Up at 4:30 to go back to Tyson.  Luckily our load was ready and we were able to get on the road fairly quickly.   Bright clear sunny day.  Little chilly still but not bad.  Now we head to Canton, Ohio, with our load of 43,000 pounds of shredded pork.   Anybody got any barbecue sauce?  We could have a big party.

We got to go through the northern part of Iowa today, right along the border of Wisconsin.   Totally different scenery up there than parts we had been through before.   There were hills and rolling plains instead of just flat.

We also went through Galena, Illinois.   It looked like an old Victorian/western town.   The downtown looked to have all of its original buildings from the 1800’s.   It sits up on a hill to so we definitely put this down as a place we would like to visit some time when we are in the car.

http://visitgalena.reachlocal.net/?utm_source=ReachLocal&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=VGSearch

We only got about 350 miles today before time ran out.   We are at a Pilot south of Gary, Indiana.   The plan is to get up at the crack of dawn (no surprise there) and head to our appointment hopefully by 8 am.  Its going to be cutting it close and I really am not sure we will be there on time as there is construction on I80 a few miles down the road.  Hopefully that wont hold us up too long.    Maybe since we are leaving early we can miss any traffic through there.

Going to find something to eat and then hit the hay.   Hope to be in Ashland tomorrow night!! Goodnight, y’all.

Up at 6 am.  Heading to Iowa.   Only about 200 miles to go.  It’s cold this morning.  Only 38 but the sun is shining bright already so it should warm up pretty quickly.

The farmers are really out in full force now.  Almost every field has a machine of some sort in it.  I don’t know what any of them do but it’s awesome to watch.  Some are small and some are huge.   We did see several small tractors hauling little white plastic tanks and looked up what they were doing on Google.  Apparently it’s anhydrous ammonia which Google says is an efficient and widely used source of nitrogen.  It is deadly though and boils at -28 degrees so it will also burn the hide off in a second.    Also poisonous as a gas.  Not sure I would want to use it but I am not trying to fertilize several hundred acres either.

Made it to our first stop without any trouble.   We had to wait while they unloaded but it was only a couple of hours so not bad.  Took advantage and took a nap.

Then off to Waterloo, Iowa to Tyson chicken for our next load.   It wasn’t ready and won’t be ready until 2:30 am so off to find dinner and sleep.   Found a nice little place called The Other Place which serves pizza.   Been craving a good pizza.  Here’s hoping!

Well, I don’t think we will ever be satisfied with another pizza.  The crust could have been cooked a little longer, the pepperoni was hard to find, the sauce was okay and there was lots of cheese. Better than most we have had lately, but lots of room for improvement.

We have stopped at a Pilot for the night.   Only a couple of miles from Tyson in the morning but a 10 hour drive to Canton, Ohio, so off to bed soon.

Hopefully be pulling in to Ashland for the weekend.   We have requested the time off.   Greg is wanting to switch to KLLM in Mississippi so the plan is to drop me off in Ashland while he takes the truck back to Olathe and then KLLM will fly him to Mississippi for training for a week and then he will come get me.    I have a list a mile long if I am going to be staying a week.    A manicure, pedicure, hair color (the gray is taking over), shave my legs!, massage, chiropractor, acupuncture.    I could go on and on.    Pedicure and chiropractor are top of the list.   Sorry, Greg, shaving my legs is at the bottom.  Haha

DG:  A couple of observations made lately.  First off, almost all truck drivers are aliens. Not the kind from another country, but much further. 

I forgot the second one. Sleep has overtaken me. I cannot think. Tomorrow perhaps I will complete my addition to the blog before eating. 

Good night and God bless. 

Up at 6:30 and headed northeast.   The traffic already outside Nashville is at a standstill at times.    We were hoping to get out early enough to miss it but it doesn’t look like we made it.

Today was pretty uneventful.   Got a few pictures today that I liked, especially of kentucky.  I never get tired of taking pictures through there.   Its such a beautiful state.

Almost to Iowa.   Not too far at all now.   Its been a good trip today.  The weather has been nice and no rain, which is great!

We were blessed to go around St. Louis today.   Nothing personal against that city but I have seen it so much I am glad we were able to bypass it.  Now if we could bypass Nashville next time!

