Alarm goes off at 5:30.  Hit snooze.  Up at 5:45 and time to head out.   Going to Springfield Ohio this morning to drop off our lettuce and then see where we are going next.  

Keeping a watch on the sky as there is a meteor shower for the next couple of days but I don’t think we will have any luck with all the cars on the highway.   Shoot! 

Got to Dole at 9:15.  Appt was for 10:30 so we’re a little early but fortunately they could put is right in a door to start getting unloaded.   It’s gorgeous here in Springfield at 66 degrees and sunny.   

Got our next load.  Headed to Murfreesboro Tennessee after we stop in Columbus and Hilliard Ohio for pick ups.  

Got our load in Columbus after sitting 5 hours.  Just to get one pallet loaded.  Ridiculous waste of time.   Now off to Hillairs Ohio where hopefully we don’t have to sit all night. 

Can’t wait to get off the Ohio streets.    These drivers are crazy!   Greg had to slam on his breaks and blow his horn to keep from running over a Honda Civic who was in a big hurry to go one block and turn.   Then there is a guy on a bicycle going about 2 mph so that everybody has to move over in to the next line.  Greg can’t move over in the truck so we get to follow his idiot for a couple of blocks and he never picks up speed, gets up on the sidewalk or let’s anybody pass.   Just mosies along like its his street.  Wonder how many accidents he has caused.    Save the planet some other time than rush our traffic! 

Got to our next stop now. 

Waiting 2 1/2 hours so far.   

DG: Arrived early to appointment. Waited. They got to us early, but we had sat for several hours. For one pallet. Took about five minutes. How hard would it have been for them to do that when we got there I wonder. 

Our next pick up was only about thirty minutes away so we scurried right over. 

Waiting again. 

Annie – 10 pm.   Still waiting.  It’s nice to see a dozen employees out enjoying their cigarettes though.  

1:45 am.  Still waiting.   Going back to sleep.    Goodnight y’all.  

Up at 5:30 and headed to Indianapolis.   Got to watch the sun come up.   

Not much going on today just riding along. Made it to Indianapolis about 7:30.  Our stop in Springfield Ohio is only about 2 1/2 hours away.   

Watched a little bit of the ballgame today but the Cubs aren’t doing too well.   Oh well.  

Catch ya tomorrow.  

Goodnight y’all.  

Up at 8:30.  Since we got in so late our 10 hours weren’t up until now.   Getting kind of a later start on the day but only have 9 hours on the clock today so it will be an earlier day anyway.   First stop is in Eufaula, Oklahoma for fuel.  

DG:  Note to the governor of Oklahoma: FIX THE ROADS!!!!  Wow, feel like I’ve been on a bucking bull all day.  Perhaps it keeps the Cowboys happy. I don’t remember them being this bad but certainly noticed it today. 

Have stopped again at The Woodshed at Big Cabin, OK.  Home of the giant Indian. We figure he is Cherokee as the restaurant goes by that name. 

On to Ohio with salad fixings from Mexico. Don’t seem right knowing that we have all this farmland in this country and we are buying food from a foreign country.  

Okay, thought I had something else but too sleepy to think. Good night and God bless. 

Annie – Funny.  I didn’t know the Cherokee Indians ate spaghetti but it sure was good.  

  
Also saw this billboard as we were going through Dallas today.   Love the waterfall idea even if it is for beer. 

Turning in.  Still have about 12 hours to go to get to Ohio.   

Goodnight y’all. 

12:04 am.  Trying to sleep but keep hearing weird noises outside.   The truck to the left of us was hauling rocks earlier when I went to the bathroom so I wondered if he was having to do some readjusting or something but the noise kept up so Greg got up to see what it was and its a cattle truck.  All the thumping around is the cows trying to get out it sounds like.  At times it is really loud and it sounds like they are about to break out.  Hope when we get up in the am our trailer isn’t nasty.   These guys let it fly literally and the trailers beside them tend to catch it.   Too late to move now though.   

