First day of spring.   It feels like it here in Oklahoma.   The mock pear trees are blooming, daffodils are up and the wild lilacs and clover are blooming pretty purple everywhere.

We passed one big field of purple flowers.   I looked up purple flowers in Oklahoma and apparently there are several lavender fields here.  One farm is 500 acres and they have a big festival every year when it’s in bloom.  I think the field we saw was clover though.   It’s too early for lavender plus they were low to the ground, not bushy.   Beautiful though.

We went through Tulsa and Stillwater Oklahoma then in to Arkansas.  Not a lot to see but rain soaked fields.  Looks like they have had some flooding.

We crossed over in to Tennessee for about half an hour or so and then in to Mississippi.   Found a Pilot about 60 miles in and have stopped for the night.    It has been a long day.   Greg is wore out.    We still have about 400 miles to go tomorrow to get to our stop at Bubba’s Burgers in Elberton, Georgia.   We have been there before.  Its almost on the border of Georgia and South Carolina.

DG here:  Oh, forgot to tell you all we had stewed chicken two nights for dinner and then chicken sandwiches for lunch today.  That crock pot is definitely earning its keep.

Drove over 600 miles today and I feel it.  Tired puppy.  Good weather though and some trees are starting to bloom along with some flowers.  Spring is definitely in the air.  Stopped at a truck stop earlier for a bathroom break and there were several small trees near the entrance filled with chirping birds.  It was almost deafening they were so loud and there were so many of them.  However, you couldn’t see them in the trees so it made somewhat of an eerie scene. Everyone who has seen the movie “The Birds” knows what I am talking about.

Moved on from there and aside from the wreck on the opposite side of the highway, see pics below, we had an uneventful trip.  Thank you Lord.

We’re still having a good time.  Annie got the UK game on her iPad and let me listen to that as I drove.  My radio allows me to plug in my iPhone or iPad and play books, music or TV over the truck stereo so it sounds pretty good.  You need a good sound system to hear over the engine.  Cats won by the way, for those who didn’t see the game.

Tomorrow we go the rest of the way through Mississippi and Alabama and Georgia.  Praying for a safe journey with good weather.

Good night and God bless everyone.

Woke up to a gorgeous sunny morning here in Kansas.

Two firsts this morning.  We saw our first prairie dogs.  There were two we saw running around their little hills out by the rest area.  I guess the big trucks don’t bother them.  Also saw a sign that said “warning.  Snake habitat”.  Needless to say we didn’t let Precious out to pee there!   I figure it’s too cold for any snakes yet but not going to take a chance.

We have a tire that is a tiny bit low.   Greg is keeping an eye on it.  Definitely don’t want to buy tires for this sucker!

Got to Dodge City at about 12 o’clock.   There was a restaurant next door so we went there and ate lunch while they unloaded us.  Two restaurants this week.  Wow!  Lol

Our next pick up was for beef at National Beef.  They had our trailer ready so we are back on the road.   Going back to Bubbas in Elberton, Georgia where they make the Bubba Burger.

We stopped for the night in Tonkawa, Oklahoma.  Pretty neat little place.  There is an Indian Reservation close by and the truck stop across the street has the signs in both English and Tonkawan.   The link below has a bit of their history and their language.

http://www.tonkawatribe.com/profile/profile.htm

DG here:  As expected, the female of this group failed to be awed by or mention the fact that we were in the very city where probably the most famous of all Wild West characters began his now famous career as a “lawman” of the old west. Actually she was excited by it as our GPS took us right by our stop and through downtown Dodge City.  Interestingly enough it appears that they have preserved quite a bit of it and with a little imagination you can see how it must have looked 130 years ago.  We ate lunch at a place that used the old train station as a restaurant and actually had a full size box car in the middle of it where they put the restrooms.  There was Boot Hill museum and Doc Holiday Liquors.  And just like in olden times they still run a lot of cattle through there. Except now they come in on trucks.  And out on trucks 40000 pounds at a time.

We passed a winter feeding lot you will see in the pictures.  There were more cows in one place than I have ever seen anywhere.  Annie looked it up on line and apparently they bring cows to places like this to fatten them up for about four months before taking them for processing.

We also passed the home and work place of a very prolific artist.  There was at least a quarter mile of metal sculptures lined up along a fence three or four deep.  We were going by too fast for me to see very much but what I did see appeared to be characters of people with little signs on them. Very strange.

Found a place for the night. Back on the road in the morning.

Good night and God Bless.

First off today I have to wish my baby a happy birthday.   We love you Gregory.  Hope you have a wonderful day.    Sorry we aren’t there to share it with you.   I’m sure the kids will have something special for you and be so excited.   Happy 28th sweetheart!

