Annie – Got to sleep in a bit this am.  Of course, I didn’t go to sleep until 3 am.   LOL  Still not sleeping well without my snoring partner.   

Greg is off in to New Mexico, Arizona and California today.   I bet he is seeing some gorgeous views.   I can’t wait to see them too! 

No plans on this end today.   

DG:  I am officially in the middle of nowhere.  I am at the Hi Sahara Oasis truck stop in Essex, CA. Google map this place. You won’t believe it. It’s the farthest I could get with time left. It’s just what you would imagine of a small truck stop/gas station/convenient store in the middle of the desert. Everything is expensive but what are you going to do. Just glad I am not fueling here. Diesel is $5.35 a gallon. Welcome to California.   

That’s a zoom picture taken from about a quarter mile. I was two miles away and it looked like it was about a block away. The desert does things to your perception.

There’s a big flatscreen TV in the “dining room” but it’s not on. Classic rock from the 70’s is playing over the speakers.  I am the only one in here at the moment besides the staff. Seriously I feel like I am to meet some desert shaman here to show me the secrets of the universe. Oh, and it’s 100 degrees outside. But it’s a dry heat. 

The sun is unforgiving here. It is relentless. If you challenge it you best be prepared. Glad I have a hat.  Doesn’t mean I am going to spend much time outside. Just that I am protected during the walk to and from the truck. 

One other thing, the Oasis is on old Route 66.  It just happened to be located on a section that got an exit when the interstate came through. So like the plants in the desert it survives. 

  
This was across the street from where I last filled up. I would get to know this place if we lived in Flagstaff. 

Annie – So glad I am missing the 100 degree weather but wish I was with you sweetie.  Don’t get out too much.  

Mom and I didn’t do much today.   Binge watching Chasing Life and found a really cute BBC comedy called Rosemary and Thyme.   It’s about two older women who are professional gardeners and amateur sleuths.   Also, as a guilty pleasure, we have been watching Transporter, the series not the movie.   Yummy visuals on that one.  

Greg will make it to his stop in the morning so hopefully will be back on his way east.  

I’m turning in.  Night y’all.  

Westward bound. Go west young man. And so on and so on. 

Needless to say I cringed when I found out where this load was going and I don’t have my sweetie with me. And she so wants to go to California.  I started to turn it down as that is my option but she assured me she would be fine for a few more days until I can get routed back to Kentucky.  I do miss her though. Even more now that I am having to do my own navigating. 

Well, pre trip inspection done it’s time for coffee and to fire up the beast and head into the sunset. Well, west anyway. It will be a while before sunset actually begins. 

Annie – Hmmm. Does he miss me or my navigating and paperwork duties?    Either way I plan to be on the road soon.   

Today is my niece Ashbeys birthday.   Happy Birthday Ash!  

DG: I miss everything about her and don’t let anyone tell you any different. 

Started out in Sapulpa, OK this morning with the best cup of coffee I have had in quite some time. I told you about the little truck stop I stayed at, well, I don’t know what time they closed because I went to bed prior to that but I do know they opened at 6:00 am because I was already up and completing my pretrip inspection. Well, if you’ve ever gotten a cup of coffee at a truck stop you know they have about a dozen different blends. Some bold, some dark, some house, etc, etc.. Well, this little place had one pot, one choice, and that was it. But it was the best coffee I think I’ve ever had. It was dang near perfect. I’ll have to remember that place for next time we are through there. 
Made it to Albuquerque where I will spend the night, get up early and head to California. It pretty here and the town is spread out over everywhere. See below. 

Oh and Russell’s Travel Center. Just this side of Texas border has a museum inside. Check it out. 

That’s not all but I don’t think blog will take anymore. 

Love to all.  Goodnight and God bless.

Annie – Love the pictures sweetheart.  Wish I was there to see these things with you.  

We finally made it out and had lunch and then walmart.   Yeah!   

My sweetie was supposed to call me tonight and tell me goodnight but I’m guessing he fell asleep.   

Goodnight y’all.    

DG:  Sorry about yesterday.  I was bushed. Three weeks out of the truck, had some getting used to.  Got real used to sleeping in and eating very unhealthy.  Back to slim Jims, bananas and peanuts. Road food. 

Stopped early in Oklahoma just west of Tulsa.  An hour and a half left on my clock and the next rest area 72 miles away. Not a problem with my last truck that did not have a governor on it, but with a max speed of 62 mph didn’t want to risk running over on time. 

Went through some torrential downpours.  Was keeping an eye on this bugger too. 