We saw lots of farmers out in their fields as we drove by.   Spring has finally arrived in the heartland.   Some were just starting to turn the fields while others were putting down manure.  That’s a lovely smell for miles!   We should start to see the corn fields popping up pretty soon.  You can already see the hay fields growing and they are so green.

Well, turning in.  Stopped at a Pilot for the night outside Davenport, Illinois.   Hope you enjoy the pictures.   Goodnight, y’all.

DG:  Traffic and construction, the trucker’s two nemesises.  We had our share today. But it was all good as we made it to Illinois with 200 miles to go tomorrow morning. People in Iowa need their OJ.  Navigator got us here with plenty of time to spare, 24 minutes, and with supper in our bellies, a calm and clear night we will be ready for some TV relaxation and then sleep.

We’ve been listening to audio books in the road. Today we finished the first book of the “Wagons West” series, “Independence”.  It’s about a wagon train that starts in upstate New York and stops in Independence, MO.  Then the next book starts there and goes to Nebraska.  Betcha can’t guess the name of the second book. You’re right, New Zealand!  Just kidding. It’s “Nebraska”.  We will probably start that one tomorrow.

It’s an interesting series and it’s something we can share on the road. Cause right now, if you’ve seen one cornfield you’ve pretty much seen them all. And I think we have seen them all. And all the cows too. I don’t remember going through a state that didn’t have cows. I think they are everywhere.

We saw a sign by the road on the fence at this farm advertising organic beef and free range chickens. As we drove by we noticed a travel trailer sitting in the field and they were using it as the hen house. Like we say, you never know what you are going to see.

Well, more later. Love you all. Good night and God bless.

Wow!   90 days already.   I can’t believe it.   Greg asked me yesterday if I was still having fun and yes I am.   I could go without seeing Nashville or St. Louis for a while but overall it’s a lot of fun.   You never know what you are going to see.   Even areas you have seen before is different the next time you see it.   So we keep trucking!

The pictures today are of North Georgia and Tennessee.   We made it to just outside Nashville tonight before we had to stop.   700 miles to go tomorrow and probably a bit wednesday am.

Finally got some laundry done!   Good thing I packed extra undies!    Turning in.  Long day tomorrow.   Goodnight, y’all.

DG:  I asked Annie if she was still recording names of trucking companies. She said “Not unless I see one that’s really unusual”.  I don’t know how long our list is at present but I’m positive we could add 50 new names a day every day if we wanted to.  I think we just got wore out with it. But if we see one that catches our eyes we will let you know.

On our way to Iowa with orange juice. I get a chuckle out of the officers at the inspection station as we leave Florida.  Every time they ask us what we have and I say orange juice and they wave us on. The guy today didn’t even ask. I guess he figures every trucker knows the routine so when I pulled up to the window today he opened the window and just looked at me, waiting for me to say it. So I did. Orange juice. As I was driving away I thought I could have been a little more creative and said something like Florida’s finest, golden nectar, juice of the fruit, etc.  The one thing I am always tempted to say, but dare not, “cheap labor”, “amigos”, “truckload of muchachos”.  Nope, not going to say that.

Did see a big ATF Prevost Motorhome going down the road. All kinds of electronics on the top. Wonder if they were listening. Probably wanting an early version of the blog. Too bad guys. You’ll have to wait like everyone else.

Had a few more philosophical thoughts today but by the time we find a place to settle, (1 minute to spare today. Thanks navigator), I do my post trip inspection, dinner, and laundry tonight, all philosophical thought has left my brain. I should start writing these down. Hard to write while driving. Not that I’ve tried.

Okay, that’s all folks. Hope everyone is happy and well. Goodnight and God bless.

Good morning.  Up at 5:30 this am headed to florida.   No rain yet but still cloudy and dark looking.  It’s nice and warm though.    Didn’t need our jackets which was nice.  It’s 69 degrees here in southern Georgia.

The magnolia trees are blooming in southern Georgia!

Got to Florida early for our appointment which is fine since its a drop and hook.  No wait time!   It is 91 degrees and sunny.   I’m ready to go back to the mountains!  Greg is happy as a clam to be back in Florida.  Now we have 42,000 pounds or 1,600 cases of pure orange juice from Coke.   Headed to Ankeny, Iowa.  Don’t think we have been there before. It’s north of Des Moines.

