Well, we got off to a late start.   I tell ya, they don’t tell the new folks anything.   Greg went out to the truck yesterday to get something and noticed a message from the office. They had us a trip booked for Sunday that we didn’t know about.  Greg emailed them and told them we were off this weekend and the guy said he didn’t know and would contact dispatch about what to do.   Waited all evening for a call and then this am called the office and was put on hold forever and Greg finally hung up.   We figured we didn’t have a load yet so we decided to go to breakfast with Gregory, Mel and Maddi.    Got there, ordered our food and got a call from Transam that Cape Coral was about to tow our truck even though it was sitting in front of the house.  Cape Coral has some weird laws about business names being on vehicles.   Anyway, we rushed out of the restaurant without eating and made it back in time to not get towed.    In the midst of this, Greg gets a call from the office Finally and said the load he got yesterday is his and he needed to be on the road at 6 am this morning.    Why didn’t the guy yesterday say that!!!!!!   So we load up the truck with all our stuff and head out.  Maddi keeps saying “I don’t want you to leave” and gives each of us about a dozen kisses.    The morning had already been tearful saying goodbye to Sadie and Kaiden when we took them to school.    What a roller coaster ride of a day.

So we finally get on the road and Greg gets a message that he has to buy load locks which are bars that go across the back of the load to keep it from shifting.  We had just pulled in to a Pilot so that worked out good.  Ok.  Back on the road.   We are headed to Coca Cola in Auburndale, Florida.

The day just gets better and better.   Got to Coca Cola for a drop and hook which means we leave our trailer and pick up a loaded one. In and out.   Real quick.   Nope.  Not today.   Got there and got connected to the new trailer and while Greg did his inspection he noticed a axle oil seal leak which is apparently a big deal so we couldn’t go anywhere until  that was fixed.   Called a repairman and waited about an hour for him to get there and then about an hour to fix it. So a load that should have taken just a few minutes took over two hours and threw us even later.    We have to be in Nebraska by 7 pm Wednesday.   Going to be pretty tough at this point.   Praying for a better and more productive day tomorrow that’s for sure.    Greg still has about three hours of drive time so hopefully we can get some miles in.

We have 42,000 pounds of orange juice.  We had to go the backroads to the coca cola plant and we saw acres and acres of orange trees.   Some were heavy with fruit and some were just blooming and had the most fragrant white blooms on them.   Must be a different variety or something is all I can figure.   We also went past an orange processing plant and boy could you smell the orange juice.    Look closely at the pictures and you will see all those oranges in trucks and bins in the processing plant.

We stopped at a rest area on I-75 for the night.   Long day tomorrow.    Goodnight everybody!

Driver here:  Well the picture below about says it all.  That’s my granddaughter Maddie giving me goodbye kisses.  When I talked to her on the phone on our way there she said she was going to kiss me all over my face.  Well, she did.  What a joy those three kids are.  Kaiden and Sadie are doing well in school and excited about it.  Kaiden is in Weblows and has his soap box derby this coming weekend.  Sure wish I could be there for that.

Well, Annie told you what a day we had after leaving the kids.  Sometimes I wonder who’s running this outfit.  That’s the second trailer in the last 10 days I have discovered with a leaking seal.  Maybe I’ll just stop looking as that appears to be what others are doing.  No, I can’t do that.

With that all said and done the driving has not been very long today and we have not gotten as far as we had hoped.  Of course if someone could have given me an answer yesterday we would be halfway to Nebraska.  Oh well, we always say there is a reason for everything and this just may have kept us out of some serious trouble.  We’ll make it up.  Don’t worry.  Not that you would.  I mean do you really care if the people in Nebraska get their orange juice?  Well yea.  Everybody needs their orange juice.  So we’ll take it to them.

I’m sleepy.  More tomorrow.  Enjoy the pics.  Goodnight and God bless.

Kissing papaw goodbye. She said she was going to “kiss him all of his face” and she sure did!

Only in Florida do you have a caution sign for Sand Hill Cranes.

See the manatee?

Orange trees!

Pretty building in Auburndale, Florida.

Baby orange trees

Snow birds have arrived.

This guy had two horses and 5 hound dogs in his trailer. Guess it was hunting time.

Osprey nest with two in it.

Look at all those oranges!

What my sweetie bought me at the Coca Cola place!