We are still at the rest area.  Load of kegs of beer won’t be ready until 11.   I wish I could go back to sleep but too used to getting up before dawn now.

Got to our 11 am appointment.  It’s supposed to be a drop and hook.  Drop ours.  Hook up a loaded one.  But it’s not ready. They can live load us, which is where we back the truck up to the dock and load while we wait, so we say ok.  Well, 5 1/2 hours later we are finally loaded and able to go.   This really ate up Greg’s clock so we probably aren’t getting to Dodge City on time but will try.   I hate to leave Colorado.  I think just what I’ve seen this has to be the prettiest place so far.    Wow doesn’t describe it.

Leaving the Budweiser plant I saw a bird in the grass with a bright yellow belly.  Never seen it before so I tried to get a picture of its belly but all I got was its back and it flew off.  Turns out it was a Western Meadowlark.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_meadowlark

Didn’t get any good pictures of the mountains today.   Low cloud cover.   Couldn’t even see the taller peaks that I was able to get pictures of yesterday.

One of the guys at the travel center had just moved from Lake City, Colorado to Fort Collins, where we were.  He said it was to be closer to doctors.   He looked about 70ish I would think so he or his wife must be ill.   He really loved Lake City and talked about it quite a bit.  He said it was nothing unusual to wake up and have breakfast with deer, elk and moose in the yard.   You could walk right out of the house and go hiking in the mountains.  I looked up Lake City in google and I dont know if I would have moved.   I would probably make the 2 hour trip to the doctor if I needed to.

http://www.lakecity.com/

We passed a huge motorcross track.   I just got a little bit of it but it was huge and motorcycles all over it.

DG here: well I had to tie Annie up to get her back in the truck. It wasn’t pretty. Kicking and screaming, yelling, “I don’t want to go. Leave me here. I love Colorado.” Wailing and gnashing of teeth. It was awful. Finally got her calmed down enough to where I could drive so I untied her. Swerved a little when she went up side my head with her big 64 oz diet coke jug, glad it was empty, but I’m feeling better now.

She will probably pout for several days especially since we will be retracing previous paths for the next couple of days. Just kidding.    (ANNIE HERE – I could live here.  No doubt in my mind.   Yes with the snow and the bears!   I was so excited to be heading toward Denver when we left the Budweiser place only to get within 20 miles of it and the GPS on the truck sent us around it.    I so wanted to see it and get pictures.  I will next time! )

Colorado is beautiful though. At least the part we saw. They had a visitor center next to the rest area and we spent some time in there. I bought a book on past and present Colorado. I like those kinds of books where they show you what it looked like way back when and how it has changed. Annie and I are in agreement, the Indians should have stopped the Europeans at the beach.

Okay, that’s all for me. Good night and God bless. Oh, almost forgot, Happy Birthday son. We love you very much.

Up and ready to see Wyoming today!  Drove all the way across Iowa yesterday.  Today it’s all the way across Nebraska, a little bit in to Wyoming to Cheyenne and then down to Fort Collins, Colorado.   From here we are going to Dodge City, Kansas and then back to Georgia.

Nebraska started off pretty flat and then got in to some rolling hills and buttes as we got closer to Wyoming.   There were a lot of tumbleweeds around the middle of Nebraska.   I tried to get one as they crossed the road but they are so light they just flew.   I did get one as it was going across a field.   The fences are all covered with the tumbleweeds in some areas.

Wyoming was amazing, what little we saw.   Found a great place to pull off and walked some on the nature trails and looked at the hills and rocks.  So gorgeous.

Then crossed over in to Colorado.   We have stopped at a rest area outside of Denver at a place called Ft. Collins.   We are right at the foot of the Rockies.   I hope my pictures turned out.  I think I took 100.   Wow!  Its amazing here.   Greg said he would always get me to Denver!

The rest area here has solar powered trash compactors instead of garbage cans.   Sounds good in theory as you probably dont have to empty them but once a week or so but man do they stink!

We got to our stop here at Budweiser but our load isn’t ready until the morning so we get a good rest tonight since it’s only 6 o’clock here.

DG:  Apologies for not writing last night.  My belly was full of steak and potato and I was sleepy.  That was a good meal last night.  It stuck with me quite a while.  Weeks of eating at a steering wheel made me really appreciate a table and chair.  And someone to wait on us.  And someone else to cook the food.  It’s the little things in life. Tonight it’s ham and cheese sandwich at the steering wheel.