The truck in front of us at the check out point. They inspect your trailer coming in and going out.   Make sure you aren’t stealing anything or bringing anything in.   Then they put a seal and a big lock on the back that is removed when you get to your stop.

We have Plenty of time on this trip so may try to stop in a bit and do some laundry.

We stopped at a Pilot in Ocala, Florida.    Got a shower but unable to do laundry.   We must have stopped at the one Pilot without laundry facilities.   Shoot.   Hopefully tomorrow.

We are ready to turn in.   Got 1300 miles to do in 2 days.    Sleep while we can.    Goodnight, y’all.

DG:  1300 miles.  I can do that standing on my head.  Well, figuratively speaking of course.  In two days?  Not a problem. 

Florida is nice. And it did rain. You can almost set your watch by it. If someone says the rains came early this year they are not talking about early “IN” the year but rather early in the day.  Every day.  

Saw a C-17 Galaxy doing some low level maneuvers today.  I understand the science of flight but I tell ya it still amazes me to see something that big in the air.  We also saw the Met Life dirigible in a field attached to its moorings.  Couldn’t tell if it was getting ready to take off or had just landed.  Neat site though. You never know what you’re going to see. 

Have seen several armadillos by the side of the road.  It’s like they have been following the opossums across the highways and byways and it hasn’t been good for them. 

Our truck’s name is Cheby by the way. This is from a story Annie’s uncle Kenny used to tell about her when she was just a little girl.  He owned a Chevrolet and one time when they were riding in it and Kenny put on the brakes Annie said, “Whoa Cheby”.  He got a kick out of telling that story and even though our truck wasn’t made by Chevrolet we named her Cheby to remember Kenny.  And she still says Whoa Cheby several times a day. But then I’m driving so what do you expect. 

That’s all for now. Bedtime.  Good night and God bless. 

Got to sleep until 8 am this morning.  Yeah!  LOL.   Headed to Conyers, Georgia.  Sun is peaking through a little bit but it still looks like rain.

The trees along the way have really filled out and are such pretty greens.   Six flags is also open when we went by.  Guess spring really is here.

Got to our stop about an hour early.   A little worried though.   They gave us a sheet of paper to put in our window to let the unloaders know who is who and what time we arrived.  The truck to the right says he arrived at 8 am. It’s now 2 pm.   Hope we aren’t here all day!

Finally got a dock about 4:30.   Our appointment was for 3 so we are doing better than the guy next to us.

Got done at about 5:40. Not bad.  Now to find a Pilot so we can park and await further instructions.  No plan as of yet.

Well, 3 hours later and we have a plan.   Headed to Auburndale, Florida for Coke products and back to Iowa.

Been a long day.  Turning in.  Have to get up at 5:30 in order to get to florida for our appointment.

Here is a picture of the sunset earlier.

DG: Pulled into a Petro in Atlanta.  340 parking spaces.  That’s big, but still 1/3 the size of Iowa 80 the largest truck stop in the world.

I sit atop my throne, high above the fray and watch the four wheelers try their best to kill each other. It’s like a battle for land none of them can own yet they fight over it every day. On and on. A fruitless struggle to occupy a moving space. I see it all from my lofty perch. Fools I say. You will never win. This road is not yours. It is mine. I am the lord of all I see and I control the speed and the distance all around me occupy.

Just a little poetic license there. It came with my CDL.

All right. Love you all.

Good night and God bless.

Up at 7:30.  WooHoo!  No big hurry today since we will make it to Georgia in plenty of time for our appointment tomorrow.   Looks like it’s going to rain.   Sky is gray and cloudy.   Here’s hoping we miss it!

There is a field with horses in it where we stopped for the night.  One of them took a shine to Greg.   Kept licking his hand and trying to eat his jacket.

Well, I dont have a lot of pictures.   Sorry!  It has rained this entire day.    It is supposed to rain tomorrow too as we get in to Georgia but I hope it is over.

Only got about 190 miles to go tomorrow.    Turning in.   Goodnight, y’all.

DG:  Made a new friend today. Horses don’t usually take to me but this one did.  There were about eight horses lying in this field next to the truck stop. As soon as we walked over to the fence this beautiful horse stood up and walked over to us. He let us pet him and I held out my hand and he started licking my hand. A couple of times he tried to bite the buttons on my jacket.  He was very friendly.  I’ll miss him.  

