4:30. Up and almost ready to go.   Caffeine first!   We are finishing up this leg of the trip this morning.   Only 115 miles away but need to be there by 8 am so giving ourselves a little bit extra time to be sure.   

Stopped at a rest area on the way and saw some really pretty flowers.   Must like a lot of heat.   I’m not sure what they are but really beautiful.   Bet the hummingbirds would love them.  

 We dropped off our load at 8 am.  Now we get to wait until this afternoon for a load to take.  Apparently Greg and I are the only English speaking people in Laredo.   Granted, we are only a couple of miles from the border. 

DG:  All true.  Except for all of the American businesses around everywhere else looks like a foreign country.  And sounds like it too.  

I’m dog sitting in the parking lot at Michael’s enjoying a cigar while Annie looks for yarn. 

Well, it’s four in the morning and we are sitting at a dock waiting to have our load reworked because the previous driver took a load that was overweight. And while I do not know why he did not take care of this problem it is up to us to have it corrected. The other issue is that we did not have an appointment to have this resolved so the company doing the rework had to work is in. We have been here since 3:30 yesterday afternoon. And they still haven’t started on our trailer. On top of that we have to go to the dealer to have our truck looked at as a check engine light came up on my dash a little bit ago. 

But all is well. We are well rested, our clocks are reset and when the time comes we will be ready to go. Heading for Florida to see the kids. 

Love to all and God bless. 

Up at 5:30 to get to Dallas and see Doc for breakfast.   First we took a wrong turn and ended up going through a part of Dallas where the football payers live.  Wow what houses.   Huge!

Met Doc in parking lot of empty strip mall.  Parked and got in his truck to go down the road to IHOP.   Ordered and had taken about two bites and got call that they were going to tow the truck.   Ran from restaurant after paying and not eating and got to truck.   Of all days a crew had shown up to pave the parking lot we had parked in.    Got to have a nice visit with Doc even though it was short.  He is going to be working on finding us a meeting spot for next time.

After leaving Dallas we went through Waco, Austin and San Antonio.  Stopped for the night just outside San Antonio.   About 150 miles from Laredo.  Don’t have to be there until 8 am so napping and catching up on some TV.

DG: Sometimes boredom sets in when you have long stretches between drive times.  Caught Annie at the hot dog warmer watching the hot dogs roll around. It can be mesmerizing and that’s why I try to avoid it.

It was great to see Doc this morning albeit a short visit due to someone complaining about where my truck was parked. The threat of a $1200 tow bill will make you leave your breakfast on the table. Which is what we did.  Next time we will have it worked out that the truck will be at a truck stop or other approved parking area.

Two hours from delivery but out of time so the day has been spent watching tv, napping and oh, watching hot dogs cook. There’s no end to the excitement.  Love to all. Good night and God bless.

5 am.   Time for caffeine.   Got a long day today.   Greg has 11 hours on his clock and we are going to need every one of them in order to get to Laredo by Monday am.   He only has 6 hours on his clock tomorrow.   Crazy way this system works.   

We made it to about an hour north of Dallas before the clock ran out.  Not much going on today but excited about tomorrow.   I have never been soUth of Dallas and we are going to Laredo which is right on the Mexico border.   Will definitely have to get some pictures!   

Getting up at 5:30 so turning in.   Goodnight y’all.  

DG:  Another BBQ place. This time in Anna, TX. good brisket but the ribs were fatty and I feel they could have smoked a little longer. BBQ beans and potato salad.  Both very tasty. 

Nice sauces as well. Not as good as Soulman or the little independent place we found in Kansas City. Far better than truck stop fare. 

Meeting our friend Doc for breakfast somewhere around Dallas. He’s going to scout it out for us in the morning.  

Better get some sleep. Good night and God bless. 
 

Up at 4 am.  Headed to Illinois. Kind of rainy this morning and gloomy but we don’t have far to go.  Unfortunately Greg only has 7 hours on his clock so we will probably be sitting most of the day at a truck stop as his time won’t start again until midnight.  

Made it to our stop in plenty of time.   Dropped off our Reese’s Pieces and now picking up more candy to take to Texas.   It’s a live load so who knows how long that will take.  Hopefully not too long.  Greg only has about an hour and a half on his clock so we aren’t going to get much further today. 

It took 4 hours to get our trailer loaded.   Uugghhhhh.  At least we got a good nap.   I would rather have done laundry though.  Haha.  

Well, we have 22,000 pounds of caramel to take to Texas.  Yummy! 

With all the waiting around I had time to make a baby blanket for the new little one coming in September.   

Well we didn’t get very far after we finally got loaded so we parked and did three loads of laundry and took a shower.   Now just chilling and watching TV.   Early start again in am.  