Woke up at 6 am but decided to go back to sleep since we only have the one stop today and it’s 4 hours away.    Fortunately the cattle truck left some time during the night and didn’t leave a mess on the truck.  
8 am got back up.  Nature calls so we decide to go in and have some breakfast.  I forgot to mention last night that the truck stop we are at has a taco restaurant in it.  The ladies behind the counter are hand making the food and even the tortillas.  I had a chicken burrito with tomatillo salsa and Greg had Mexican pork called Barbacoa.   Really yummy and spicy.   This morning Greg had a burrito with eggs and chorizo sausage and I had a spicy chicken taco.  Just enough heat that you could enjoy it but not too spicy.   Probably Americanized some.  The place is really busy.  

So we are on the road to Laredo.   Hope they got a trip out.  I don’t think anyone speaks English in Laredo.  Even the billboards are in Spanish.  

We went through some really pretty scenery today.   The pictures don’t do it justice.  Lots of rolling hills, taller hills and open areas.   Lots of cactus.   A couple of llamas or alpacas, not sure.  

A winery   
   
   

Air Force base dad and Greg went to.  

 
We stopped at the same type of truck stop again with the Taco place for lunch. I had chicken enchilads only because I know pollo is chicken.   Greg had some he’s still not sure what it was.   The guy didn’t speak English well and Greg thought the interpretation was goat but then heard him tell somebody it was sweetbreads and then gizzards so we’re still not sure.   Anyway, he said it was delicious, tender and just a bit spicy.   Of course we spiced it up more with sauces from the condiment bar.    

Made it to the drop yard in Laredo early since it wasn’t due until the morning but good news is they had another trip waiting on us so we didn’t have to spend the night in Laredo.   We are now heading to Springfield, Ohio with load due Wednesday morning.  We have 39,000 pounds of vegetables from Mexico.  

We get stopped by guards every time we leave Laredo.   All cars and trucks must stop.   For us all they do is ask us if we are US citizens and when we say yes they wave us on through.   What’s so funny is the guy asking the question is obviously Mexican with a Spanish accent.  Makes you want to go, yeah we are – what about you?   Haha 

We have stopped for the night at a Shell station in Jarrel, Texas.  We were trying for a Flying J but it was 5 miles up the road and we only had a minute left when we pulled in to the Shell.   We had wrecks and construction all through Austin and that held us up for over an hour at least.   Not good when your clock is ticking down.

Anyway, settled in for the night and ready for bed.   Headed to Oklahoma in the morning on our way to Ohio.  

A couple more pictures of my angels tonight. 

DG:  Well I don’t know what else to add to that. This has been one of our more interesting trips through Texas.  Good food and really beautiful countryside. And the weather has been very mild. 

And there is a lot of history. Annie found an ap for the historic markers.  It puts a pin on the map where each are located. Going through San Antonio there were so many markers the map just looked red. Didn’t have time to read all of those. 

Well once again the sandman has caught up with me so I better sign off. Good night and God bless. 

Up at 9:30!   Woo hoo!   Of course we stayed up until 2 watching TV.  A rare treat.  Time to get a move on back to Iowa Park and get load. Hope it’s ready.  

There is a high school on the way to the shipper and the road that runs by it is Bob Dawson Drive.  How cool is that?  

We have stopped for the night in Lampasas, Texas. Neat little place.   We have driven all day through these little towns.   Most of the stores are closed which is sad.   One place we passed through was Mineral Wells, Texas.   There is a huge old run down hotel sitting in town around  an almost empty town.  Apparently it used to be the go to place for mineral water and healing baths.   Now it’s all run down and they say it’s full of ghosts.  

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Hotel_(Mineral_Wells,_Texas)

They apparently had just had a festival but we missed it.   I guess it was crazy! 

There is a lot of pretty country in Texas. Lots of rolling hills, outcroppings of rocks, cows, and lots of goats. A few mules and llamas too.   

Gregory sent me some beautiful pictures.  

Kaiden in his new braces.  

Nighty night. 

