Oh My Goodness! You would not believe the smell we woke up to this morning! I cannot do it justice by trying to describe it. We got to the meat plant at 1 am as instructed but load wasn’t ready. They said they were running about an hour behind so we decided to go back to sleep a bit as they said they would knock on the door when done. Woke up at 5:30, still no knock. Started making calls but being Saturday morning no one was in customer service so we called dispatch, our guys, and they hadn’t heard either. Ok. Back to sleep. Woke up at 7:30 to a stench that would make skunks run and hide. It’s kind of a cross between rotten meat, boiling meat and something else I can’t quite put a name to, but it’s bad! Ok. Enough about the smell. You’re welcome. But at least now we can get our load and find a bathroom!

Another delay. Seals on the trailer door don’t match the ones on the paperwork. Waiting for it to be fixed before we can leave. We have 40,000 pounds of boneless pork loin.

10:30 finally back on the road. Temperature here is 22 with 4-6 inches of snow coming this afternoon so we need to get down the road! Really gloomy day here.

Chili is on and smells great. Can’t wait to have some homemade food.

We made good time today and a lot of miles which is good after all the sitting around yesterday.   Should get in to Georgia tomorrow night.

Weather was really gloomy starting out and then got worse as the day progressed.   Predictions of 7-8 inches in Southern Minnesota and Western Iowa.   Glad to be going south east.   We got hit with some of it though.    It was really cold, around the 20’s and the wind was crazy but then it started getting warmer, low 30’s and the snow started.   First a few flurries and then came down pretty hard for a while but roads remained clear thank Goodness.    Once we got further east it turned to rain so it looks like we are in the clear.

I took a lot of landscape pictures today of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.   There are several that look a like but I wanted to give you a feel for the vastness of these states.   It is amazing to see how big these farms really are.    We passed a lot of silos and several ethanol plants.   Good things to have in corn country I guess.   A few cows but not many.   I think I have only seen 4 or 5 horses this whole trip.

I did get the chili made.   Started it at around 10 am in the crock pot and it has cooked all day.   Cant wait to get in to it when we stop for the night.   It smells wonderful.   Of course, after two days of bologna sandwiches its bound to smell wonderful.

We are almost ready to stop for the night in Boonville, Missouri.  Going through St. Louis tomorrow so hope to get some pictures of the arch if the weather clears up.

Enjoy the pictures.   Goodnight.

And these little piggies go to market

Cant believe this guy has no sleeves and no jacket. Its 22 degrees!

All the trucks lined up with livestock in them.

Brrrrr

Minnesota

Iowa!

Not sure what to call this. Big steel structures on an overpass on our way to a truck stop. 4 of them.

Trucker Chili

Welcome to Missouri!

Snow is really coming down now

The exciting word of the day is SHOWER! We stayed at a TA truck stop and they have great showers with lots of hot water. Greg says that isn’t the norm everywhere so definitely took advantage of it. We have two stops today. First one is in Hopkins MN to drop off the soup and then on to Worthington, MN to pick up a load for Kroger in GA. Hopefully it’s a bit warmer there than here. It’s 12 degrees right now!

We had a short drive to the first stop at SuperValue but had to wait 3 1/2 hours for them to call us to unload the truck. Waste of hours but on the bright side we got to watch another Downton Abbey while we waited.

The trip to Worthington, MN was really pretty with slightly rolling hills and huge farms. There would be a house way off in the distance and corn fields as far as you can see. They are already getting the ground ready for spring and had manure over a lot of the fields already. The smell was pretty powerful but its good to see natural fertilizer being used. I tried to take pictures but it was getting dark by this time and not much turned out well enough to post. Hopefully will get a chance to come back through at some point and take some.

I am amazed at how windy it is here. Trying to go in to the rest area is a lot of fun. Weather says its 18 degrees and with the wind I know its even lower. Cuts right through my jeans. Thankfully I brought my boots and big heavy coat. Have definitely needed those today. I still have my sandals though and am just waiting for the right moment to put those on.

Our appointment was for 1 am but we arrived at about 7 pm to the meat processing plant. We were told before we headed this way that if we got there early we could get our load and head out. Well, apparently not. We have to wait until our 1 am appointment. Total change of plans. We went ahead and had the trailer washed and sanitized and then parked it in the lot where they would get it to load.

It was a little disturbing pulling in to the plant. At the front entrance is the truck with all of the cows head IN to the plant and we go around to the back side of the plant and head OUT with the meat. Disturbing yes, enough to make me stop eating beef – No. Nothing like a good steak in my opinion. Sorry!

Since we had several hours to hang out we found a Walmart close by and got stuff to make chili tomorrow (God help me) and sandwiches for supper tonight. Not a big fan of sandwiches but it did in a pinch. We are going to get some sleep and head back to plant at 1 am, where we were told we will hang our trailer number on the window and when our load is ready they will come find us. Then we can go back to sleep and head to Georgia tomorrow.

Goodnight for now.

Hudson, WI

Hudson WI

Minnesota River

Minnesota River

Welcome to Minnesota

Weigh station

Thats a heavy load

MIssissippi River

Arrived at SuperValue

Huge warehouse

Day two started a bit later than yesterday, thank goodness. We have an 11 hour trip but 30 hours to get there so need to time the work clocks to maximize drive time so didnt get out until about 9 am. We are headed to Hopkins, Minnesota. A 650 mile trip. We settled in for a long trip. One blessing on this trip is that Greg has a bluetooth headset for his phone so he can listen to his talk radio all he wants and I dont have to throw him out of the truck. LOL I have my camera and iPad so am good to go as well. Precious is in the bed still and doesnt come out until the afternoon. She likes laying under the covers. Cant blame her in this weather. Its been mostly low 30’s so far today but by the end of the day its 16 and dropping.

We started off headed to Minnesota with the intentions of going about an hour out of our way so we could miss Chicago because we were worried we would hit traffic and sit for two hours. But…. there was a detour on the highway and 80W to Iowa was closed so they kept us on 90W to Chicago but we never saw an exit back to 80W so you guessed it. We ended up in downtown Chicago. Fortunately, we hit at 1 pm so the traffic wasnt too bad. A few stops and starts but pretty good going for Chicago. It was fun seeing Chicago again even if we were just driving by. We saw the 4 towers which was where Gregory used to live when he went to school there. Passed the exit for Addison Street which is where the bike shop is located in the movie Return to Me with Minnie Driver. Wish we had time to stay and visit but no luck today.

Passed in to Wisconsin late afternoon. It is really a beautiful state. Reminds me of Kentucky a bit with the hills and farms but the valleys are wider. After the flat of Ohio for so long it is a welcome change in scenery. Then it got dark on us and I couldn’t really take anymore pictures. We are close to Minnesota but hope to get some pictures of Wisconsin before we cross over. It is really cold tonight and the wind is really whipping us around. Walking to the bathroom is a real treat!

Greg got fuel when we got to the truck stop tonight. $250 worth. Didnt even fill it up! Well, off to see what culinary delights await us in the Travel Plaza. Cant wait to find a Walmart or grocery store and get food I can fix in my new oven!

Coming up on Chicago

Closer

Closer still

Sears Tower

Lovely overpass

Gregorys old apartment buildings

Old apartment

Waiting on the train

Wisconsin Welcomes you!