DG:  Short day, early stop. Get a not so early start tomorrow on our way to Laredo. I got two addresses to take one load so I inquired as to the second one. Apparently the first address is the company that is going to take this trailer to Mexico after I drop it at the second address given. Both in Laredo. They’re just trying to confuse me. 

Feels good to to have some leisure time, get some things done, laundry, shower, finish the series Texas Rising. 

We hope you all are well. Good night and God bless. 

Up at 4:30.   Heading to illinois with our Reese’s Pieces.   It’s almost 800 miles so we won’t get there until tomorrow.

Going back through Pennsylvania this morning.   It is so beautiful.   Lots of dairy farms.  They have big red barns and lots of cattle.   It’s funny to see a hundred cows on a few acres compared to out west where you see hundreds of acres and only a few cows.  Seems like it would be the other way around.

We went through some light rain through Ohio but not much and didnt slow us down any.   According to the forecast we were expecting a downpour and thunderstorms but all we saw was sprinkles and then the sun came back out.

We stopped for the night outside Indianapolis, Indiana.  Only about 4 hours to go to our stop so will get up about 4 am and hit it again.  We need to be there by 9 so that should give us plenty of time.

They said our next trip is to Laredo, Texas.  Here’s hoping!  I havent been that far south in Texas and Laredo is right on the Mexico border.  Hopefully next stop is to the west of there!

 DG:  Easy drive today. Not much traffic. Some construction, but that’s a good thing in Indiana as they need some road work.  That state has to have the roughest roads in the whole country. 

I’m about ready to turn in. Can’t leave till four in the morning as that’s when my rat time is up. Short hop to Edwardsville and then headed to Lorado, TX. Yeeee haaaa.  

Good night and God bless. 

3:30 am.   That’s all I have to say about that.

Drove all the way across Ohio and almost all of Pennsylvania.    Such beautiful country.   The mountains are all green and full.   Just gorgeous.   We got to our drop off just a bit late because Greg is required to take a 30 minute break within 8 hours so that threw us behind. Thankfully it was a drop and hook which didn’t take long and we are off again, this time to Hershey, Pennsylvania to pick up a load for illinois.

I hadnt had a chance to download pictures from my camera for a few days so below are a collection of the last few days.   The first ones are of Kansas and the flooding that happened through there with Tropical Storm Bill.   Also, some pictures of the wheat fields and some cows.   The others are from this morning of Eastern Ohio, Wheeling WV, and Pennsylvania.

DG:  Yea, I never got up that early to go fishing. But this is trucking and the time of day don’t mean nothing. Just the time when your load is due and the time on your drive clock. You learn to sleep when you can and stay awake when you absolutely have to. And you’re always calculating how much time to get to the next fuel stop, when and where are you going to take your break, when are you going to stop for the day and what time are you going to start tomorrow to get you to the next stop with enough time to make the delivery and head to the next pick up. The wheels gotta be moving in this business if there is any money to be made. 

All that calculating has made me sleepy. Good night all. And God bless. 

Got to sleep in a bit.  7:30.   Got coffee and diet coke and we are back on the road.   Precious is back up to her feisty self, thank goodness, and is barking at everyone again.   

Going to be a relatively short day as there is only about 7 1/2 hours left on the clock.    The sky is cloudy but looks like it’s starting to clear up a bit.   Bad storm moving across Ohio Valley and in to Pennsylvania.   Looks like we will be behind it.   Thank you Lord.   

Pretty uneventful day.  We have parked in Richmond, Indiana.   Right on the border of ohio.   Got a long drive tomorrow to get to the other side of Pennsylvania so getting up about 3ish to make it by 1 pm. 

DG:  Yes I should be asleep and I was but woke up, ate dinner now back to bed. Had decent weather today. Hoping for clear skies tomorrow. 

Sweet dreams everyone. Good night and God bless. 

Up at 6 to get to appointment.    Got right in so that’s a good sign.   Hopefully won’t take too long to unload.   

Well, that took 4 hours.   Gracious!   Now we are off to get our load in Marshall, Missouri and take it to Pennsylvania.   Opposite way of where I want to go but I will get there eventually.  At least it’s a gorgeous day to drive in.   Only 102 today.   

Stopped in Oak Grove Missouri, just outside Kansas City, to get fuel and saw this place advertising ribs.  Couldn’t resist.  So glad we didn’t!   It was awesome.  Meat fell off the bone and were so meaty.  The corn was called cheesy corn instead of creamed corn.  I was a bit skeptical as she said it had cream cheese and butter in it but it was actually pretty good.  I’m not a big cream cheese fan but it didn’t taste like cream cheese until it started getting cold.   It was yummy.  So glad we stopped.   