Going through Nebraska into Wyoming is a gradual climb that you barely notice.  However if you have an altimeter with you, or the appropriate app, you find yourself at over 5000 feet after a while.  That’s where we are now.  The mountains are really beautiful.  Can’t wait to see them in the morning.  I sat outside and stared at them until the sun went down.  I really think the Indians messed up by not making the Europeans get back on their boats when they came here.  But if they had, then I wouldn’t be here and neither would you.  So I’m glad they didn’t.  Bet they wished they had.  Anyway, I stared at those mountains for a long time and I imagined as I do when traveling, what it must have been like for the Indians and the first settlers.  Seeing all this land in its natural state.  I don’t see how they were not constantly overwhelmed.  Of course the Indians didn’t have anything to compare it to.  It had always been the same for them for generations.  But coming from Europe, now they had to be overwhelmed by all this open space and the beauty of it all.  I wonder why they didn’t adopt the Indian way of life and preserve this most beautiful landscape in all its original glory.  Something to think about.

So I was trying to make it to our next pick up with what little time I had left with hopes that we could pick up our load and then park for the night and head out first thing in the morning.  But, that wasn’t the case.  Or cases as it is.  We are picking up a trailer full of beer from the Budweiser plant here in Fort Collins, CO in the morning and taking it to Dodge City, Kansas to a place on Wyatt Earp Blvd.

I started to say earlier that traveling through the west I always imagine cowboys riding the plains, bandits hiding out in the hills and Indians on the ridges of the bluffs ready to ride down and attack the wagon train.  Aside from the highways and suburban neighborhoods, it’s pretty much the same as it was then.

Good night and God Bless.

Up and at ’em early as usual.   Headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming and due in tomorrow evening.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this or not but we think the truck may be haunted.   Every once in a while, for no apparent reason, all the lights come on in the truck and a bell sounds several times.  It won’t happen for several days and then it will happen several times in a row.   Very weird.    It’s probably a short in something somewhere I know but……..

We stopped for a few minutes at Iowa 80 truck stop.   It is a huge truck stop with 900 parking spaces, 30 showers, a dentist, chiropractor, and just about everything you can think of for truck accessories and western momentos.    We got new wiper blades, sun shields for the truck windows, arthritis cream for Gregs knee and a T shirt for me with an Indian woman on the front.   They even have new model trucks inside that you can look in to and see what they look like.   Neat place.

Stopped in Council Bluffs for the night.  Got lucky that there was a restaurant next door to the truck stop.   Usually it’s buffet or subway at the truck stops and I just can’t do that anymore.   We actually got to sit down at a table and be waited on for dinner!   Wow! What a treat for us.   We both ordered steak.  First time in weeks we’ve had steak.   It was so good!   We walked in to “The Salty Dog” and everyone was dressed up in green and we realized it was St. Paddy’s day.   There was a guy in a kilt singing.   What a place to find.  LOL.

Turning in for the night.  Cant wait to get to Wyoming tomorrow!!  Goodnight, y’all.

Greg got up at 4:00 and got on the road.   I decided to sleep in a bit but felt like a ball in a pinball machine getting knocked all around so now I am up too.    Dizzy and nauseous.  LOL.  I don’t know how he did it for two months while in training.

Off to Kenosha, Wisconsin this morning to drop off the beef.

Ok. Made it on time.  Not a good sign on how long we will be here when the guy at the guard house says “park over there and take a nap”!   Oy

Well, that went better than expected. In an out in two hours. Now we get a trailer wash out and head to Illinois to get our load to take to Wyoming. New state!!  Yeah!!

Got to next place to get our load, just outside of Chicago.   Been here almost two hours and Greg went in to see how long we would be and he said he couldn’t tell for sure but there were 14 Trucks waiting to be loaded so at least 4-6 hours.   Looks like another night in a parking lot.

Well, 4 1/2 hours and counting.   No word yet.   Its 8:30 so might as well try to get some sleep.

Not a lot of pictures today.   I figured you have seen enough corn fields for now.   LOL

DG:  Schedulers!  Anybody out there know how to read a clock?  Our load outside of Chicago was scheduled so tight I would have had to speed to get here on time.  (Don’t tell anyone, but I did just a little.)  But not enough.  Got here 15 minutes past my scheduled arrival.  Not sure what’s going on.  They are either really behind or they are playing games with us and  taking all the trucks that got here on time and are getting here at their scheduled appointment on time, but after us ahead of us or they really are seven hours behind.  Either way, it’s ridiculous.  I laughed reading a sign posted in their break room about everyone going to 10 hour shifts because they are really busy and their customers want their products on time or they will buy somewhere else.  Well, I don’t know what they make or sell, but when I find out I am not buying any of it.  Lord only knows when I would get it.  LOL.