It looked a lot darker and more forbidding than it does in the picture.  Tuned to weather radio and there were flash flood warnings all day. Every river and stream I passed was over the banks or right ready to burst over. People do crazy things in that kind of weather. At one point I was coming up on a car that had pulled over to the shoulder on the right with his hazards flashing and just ahead of him a car was half off the road to the led with his blinkers on making the vehicles in the left lane swerve to get around him. I guess some people just panic. 

Well, like I said I’m parked for the night at a place that’s almost a truck stop. The main store is about the size of half a single wide trailer, restrooms on the outside but they have about a dozen parking spaces and I got me one. 

Love to all and especially my sweetie pie who I am missing something terrible. Love you baby. 

Good night and God bless. 

Annie – Miss you and love you too sweetheart!   Hope it’s a quick trip to California and back.   

We haven’t done much around here today.  Too busy binge watching shows we missed on Netflix.   Lol 

Going to turn in too.   Goodnight y’all. 

Wide awake at 4 am.  Didn’t go to bed until 2.  Not sure what is going on tonight.  Even Precious won’t settle down.  Prayers that everyone is okay and maybe it was just too much caffeine.  

My sweetie is headed to Illinois in the new truck today!   Should be heading my way soon!

Took mom to eye doctor today.  Follow up from cataract surgery.   She is still having trouble seeing so they gave her a prescription for glasses.   Hope it helps! 

Looks like Greg fell asleep before posting his day.   He got the truck this am and a load of bananas to take to illinois.  They didn’t give him enough time to get all the way so he swapped it out for a load of M&M’s heading to California. Again California without me!   I will let you tell him about his day.   It was a busy one.  

Goodnight y’all.  

DG: I often wonder what God’s got in store for us given some of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Like now, here I sit in a hotel room after a week of orientation, waiting for the dealer to call me and tell me my truck is ready. The very same truck I meticulously examined and test drove to make sure everything was working properly. Then when I was all set to go, I get an error message and end up taking it to the shop where they didn’t start looking at it until this morning, if then. So is God telling me I missed something?  Is He keeping me from some catastrophe that I might encounter if I ignore the signs.?  I don’t know. What I do know is that He has something big planned for me. So it is in my best interest to relax and know that God is in charge. That’s hard to do. Probably the hardest because it takes faith and self control. And I need more of both. I mean it’s my life right? So why shouldn’t I be in control?  Well, we’ve seen what can happen with that scenario.  No, it’s best to let God lead. I will learn that process someday I’m sure. 

Miss you sweetie. I’ll be there soon. 

Annie – Miss you too!  Wonder if he is telling us truck driving isn’t it.   I just don’t know.  I am tired of being away from you though! 

DG:  I’ve often thought that, but then get excited about being on the road. But, this may not be the way to do it. It’s raining like crazy here so glad I’m not out in it. 

3:30 and the truck is ready. 3:45 I call dispatch to get a ban to take me to dealer to pick up truck. 7:45 the van comes but has to pick up a couple of drivers at Wal Mart then two drive through a to get everyone fed, then to dealership. So I have my truck, all is well and I should have a load in the morning. Coming to get you sweetheart.

Good night and God bless. 

DG: Woke up at 5:30, half hour before alarm was set to go off.  Guess I’ve gotten in the habit of early rising. Sinus problems are about all gone. Feeling much better.  Anxious to get on the road to go pick up my sweetheart. It’s been a lonely week.  

Annie – Precious woke me up at 7:30 again.  I’m going to have to get used to getting up early again.   Ready to get on the road with my sweetie! 

DG:  Well, I was all set to got. Had my truck. There were a couple of little issues I had to have taken care of and even had a load. Went to my truck to start my journey and got an error message on the On Guard system. That’s an accident avoidance system new to these trucks. And a new technology that can go haywire and mine did. So I have been at the dealership now for over two hours. Lost my load naturally as I couldn’t deliver on time now. So, it’s looking like I may have to spend another night in the motel. We’ll see what happens here in the next few hours. 

DG:  I’m back in the hotel. It will probably be tomorrow before it is ready. Another day. 

Love to all.  Good night and God bless. 

Slept until 9:30 (thank you NyQuil) but woken up by an anxious dog bouncing on me needing to go outside.   Now she’s back asleep on the couch and I’m wide awake.   

DG:  Another rainy day in Mississippi.   

Hope this stops by tomorrow.  

Sitting here thinking how long the week looked when I got here last Sunday. Every day seemed to drag by.  But tomorrow’s the day. 

Annie – Going to turn in.  Didn’t hardly do anything today which I guess is good sometimes.   

Goodnight y’all.  

DG:  Thunderstorms predicted for tonight. Should make for some good sleep.

Good night and God bless.