  
We stopped to get our load in Marshall Missouri.   The guy at the gate said our appointment wasn’t until 8 pm so for us to come back then, in 3 hours.   Fortunately they brought our trailer in just a few minutes.   Thank you Lord!  Now we can get it and get back on the road.  

Made it to Warrenton, Missouri before the clock ran out.   Still have about 900 miles to go  it’s going to be a long drive day tomorrow.  

Goodnight y’all. 

DG:  Sorry, I was enjoying the left overs last night and forgot to post.  Slept well last night. Around midnight a strong rain came through which cleaned everything and made sleeping that much more enjoyable.  Looks cloudy today. Looking at the weather channel looks as though we have been blessed again as we missed and are going to miss the major part of the storm. We welcome God’s favor and thank Him constantly and continuously for his goodness and mercy that follows us and his blessings that preceded us. 

I would say good night as usual but it’s 8:20 in the morning so I will leave you with love to all and God’s blessings on you and yours. God bless. 

Up and rolling about 8:30.  Not too early but seemed like a short night due to a sick dog.   Precious and Greg split a chicken sandwich from subway and both have been dealing with that.  At least Greg can get out of the cab if he gets sick.  Not Precious.  So this has been fun.   Fortunately we were parked across from a walmart so I was able to go in and get her a new basket and more cleaning supplies.   She also got a bath which she was not happy about as I couldn’t heat the water but she is clean.   Now she is sleeping peacefully and all seems on the mend again.  

We are driving all the way across Kansas today.  Wheat as far as you can see in all directions.   Precious went out to pee and immediately ran in to the wheat field behind the truck and disappeared.   It’s the same color as her and of course taller so it took a couple of minutes to find her.   Silly dog.  I guess she felt like after the night she had she wanted to stretch her legs a bit.   Not too much though as its 104 degrees.   Goodness it’s hot.   “Lots a dry heat” though.   Hot is hot in my opinion.   We don’t have the muggy you get in Ky or FL but instead it feels like 100 blow dryers on high heat all hitting you in the face.   It’s really windy too.  Windy enough that it occasionally wiggles the truck around.  

  
It’s going to be a close call time wise to get to the next drop.   We have time to just barely get there tonight but then Gregs time should run out and not sure if we are going to make the 7 am time.   He is driving as fast as he can but the truck is regulated at 62 mph which really eats up the time especially when the speed limit through here is 75 and 80.   Little old ladies are passing us.  

We made it to our stop with 31 minutes left on the clock.  That was cutting it close.   We are right across the street from the Walmart Distribution Center so won’t take but a minute to get there in the am.   

Going to watch a bit of TV and turn in.  Goodnight y’all. 

Still in Nebraska. Don’t have to be to Walmart until three so was hoping to sleep in a bit but we’re up at 7:30 anyway.  It’s a pretty day here sunny and bright. It seems there is always a nice breeze. Got up took a shower and now going to take a nap since it’s going to be a long evening.  Greg’s clock won’t start until 12:30 so his 14 won’t be up until 2:30 AM.

DG:  Fastest unload we have had at any Wal Mart. About an hour and a half from the time we hit the dock.  We were hoping to get a load to California and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the message over the Qualcomm that we are headed for Colorado to pick up some meat then back to Missouri.  Hoping the next load will take us to the Golden State.  

Stopped at a little hole in the wall on I-80 because Precious got sick and threw up a little.  The gas station was closed but the little cafe next to it, Lucy’s, was open so we went in there to use the bathroom. Feeling obligated to buy something for the use of the facilities we sat down with the intention of eating a light snack as we had been snacking all the way from Nebraska. Low and behold this little place started filling up shortly after we sat down, there were already several full tables, and the special today is prime rib and jumbo shrimp. Who would have thought. So we are having the prime rib. 

There’s a hand written sign by the bathroom door that says “We keep our restrooms clean for our customers. Please be a customer.  

Annie – Dinner was delicious.   The prime rib melted in your mouth.   I would not have thought that looking at the place but everything was great.   

Now we are off to Cargill, the meat processing plant I can’t stand to go to.  I really thought we were done with these things.   I can’t believe Greg went to California several times in the last couple of weeks and I get in the truck and we end up back at the meat place again.   Gross!   I am trying a new tactic.   Cinnamon fire balls.  Helping a little I guess. 

The load is a pick up so we don’t have to wait to be loaded which is good.   The less time here the better.   Now we are off to Missouri – the opposite way from California.  

We have stopped for the night in Colorado.   Goodnight y’all.  

God is good ain’t He?  Good night and God bless.