I learned something the last time this happened.  When a shipper runs your clock down to next to nothing, hang around till it resets and you don’t have to go somewhere else to reset it.

All in all it’s still good.  I mean, if we were home we would have spent the evening watching TV, just like we did tonight, but in a much larger living room, with a much larger TV.  But, I am with the love of my life and I do believe we are growing closer, if that’s possible, so I am focused on that and not the trivial, sniveling, incompetence…….Ahem, dare I digress.  It’s all good.  Good night and God Bless.

Up and at ’em.   On the road at 5 am.  We just went through a little town called Greensburg, population 785.  According to The web there was a devastating tornado here in 2007 that wiped out the entire town. Not one building left standing.   According to reports the town not only completely rebuilt itself but the entire town is green, which explains all the windmills.   You would never know going through it now that this happened.

We went through the Flint Hills in Kansas.   Absolutely amazing.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_Hills

That has to be where the amber Waves of grains comes from.   Just gorgeous.   We saw about a dozen pronghorns at one spot.  We almost missed them they blended in so well so the pictures aren’t very good but here is a Wikipedia link on them.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn

We went across Kansas, into Missouri and now in Iowa for the night.  Not far from Iowa City.   Been a long day and still have 5 hours to go in the morning to be there by 10 am so another early morning.

Turning in.   Goodnight y’all.

Good morning Kansas

Up at 4:30 and heading out. Got 113 miles to go to get to our stop.   Coffee and Diet Coke on board.   All set.

We didn’t have to put jackets on this morning to go in to the convenient mart and I have my sandals back on, which proved to be tricky when navigating the cow pies in the parking lot from all the cattle trucks.  Lol   Made it back safe and sound.

We are 6.5 miles from the meat plant and have already had to use our menthol rub.   Breathing in deeply.   I don’t know how people live close to this.   Wow!

We got to meat plant and the refer fuel was low so we had to leave and go to get fuel.  On the way we passed Dorothy’s House.  Apparently Liberal Kansas is home of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz story.

http://www.dorothyshouse.com

And here we sit again.  What was supposed to be a quick drop and hook (drop our trailer and pick up another) has now turned in to a big wait.  The trailer was heavy so he had to slide the tandems and when he got the weight right we are now too long for Wisconsin of all things by 2 feet.   We are at 43 feet and max is 41.  So here we sit waiting on either permission to go ahead or get reloaded.

Clock is ticking.

6 hours later we are still sitting.

3:45 pm and we are finally leaving.  We have been here since 7 am waiting.  Another day with no money made.   Now Greg has only 2 hours to drive so hopefully we can find a truck stop and not the side of the road.  Very frustrating day.

Didn’t get very far before the clock ran out but found a nice spot – in the  middle of nowhere!   Boy, Kansas has a lot of nothing but field after field after field.   Looks like more wheat or grain here than corn in some of the other states we have been in.

We went through Meade, Kansas.   A very small spot but quite a bit going on.   Apparently, this is where the Dalton gang hung out.   There is a house that claims to be the hideout and a museum.    Also, there was a sign for the Lone Tree Incident.   Very sad story.   See the link below.

http://www.oldmeadecounty.com/lonetree.htm

We are parked for the night and hope to get up very early and get started.  Got about 875 miles to go I think before 10 am on Monday morning.   Racing against the clock.   The place we stopped at has a little convenient store and a tiny cafe.   We are going to try the cafe and see how it goes.

DG:  The cafe was great.  What one would expect from an out of the way truck stop diner.  Good home cooked food. I had the special, chicken fried steak, gravy, baked potato and salad.  It was very good and way outdid the chain truck stop food we have been eating.  That is when Annie isn’t cooking, which is the best of all of the above.  We were surprised to find that they had a lot of locals eating there.  Surprised because you would have to drive for miles to get here even if you lived in the closest house to the place.

Kansas.  Flat.  And whatever they grow here they grow a lot of it.  I understand the need for barn dances and community get togethers especially in a place like this where you can’t even see your neighbors even though there are no obstructions between you.  Only distance.

The place we stopped at is a small truck stop, by industry standards, however it has a fairly big parking lot and a detached cafe.  I mean, with all the land out here how could you not have a good sized parking lot.  Of course it is taking up some valuable farm land, but I’m sure the wheat market, or whatever they grow here, can take the hit.

Annie and I took a walk down the side road after dinner.  It was nice to be out of the truck, in the open air and not freezing and moving our limbs.  We marveled at the places we have been, most of them due to serendipity.  And here we were, on a country road in the middle of Kansas.  Wide open spaces.  Very wide.  Very open.  Have I mentioned how beautiful this country is?  I think so.