  
Apparently you can now travel with your house.   Actually this is a new RV, the guy told us, that is completely off the grid.  Solar power, incinerator for sewer, rain barrel with water filter some device that gets up to 5 gallons of water a day out of the air.   He said some people were using it as houses out in the middle of nowhere and don’t or can’t hook up to anything.   Pretty neat.  

DG:  So when do we get one?  They are made in Athens, TX and this was a show model he was taking to set up on display. Sounded really neat. 

Yes, we are in Lampasas,TX.  Looked like a good place to spend the night.  The next truck stop is over two hours away and by that time of night parking would be at a premium.  We only have about four hours to go to get to our stop which is the KLLM yard in Laredo. Load is not technically due until Monday between 0800 and 3:00 pm so there is definitely no hurry. These are the kinds of loads you like to have if you are going someplace where there is something to do in your free time.  Or are driving off of the interstates, which we are. Another reason to stop early as driving on a two lane road with a 75 mph speed limit through the middle of Texas on a Saturday night is not my idea of fun. Besides, all those little towns we pass through with all of the closed businesses have at minimum two liquor stores and several bars that still seem to be doing well. 

A lot of goats in Texas. And did you know, goat farmers use donkeys to guard their goats. Yes. We kept noticing that every time we saw a field of goats there would be a donkey or two in the field with them.  We didn’t think anything about that until Annie was curious about the difference between donkeys and mules. So hello Google, or DuckDuckGo which is her new search engine.  And that’s where we learned that donkeys don’t like dogs, wolves, coyotes, snakes, mountain lions and several other threats to goats and sheep and will actually attack them sorts of critters if they come around. Go figure. Ain’t nature wonderful?  

We are learning so much out here. There is also a website for history markers and here in Texas there are signs telling you when you are coming up on one and what it’s number is. So you just look it up by number and get a history lesson right as you are driving by the place where the history happened. Look out Jeopardy, here we come. 

All that thinking has made me sleepy so am going to turn in now.

Good night and God bless. 

Up at 6:45 and heading back to Texas.   Greg is glad to get back to warmer weather.

We passed an awful truck fire on our way through Dallas.  

Made it to our drop on time.  Fortunately we didn’t have to wait for them to unload it.  Just drop it and get empty trailer.  

Our next load came in that we would go to Iowa Park, Texas and pick up load to take to Mexico.   What?   We don’t have passports.   Next email came through that we are to take it to Laredo Texas and someone else would take it across to Mexico.   Good!  

We passed a train on the way.  It had pieces of those silly windmills for as far as the eye could see.   Dozens of pieces.  

  
We get to the pick up place in Iowa Park only to find out that load won’t be ready until about noon tomorrow.   Well shoot.   So we decide to get out of the truck a while and go to a motel.  There are several in Witchita Falls, Texas which is only about 10 miles away.   I don’t know what’s going on around here but there are about 12 motels right here alone and the line was 8 deep when I went in the office to sign in.  Thank goodness I had called and reserved a room.   

We walked across the street to whataburger for dinner.  Greg had a burger but I had the chicken taco with poblano peppers and unions.  Yummy! 

Back to room to take a shower and watch some TV.   Feels good to be able to stretch a bit. 

Gregory sent me pictures today of the girls making cupcakes.  It’s so funny to see how different they are.  Sadie spreads her icing out but Maddi just globs it on there.  Too funny.  

DG:  I’ll bet they taste good. Such artists. 

Well, we are in a motel. It’s a luxury we afford ourselves from time to time. 

Here’s where I am torn between wanting to get on the road as soon as possible to rack up more miles and sleeping in, taking our time to get to Laredo. Load is not due until Monday but we could get there tomorrow.  I already sent a note to dispatch to let them know I will be ready for a new trip as soon as I get there so have me something ready. 

Oh, I can’t fight it any more. The bed is calling my name. Good night and God bless. 

Got to sleep in until 7:45.  We had the alarm set for 8 but the phone woke us at 7:45.   KLLM letting us know to change the freezer temperature on the trailer.   Oh well.   Time to get up anyway.   