We drove through rain until just before crossing into Alabama.  We’ve been this way before so didn’t miss anything because it was dark.  Got a good parking spot and as late as it was that’s rare. 

Arkansas was really beautiful.  We got to enjoy it for a while before the rain came.

Weather report says it will be ahead of us by morning so we will be driving into it.  Good thing I out Rainex on the windshield this morning. 

Time for bed. Good night and God bless.

Up at 4:30 to head to National Beef Company to get our load.   Nowhere else on earth are you going to hear these directions except Liberal, Kansas – “Turn left on Yellow Brick Road”.   I love it!

Well, after 5 hours we are finally on the road.  While doing the trailer inspection on the trailer we picked up Greg noticed it had 2 tires with bald spots on them.   Then he found two more.   So, long story short, we had to go to a tire shop and wait while they put on 4 new tires.

After we got the tires replaced we drove through Oklahoma.   We went from one end to the other.   We found a Pilot that is onliy about 10 miles from the Arkansas border.    Should make it to Georgia tomorrow or early Saturday.

These pictures are all of Oklahoma.   The field of yellow flowers are canola.   I looked it up after seeing field after field of them.   Apparently, weeds can get in the wheat field and they become resistant to all of the pesticides they use on them so they plant canola in order to cover the ground and so they can then use stronger poisons to kill the weeds.   Ok, this wheat is what our bread is made from.   I tell ya, no wonder there is so much gluten intolerance these days.   Never heard of it before now and now it seems its everywhere.    Could this be part of the reason?   Hmmmmm

http://kfor.com/2013/05/13/yellow-flowers-helping-oklahoma-wheat-crop/

Well, going to turn in and get ready for the long drive to Georgia tomorrow.   Goodnight, y’all.

DG:  Made it with 10 minutes to spare. I have a good navigator.  She’s pretty too. And makes the journey enjoyable. 

Well, you’ve seen Oklahoma and Kansas as many times as we have so what’s to say. They’re flat. They go on forever. One interesting thing I heard the other day that we didn’t mention and I never thought of until I heard it. A lady at the truck stop we stayed at in Liberal, a lifelong resident went to visit her daughter in Denver and got claustrophobic in the mountains with all the trees around her.  After looking at the openness of Kansas I began to understand her point. 

The Great Plains is an interesting place. I can only imagine what the European settlers thought of all the land available for ownership a concept totally foreign to them until then. 

Also surprised the Spanish didn’t settle this country before the English as they were here 100 years ahead of them. 

That’s all for now. Good night and God bless. 

Up at six to check on load.  It’s still not ready so back to bed!

10 am.  Load still not ready so we decided to go back to Dorothy’s house and take the tour. So much fun!    You can purchase a yellow brick for the road.   Ronald and Nancy Reagan have one and so does Liza Minelli.

DG:  All I can say is “Thank goodness there was only one flying monkey and they had it tied down”.  This was really fun. A pleasant surprise.

Well, we have sat all day.    Finally at 6 pm they told us the load was ready but since Greg has been up all day we cant go until he has some sleep.   So, off to bed in a bit.

We are not going to get to see the kids this weekend.   Very disappointed.   Because we sat all day today it throws the time table off so we wont be able to make it by the weekend.

So, off to Georgia in the am.    Goodnight, y’all.

DG:  It was good being a kid for a while today. The presentation in the Land of Oz was very entertaining.  The guide did a good job telling the story and acting out the scene.  It was accompanied by light and sound effects. Lots of fun. Lots of interesting facts as well.  The munchkin cast used to come every year when they had OZ fest. Only one of them is still alive and if you saw the movie you may remember him as the one that gave the lollipop to Dorothy. They also have the original house used in the tornado science. It’s just a small model and the guide said they threw it off of a  balcony and then played the film backwards so that it appears in the movie to be taking off into the sky. 
An enjoyable day overall.  We will long remember our day in Liberal, Kansas. 

Good night and God bless.  

Up at 4 am and headed to Dodge City, Kansas with 31,000 pounds of pallets.    Just wooden pallets.   Seems odd.  The trailer is completely full though.  We are taking them to a meat processing plant.

As we get closer to Kansas the hills flatten out and we start to see all the farms again.   A lot of grasses are starting to grow and there are big dark green fields now where there used to be brown.   It doesn’t look like the corn has been planted yet so you still see fields of brown.