Well, something we have been wanting to do for a long time, I think we are going to do in a few minutes, and that is go outside and look at the stars in a place not surrounded by light.  I have been looking out the window and it looks clear so here’s hoping.

Star walk unsuccessful.   Too many lights around the convenient store.   Had the idea though at looking for a place on the road to pull over on our way out at 4 am and trying again.

Goodnight and God bless!

Goodnight Kansas

Up at 6 am.  Heading on in to Ardmore, Oklahoma with our marshmallows.   I think that is so funny.

A bit rainy this morning.   Hopefully it quits before too long.   Not bad, just drizzly and cool.

Had a nice drive through the country to get to the Dollar General distribution center.   This is definitely cattle country.   We were supposed to pick up an empty trailer but they didn’t have one ready yet.  They were all full and needed to be emptied first.  So they routed us to Oklahoma City for an empty trailer at a Kenworth dealer and now we are off to Liberal Kansas for meat of some kind.  Mary, we took your advice and I found some menthol rub at one of the convenient marts and am going to put that around my nose if this place is like the others.   Then we are headed to Kenosha, Wisconsin.   It’s just outside of Madison, north of Chicago and looks like it’s right on the lake.  Hope to get some good pictures.

It has been rainy all day.   Thankfully not cold. Just wet.   Hope it clears up soon.

The rain finallly let up about 3 oclock or so.   Still kind of hazy but sunny in spots.

We didnt quite make it to the meat packing place tonight so we stopped at a truck stop in Woodward, Oklahoma.   You can tell you are close to a meat packing plant when you are in a lot with a bunch of cattle trucks, some full, some empty.   Got to keep the windows rolled up tight!

We have got to be on the road at 4:30 in the morning to make our deadline of 7 am.   Ate the last of the barbecue, at least for me.

Hope all of you are doing good.   No stories lately of snow so thats good!

DG:  Heard where Yeager runway fell off the hill.  Terrible.  I figured something would have to give once all that snow started to melt.

Cows everywhere.  We passed through one little town, forget which one, and there was a steak house on every corner.  Wish we could have stopped, but none had truck parking.

Sitting here in the truck stop looking at about a dozen or more livestock trucks.  Sure is smelly.  Glad it’s cows instead of pigs.  Pigs are a lot more stinky than cows.  The way they pack those cows in those trailers they are probably glad to meet their maker after that ride.

Didn’t get to drive as much as I had hoped.  Had enough time on the clock to get to where we are but not enough to get to the next truck stop and closer to our destination.  Held up again at the drop.  What should have been a 15 minute drop and hook ended up being a two hour search for an empty trailer.  Hazard of the biz.

Okay, I’m late and it’s getting me so better to bed go.  See how tired I am?

Good night and God bless.

Oklahoma City early am

Mr. Baggy Pants!

Not quite so early a day today.  Got to sleep until 6 am.  On the road now to Oklahoma. It’s a long drive but that’s what we like.   It’s only 34 degrees but a beautiful morning.   Bright blue sky with very few clouds.   Seeing a lot of windmills in this part of Illinois.  I really don’t like seeing those things.   They take over the horizon for miles.   It would be one thing if they really did something but to know they cost $2 million dollars minimum each and do very little they really don’t make much sense.

Anyway, very thankful for a gorgeous day and ready to roll.

Stopping for lunch in Cuba, Missiouri on old Route 66.   Dotties Restaurant.   I’m having the fried chicken and Greg is having the Wurst Pretzel.   Bratwurst on a pretzel bun.   The truck is going to be fun later.

Made it in to oklahoma.   We stopped at a truck stop called “The Wood Shed”.   Beautiful sunset on the way here.   Sure wish I could pull over and take the time to set up the camera and get a good shot but you still should be able to get a good idea.   The sun seems to take forever to go down.

We had left overs again for dinner.   Fixing the chicken tomorrow or the next day.   Will see how our schedule goes.

DG: Beautiful day today.  Sunset in Oklahoma was amazing.  The colors were so bright and the light lingered forever.

Staves, grapes, boats and cows.  Missouri has it all.

We found a parking spot.  Big truck stop off of I44 with a 20 foot Indian out front.  I had stopped here during my training several months ago.  This is one of the old style truck stops with a full service restaurant, gift shop, the works.  Trucker’s home away from home.

I had Annie take pictures of the Tracker Boat manufacturer.  There must be 20 acres of boats.  Check ’em out.

Dinner was delicious, again.  Enough pork roast left over for lunch tomorrow, then onto chicken.

Hope you all are well.  We will be turning in momentarily.  Early day tomorrow.

Good night and God bless.