I had to go to the bathroom and there was a lady in there putting on her make up and fixing her hair.   You see all kinds of stuff from truckers on the road in the bathroom.   Dishes, hair, etc.  Anyway, she has long gray hair and is 55.   She said her husband likes her hair long even though it’s gray and he likes a “little paint on the barn” so she was putting some light make up on.   Not much.   Just enough she said.   She said she learned it from her mom who always wore a little.  Her mom had just passed away and she was in Hospice care at home and she asked her if she wouldn’t rather go to the hospital and her mom said “no but if I could get out today I would love to get my nails done”.  What a great memory for her to have. 

I told her I never worried about make up.   Never did but boy my sister wouldn’t leave the house without a full hour in the bathroom putting on make up, doing her hair, spraying perfume.   You just about needed a Hazmat suit if you went to her house while she was getting ready.   She was from Eastern North Carolina so we talked about that for a while too, the Outer Banks and Ocracoke.  Two of my favorite places ever.   It’s a different world down there.   Anyway, what a nice way to start the day and then it hits me on the way to the truck that it’s Dee Dee’s birthday.   God is so good.   On a day when I normally would have been sad thinking about her I had a chance to talk about her and remember her with a smile.   Thank you Lord!   Ok.  Now I’m going to cry.  

Happy Birthday Dee Dee!  She would have been 49 today.  

Here she is in full Dee mode.  

 
I don’t know who’s baby this is but I love this picture of her.   She is finally feeling better and looked it.  

 
And just a few more of my favorites.   

   
    
    
 
Now some that don’t make me sad.  

Sure is dusty here in Arkansas while they clear out the soybeans. 

A bored truck driver!! 

We are parked just south of Little Rock, Arkansas for the night.   Barely made it.   We stopped at a Loves but there were no parking spaces so we went 20 miles down the road to a Pilot.   The parking here is really tight.  One poor guy tried for 10 minutes to get backed in to a spot but ended up bumping a truck in front of him and after discussing it with that driver that there was no damage he ended up just pulling out and going on.   Greg however had no trouble backing in and even one of the other drivers came up to him and told him “that was some bad ass parking”.  Apparently a lot of drivers had had trouble getting in these tight spots.  Greg has really gotten the hang of it and for the most part seems to enjoy it which is good.  

Well, turning in.  Still have about 300 miles to go to get to Dallas tomorrow.  

Goodnight y’all. 

DG:  Whew, Navigator on a roll there. Well what can I add?  We had a good day. Not that any of them are particularly bad but this was a goodin.  Dee Dee must have been with us. Miss her. 

A feller I used to work with in North Carolina called me today out of the blue. Said he was going through the numbers on his phone and my name came up so he called to see how I was doing. We had a real nice talk and he said if I was ever coming through there to give him a call and he would buy me lunch. Not a bad offer. 

So here we are in Arkansas. I have a cousin who used to live in Little Rock but we haven’t kept in touch so I don’t know if she’s still here or even alive. Kinda sad that some families don’t keep in touch.

Oh well on to Texas in the morning and then I hope somewhere new.  Papaw needs a change of scene. 

God bless. 

Up at 8.  Hit snooze.   Up at 9.  Run over to the restaurant that’s part of the Pilot truck stop for a quick breakfast and to get a UPS package.   Tags were up on the truck so we told them where we were going to be and they over nighted them to us.   All legal now and back on the road.    Appointment is for 11 so off we go. 

Got to appointment in time and only about two hours to get unloaded.  Not bad.  Now we have our next load and guess where it’s going?   You guessed it – Dallas, Texas!   We have to stop off in Cincinnati and pick up and hopefully be there by Friday am. 

Made it to Cincinnati for our 6 pm pick up. They are already loading us so I think they are wanting to go home.   Let’s hope so! 

Greg has decided to clean the windows while we wait to be loaded.  

DG:  She gets the best pictures of me. Right. That is the proper tongue position for that particular job in case you were wondering.  