DG:  Up and out of there. 6:45 I woke up from a dream I was back on the flight line, not in service, but the fire department nonetheless and I had a jerk for a chief. No one from my past that I recognized. They were reopening an old military airfield to make it a flying museum. That is instead of static displays of old military planes all planes on display would be operational and would give demonstration flights throughout the day. I wasn’t going to be working there, but rather part of a group that was getting it ready to open. The last thing I remember of the dream was a flyover of P51 Mustangs. About six of them. All shiny and new looking. And behind them was an F86 Sabre. Then I woke up, shot out of bed, brushed my teeth, got dressed and headed out the door for Wal Mart. Passed a Burger King and decided to have breakfast first so I called to get the pharmacy hours since I need a refill on my prescriptions.  They don’t open till 10:00 on Sunday’s. I couldn’t lay there any more but now I will probably go back to bed for a couple hours. Just had to get out of the room for a bit. 

Annie – Sounds like someone is finally starting to feel better.    Yay!   So glad.  

I slept in since it’s Sunday and no plans today.  

DG:  I am feeling so much better thank you.  Felt good enough to go get something for it. Not a bad day to be stuck inside. They were having tornado watch till this evening and it rained really hard for a little while. And there were three auto races on tv today. Dang, sorry you missed it dear.  

Tomorrow is Memorial Day so everyone remember someone whose sacrifice enables us to have holidays.

Love to all.  Good night and God bless.

Annie – Glad you are feeling better honey but so glad I didn’t have to watch the races with you today.  

Me and mom got out for a bit today.   She wants a mimosa tree to replace the dogwood that died but everywhere we went today was closed.  Will try again after the holiday.

Turning in shortly so I will say goodnight.  

Well, my sweetie is still sick this morning.  Hope he feels better soon.  We facetimed last night and he looked miserable.   Good thing he doesn’t have to drive today and can just stay in bed.  

Mom had her bone density test this morning and they said her bones were terrible.   Not what you want to hear.    She will have to stay on the Prolia for a while longer. 

Lindsey spent the night and is thinking about going to Crossfit again this morning.   Boy, to have that kind of energy again.  

Me and Lindsey made a day of it.  She wanted to go to the movies so we saw Pitch Perfect 2. Now I can’t unsee Clay Matthews and some of the Packer players dancing and singing.   Just not right.  

Also went to Victoria Secret for a sports Bra for her as an early birthday present.  She’s 14 soon. 

Then she wanted to go to the cemetery to see Dee’s grave.   Said she had only been there once since Dee passed.  So sad!   She took her some blue roses and there were no flowers on anyone else’s graves so she broke some off and put in the rest of them.   That was sweet.  

  
Then to Crisps for ice cream.   Definitely made a day of it.  

DG:  Thanks to my dear sweet wife for keeping this blog going. I have been in bed since early yesterday evening.  I did get out to get some dinner around 5:30 local time and felt better after I ate. Gregory called and said the girls wanted to talk to me. They had been to a birthday party for the daughter of a fella Greg works with and were so excited to tell me everything that happened. Also got to talk to Kaiden. He is excited about another camping trip coming up next weekend. They are such good kids.  

Well, back to bed. Be thankful you are not around to hear me whine.  Not that I do that.  

Goodnight and God bless. 

Annie – Just talked to my sweetie via FaceTime again.  Boy he looks and sounds miserable.  Hope he feels better soon!   

I am turning in too.   Talk to you tomorrow.  

Goodnight y’all. 

DG:  Day five of orientation. This should finish up all the paperwork and information we need to operate for KLLM. All that’s needed after that is a truck and a dispatch. Then it’s “On The Road Again”.

Nursing some sinus congestion this morning.  Don’t know if it’s allergies or the extremes in temperature we have experienced the past few days. Hot, then rain, then cold. Something’s stopping me up.

Getting a greeting from the top dog of this yard this morning.  Word is he is a good guy. His company seems to reflect that.

He did not disappoint.  He has been with the company since college working his way up from a dispatcher and turned the company around after the crash of ’08.  The lease program that I am now a part of was his idea and design. I like that he projected honest concern for drivers and is pasionate about his mission.

Well, I’m still nursing some sinus issues but with nothing really to do until Tuesday I can concentrate on ridding myself of this malaise.

Good night and God bless.

Annie – so sorry you still feel bad sweetheart!   Wish I was there!   I love you!

Had some fun with Abby, Lindsey and Jake today.   Also took Lindsey for her first Crossfit trial.  She loved it and is spending the night so I can take her again in the morning.  So glad she likes to exercise.  Abby and I got tired just watching.   LOL

Watching TV a bit and then going to bed.  Mom has bone density test at 9:30 so up and out early.

Goodnight everyone.