6 am.   Someone banging on the truck door.   It’s someone from Pilot telling us we need to park somewhere else now.  Last night when we arrived the place was packed and there was nowhere to park.  We tried to park off to the side but that blocked the scales so we found another spot next to some other trucks.  Seemed to be out of the way until this morning.  Some parking spots had opened up and we could now park where we were supposed to.  Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem and we would be out by six but since we got in so late we can’t leave until 8.  So back to bed for a couple more hours of sleep after moving the truck.  

8 am.  Up and ready to go.   Greg said he woke up he had been having a dream that he was trying to park the truck in his sleep and it was jackknifed and he was stuck.   I guess that’s the kind of dreams you have when you get woken up out of a deep sleep to move the truck.  

Got to the Georgia lot and dropped our trailer.  They said they didn’t have any trips to Florida but we didn’t have to wait long – Thank Goodness, and now we are heading to Alabama for a load of Blue Bell ice cream to take to Miami.   Yeah!   Then it’s just a quick trip to Cape Coral.   

DG:  Not so fast there Nellie. Got to Blue Bell in good time. The plant is located in a little town called Sylacauga, AL.  Betcha never heard of that one. Me either. 

So I am trying to follow my GPS and the directions the company sent. Well, of course I missed a turn. Drove past the plant, I mean you couldn’t miss that, it is the biggest thing in town.  But I missed the turn that takes you to the loading dock.  Well, I see this huge parking lot in front of us, it’s empty with plenty of room to turn around so I pull in to double check my direction and maybe call the people for help. Well, as soon as I get shipping department on the phone this older gentleman stoops his car on the road that circles the parking lot, gets out and walks over to the truck and asks me if I’m lost. And tell him I am. And he asks, where are you trying to go. And I point to the Blie Bell plant that’s right in front of me and say, “right there”.  He smiles and tells me I have to go back out on Main Street, go up one block and turn right. So I tell the lady from shipping that is on the phone that I have found some help and I will be right there. Well the elderly gentleman was so kind that he offered to lead me to it. And he did. He pulled off the road just past where I was supposed to turn, got out of his car and pointed the way.  I do believe he was an angel sent from heaven.  I am continually amazed at the blessings there are to be found in this world if one only takes time to see them and appreciate them. 

Okay, so we find the loading dock. A guy comes out to meet me and tells me they are just about finished loading a truck that’s ahead of me and to park over in their lot and he will come and get me when they are ready for me. Oh, and he tells me to cool my trailer to zero degrees. 

I park, turn on the refer unit and set it for 20 below. That should get it to zero pretty fast. It runs for a while then cuts off. I believe that it has reached optimum temp but decide to have a look. There is an Alarm light and the temp is at 42. I push the alarm button and the panel says I have a high coolant temperature.  I reset the alarm and try again. Same thing. Uh oh.  We got a problem. Call road breakdown and explain my situation.  I don’t know if the refer’s computer told him what was wrong or he knows enough about these things to diagnose from what I told him, either way we had to take it to the nearest repair facility which was an hour away in Birmingham.  And the place was closed so they had to call out the after hours repairman. He is here now working on the trailer and it is beginning to rain. Poor fellow. I hope they are paying him well for this. 

Annie – Well that was a bust.   Turns out there is a hole in the radiator and they don’t have any in stock so we aren’t going anywhere tonight.   Go to the closest Flying J for the night and see what happens.   

Got a call.  We are to take the trailer to another repair place in the morning and go from there.  I think the fact that it is 2 days till Christmas has escaped these guys.  Mammie needs to get to Florida!  

Well, turning in.   See what tomorrow brings.