Side note. Yesterday we had left a truck stop and about ten miles down the road I noticed the ring I wear on my right hand, one that Annie bought me not long after we were married, was missing. Where could it be I had no idea. I have lost some weight recently so my fingers are thinner but I thought they were still big enough to hold my ring on. This gave me a sick feeling not that it was a lot of money but the sentimental value is beyond calculation. So I got off at the next exit and headed back. Annie called the stop before that one to see if anyone had turned it in. It must have come off while I was washing my hands is all I could think. 

At the truck stop I went into the bathroom and searched the sink, floor and gave a look into the waste baskets. Not here. No one had turned it in at the other stop. Might be in the truck. Maybe it came off while we were sleeping and was in the sheets. Had to be in the truck.  We looked and looked. Nothing. 

Got to our next stop to unload.  I keep the bills of lading in a closed cabinet above my head.  It has a push button latch.  When I pushed the button to open the door it flipped open and something flew out and hit the floor. I didn’t see what it was but Annie yelled, “there’s your ring”.  I couldn’t believe it. There it was. I have no idea how it got up there but I’m giving God the credit for returning it to me. Thank you Lord. 

So there. How’s that for a story?  

Okay, we are parked just outside of Sparta, KY right next to Hog Wild and Pig Crazy a local bbq joint that sits right next to the truck stop. Unfortunately for us it was closed when we got here and unless they are open for breakfast we will not have the opportunity to sample their wares this trip. 

So, with that being said, good night and God bless. 

Up at 5:15 ish.   Did hit the snooze once this morning.  Sometimes the nights just seem so short.   We need to get to Fort Wayne, Indiana today so about 600 miles to go.    Going to be a long day.  

I forgot to put this picture on the blog yesterday.    You never know what you are going to see out here.  

DG:  Yea, it was strange getting passed by a hot dog. 

So we are in Fort Wayne, IN at the Fort Wayne Truck Plaza. It’s not Iowa 80 but they do boast 275 parking spots. I think there are more but who’s counting. They have a fairly nice gift shop, and the restaurant is okay, but it’s Brandy’s Exotic Dancers across the street I think attracts many of these truckers though I haven’t seen anybody making the walk over. Let’s face it, the money these guys are making I doubt too many of them want to spend it on dancing girls. 

So the Cubs won their division playoff against the Cardinals. People in Chicago are partying tonight.  

Oh, I would be remiss not to mention that the truck stop has a humidor. Albeit a small one they do have a fairly good selection and since it has been a long time since my last cigar I bought a couple and am enjoying one at the moment. It’s the only thing that would get me to sit out in this cold weather. And to think, just yesterday we were in Texas.  Life is funny that way. 

Annie – We went across Missouri today.   It is such a pretty state.   Lots of rolling hills and rocks.  We saw some buffalo today which was cool.  

  
Well, turning in.  Don’t have to get up too early in the morning which is nice. 

DG:  That’s all folks. God bless one and all. 

Up and out at about 5:30.    Arrived at pick up at about 6:30.   This is a live load.  Here’s hoping we aren’t here all day.  

8:50 and we got the green light to go.  Not too bad.   Thank goodness.  Time to get on the road!   

Dallas in the morning.  

Denison Texas.   Birthplace to President Eisenhower.   Monument off of highway 75.  

DG:  The more I do this job the more respect I have for those that have been doing this for years. I mean those who have put in 20-30 years and more. It really takes something to make this big vehicle your home and workplace. Rarely do they get the respect they deserve and some lack self respect as maybe they see this as a lower rung blue collar job. I don’t know. I think it is a very respectful profession and not just because it’s what I am currently engaged in. 

There’s a lot of history on the road. As seen above we like to build monuments to famous people and things. And the roads themselves.  Monuments to ingenuity and dedication. They do need to be better maintained. The older ones. 

So now we are in Missouri, just outside of Springfield. The weather is mild. It was windy in Oklahoma.  As it almost always is. 

Settling in for the night the local wi-fi signal wasn’t very strong so we only got to watch part of the game. Pretty sure Steelers are going to win. 

That’s all do now. Goodnight and God bless.