We woke up about 10:30 last night to hear sleet and ice hitting the truck. It rained like this off and on all night.

Woke up at 5 this morning to a frozen parking lot with about 2 inches of solid ice. None of the trucks were moving and we were very hesitant about it ourselves. Our load was due to be dropped off by 6:30 so we waited as long as we could. Finally some of the other trucks started moving and they were doing okay, albeit very slowly. Biting the bullet Greg pulled out very slowly, checking his brakes several times, and moved around to the fuel pumps. We were able to get the DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) (thank you Government for the additional expense) and had to pull back through the parking lot again to get out. Made it to the highway but it wasn’t much better than the parking lot. Nobody was moving fast at all. Fortunately we just had to go about a mile to our destination and made it safely. The only time the truck even slipped a little was in the distribution center’s parking lot but it wasn’t bad and easily corrected. It is only 24 degrees so I don’t see this melting any time soon. Going to be a fun drive to Kansas where it is snowing.

You can see the ice in a couple of the pictures. One truck got stuck and poor guy’s wheels were just spinning. See video. He finally got it going again.

Across the street from the distribution center was an amusement park called Frontier City with White Water Bay water park. Of course it’s closed this time of year. https://www.frontiercity.com

We are all set and headed to Dodge City, Kansas!

The roads are an icy mess. No sign of any salt trucks or road crews of any kind. We saw several vehicles turned around and over. One truck beside us started sliding sideways then got turned around backwards before hitting the wires across the median. Scary going for a bit even at 25 mph.

The sun finally came out and we had a good trip after that. Blue skies and open country.

We saw a bunch of wind turbines again. Boy they can mess up the view.

We saw our first roadrunner. So cool. He was out of shot before I could get a good picture though but it was neat to see.

Saw a lot of open farmland and lots of cows. This is really a beautiful area.

We picked up a load of 41,000 pounds of Oklahoma Beef tonight and then drove across the street to the Love’s truck stop for the night.   The smell is awful but its not as bad as the pork processing center we were at a couple of weeks ago.     We are headed to Elberton, Georgia in the morning.

Well, we are turning in.  Early day tomorrow.    Goodnight y’all.

Just a minute there missy.  Driver Greg here.  Not sure those were Oklahoma cattle as we saw quite a few in Kansas on our way here.  Right now we are sitting in the parking lot at the truck stop across the street from the processing plant.  We watch as one after another livestock truck pulls into the lot, parks and waits for the call to bring their cargo across the street.  I would almost feel sorry for the cows as I watch them take their last trip in this life, but they taste so darn good.  Anyway, as most condemned creatures they are not shy about relieving themselves right in the parking lot so you have to watch where you walk.  Were they ever shy about that anyway?  I think not.  I once talked to a driver who pulled into a truck stop one night to sleep and awoke to find that two cattle trucks had pulled in on either side of him and his trailer was soiled on both sides.  He had to bear the smell until he could get to a truck wash.  Poor fellow.  I am safe tonight as the truck to my left is here for a 34 hour reset as I spoke to the driver when his wife came to pick him up and the truck to my right has a load of frozen meat and he’s here for the night as well.

Well, I didn’t see where Annie said much about Oklahoma or Kansas.  Suffice it to say, both are wide open farm lands with Oklahoma having the more rolling hills contour as opposed to Kansas’ flat as a pool table landscape.  Still, both states have their own beauty that is a wonder to behold.  We truly live in a beautiful country.  I hope everyone is able to see it all sometime in their lives.

Okay, I’m tired, sunrise comes early and I have to be awake before then.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

My words on Kansas and Oklahoma are in the pictures below.   (Annie) 

Frontier amusement park

Icy roads

Yikes

Kansas!

Here comes the rain, or in this case turned out to be sleet but thankfully didnt last long.

Dodge City!

GRRRR

Can you see the cow noses?

Kansas Sunset