our walk is 61+ which is the median age that is a truck drivers life expectancy. We hope to bring awareness to this number and start promoting exercise and making healthier choices starting in 2010. We have a great group of people working on this who are inspirational and fun. The list does not slow down but one thing right after another so we need to truck hard while we can and when the down time comes have as much fun as we can…