There is also a different smell crossing over in to Kansas.   Yes, we are now back in cattle country.   First thing we saw at the line was a stockyard of several hundred cows.   Boy, that was pungent.

I saw the first red fox today.  It was sitting back from the road a bit just looking around.   We went by too fast for me to get a picture though.   Hope I see another one and can get a picture!

We also saw two grouse as we went down the road.  We must have flushed them out when we went by.   Such colorful birds.

Arrived at our stop, Cargill, the beef processing plant.   There is not enough essential oils out there to cover up the smell from these places.  Not only the plant but the dozens of trucks with cows on them that are just – WOW!  What a smell.

Traded trailers and headed to next stop at National Beef in Liberal Kansas.   We go to check in and order isn’t ready.  It’s so not ready they don’t even have a trailer number assigned to the load yet.  Lovely!   Well, time is about up so we go in to town and park at a gas station for the night.   Chinese buffet next door looked busy so we went over and had dinner.   It was ok.  Good hot and sour soup. I don’t know why Chinese places use dark meat in all their dishes.   Eewww.

We decided to go for a walk and turned right in to Dorothy’s house.  We are in Kansas after all.   It’s a cute little house and yard that several people in town decided to put up and their names are the yellow brick road.   We missed being able to go in since its late but walked around.   So cool.   There were no flying monkeys we could see so Greg was okay.

We are turning in.   They told us to call every couple of hours and see if our load is ready.   Probably just going to wait until morning and go from there.

DG:  Well, we didn’t see any flying monkeys, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there somewhere.  Probably up in the trees watching our every move.  Don’t like those things.  Ain’t natural.  Flying monkeys.  Huh.  Anyway, pretty neat little attraction.

My navigator did it again.  Got us stopped with about eight minutes to spare.  I think she just does that to watch me squirm.

Seeing Kansas for the umpteenth time I am getting more and more drawn to it.  There’s something about seeing oceans of farm land just as far as the eye can see.  Coming through Texas we swore the horizon was farther away than anywhere we had ever been.  Guess it was just an illusion or the fact that we were in Texas and every thing is supposed to bigger there.  It was pretty sparse in the upper left of the panhandle.  New Mexico, wait, did I tell you this already?  Seems familiar.  Oh well, I’m not going to take the time to look back.  I’ll just tell you now.  This will serve two purposes.  One; it will be new if I haven’t told it already and Two; it will prepare you for what’s to come as I repeat myself often.

New Mexico is definitely the Land of Enchantment as stated on their license plates and the welcome sign as you cross the border.  Just looking at the sky and landscape gives you a sense of awe and a feeling that spirits live there.  They would not be crowded if they did as that has to be the most sparsely populated place we have seen yet.  Beautiful though.

Colorado, and the Rockies?  Wow, every body has to see this before you go.  Didn’t care much for Denver though.  Too crowded.  In spite of the crowding the town did seem rather truck friendly.  The Wal Mart had special parking for commercial trucks.  A place set aside just for us.  A lot of Wal Marts won’t even let us on their lots.  Many do, but there are some that don’t want us in there.  That’s fine.  We’ll just go to Kroger.  I guess Denver has to be truck friendly as there are a lot of trucks going through that place.  We dropped off the Coca Cola syrup to a place there, in Denver, that is based in Rocky Mount, NC.  Imagine that.

I had some philosophical thoughts I was going to lay on you but the Chinese Buffet blocked my thought processes somewhere around my belly button.  Can’t think with a full stomach.  I was probably just going to go on and on about abandoned farm buildings and machinery.  There is a lot of that out there you know.  And I wonder……..at what point does one just walk away from a house, a barn, or equipment that has served one well for so many years.  I will ponder this some more and get back to you.  Perhaps after the sweet and sour chicken, hot and spicy squid, shrimp and sushi wear off.

Oh, did I mention there were still piles of snow along the roads in Denver?  Not for me.  Oh, and Pueblo, CO, so much poverty.  Anybody remember those Public Service Announcements that used to be on TV and how they always said they came from some government office in Pueblo, CO?  Well, this is the place.  Could explain the poverty.  I don’t know.  It was just very sad seeing all of the run down housing and closed businesses.

On a more cheery note, we are on our way to Florida to see the grandkids, woohoo!

Well, time to chill and digest.  Hope all are well.  Good night and God bless.