8 am   Up but not sure if we are going or not.   Load is about 4 hours away but they said it may not be ready until this afternoon.   No point in starting the clock this early if we don’t have to.   Greg is going to call to check on it.   

9 am.  Received an email that the load was ready.  Off to Kansas we go.  

Do you ever think that people who work in convenient stores may have extra time on their hands?    

DG:  Apparently we had the same idea because we both took the same picture unbeknownst to the other. 

A beautiful cool morning in Oklahoma.  

Backing up a bit, I meant to post this picture the other day. This is in Beaver Dam, KY. I was looking for the Moon Pie distributor but I guess these guys still have not put it together. 

  
In case you can’t see the sign, this is the source for RC Cola. Well, maybe not THE source, but you get the picture. Haha.  

Cherokee Oklahoma.  

   
   
This building was just out in the middle of nowhere.   Cemetery Association?? 

Need some tacky yard art or rusty farm equipment?   This us outside Dodge City, Kansas.   

1 pm.  Arrived at shipper but was told that load wasn’t ready yet and to check back in a hour.     Luckily there is a truck stop close by.   Apparently a lot of trucks are waiting on their loads to get done. 

2:15 pm.  Greg called received to check on load and was told that it wouldn’t be ready until 9 pm!   What?  Yep.  9 pm.   So here we sit.   

5 pm.  Clock is winding down so we aren’t going to be able to go anywhere at this rate so decide to get a shower, dinner and take a nap.    8 hours will be up around 10 so technically Greg can do an 8 hour drive with a 2 hour break in there somewhere and reset his clock.   Which basically means he will be driving all night but at least gets to take a good nap at some point.   Still not crazy about this idea but have sat long enough today.  

10 pm.   Alarm goes off.   Call about load.  Yay!  It’s done.   So here we go.   Precious of course is pouting that her nap was interrupted.  (Me too) 

11:08 pm.  Loaded and heading out.   We have two stops this trip.   First one is in Gas City, Indiana to drop off 18,000 pounds of ground chuck and the next one is in London, Kentucky on Tuesday we are dropping off 14,000 pounds of oxtail, tripe, tongue, brisket and sliced liver.  Yuck! 

Going to close this days blog since it’s getting close to midnight.    Talk to you soon. 

6 am.  Up and ready to get on the road.  Only have about 4 hours to go so shouldn’t have any trouble making our 11 am appointment time. 

10:30.   Got to appointment in plenty of time.  It’s a live unload but hopefully it won’t take long.  

12 pm.  All set to go.   Greg called Doc and we are meeting them for lunch.  

12:30.   At a local taco place.  I ordered a chicken burrito and Greg had a roast beef one.  They were yummy.  Came with meat, retried beans, cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and jalapeño peppers plus two kinds of pepper sauces.   So good!   

1:30.  Headed to our next load in Dodge City, Kansas.   

Sadie getting off the bus today.  She loves riding the bus.  She also likes to run home and beat daddy.   Haha 

   
  
Lazy S Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma.    

Well, we are having tire trouble again.   Only one tire which is weird.  It has a spiral groove cut out it like someone had taken a potatoe peeler around it.   If we had run over something or hit something it would have hurt at least two tires.  Very odd.  

DG:  Tire mystery solved but not after an asserted attempt to have it replaced under warranty.      
  So weird how the tread appeared to have been sliced off of the outer edge then just pieces taken out of the tread. After some deliberation and calling of key supervisory personnel it was determined that it was not a defect in the tire so I was going to have to buy one if I wanted it replaced. As much as I wanted to blame the manufacturer something didn’t quite sit right with me but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  I didn’t hit any deep pot holes. The roads were rough but not rough enough to do that with a tire. And why just one?  If I hit something hard enough to do that to a tire it would have done similar damage to the one right behind it. And I certainly would have felt it, which I didn’t. I did however drop my trailer tires in a hole pulling out of a truck stop and there was the cause. The trailer dipped far enough to that side that the tire edge caught a cutout in the bottom of the trailer and this sliced off the edge of the tread. My bad. 

Had a wonderful lunch with Doc and Sherry. Always enjoy their company. Looking forward to our next visit. 

All’s well that ends well. Good night and God bless. 

8 am.  Got to sleep in a bit since we got parked so late last night.    We are going to go down the Western Kentucky Parkway today instead of the interstate the GPS wants us to go.   This route will help us avoid Nashville and all that traffic plus it looks to be a bit shorter.   Every time the GPS wants to route us through Nashville.  If we can avoid it we will.   It doesn’t seem to matter what time of the day or night the traffic is always awful.  Plus we haven’t been down the parkway in years so it will be a nice trip.  

We just passed the exit for the birthplace of Bill Monroe and entered in to Muhlenberg County.   You may not be familiar with the song but it’s a tear jerker.  

http://www.jpshrine.org/picshow/paradise/paradise.html

Tennesse River around Paducah. 

 
 We stopped in Blytheville, Arkansas at a Roady’s truck stop for fuel and ended up having one of the best meals on the road I think we’ve ever had.   The truck stop had a big smoker in the wall and they had ribs and chicken.   They also had big thick fried bologna sandwiches.   We got the ribs and chicken and it melted in your mouth.   No barbecue sauce but it didn’t need any.   The baked beans had little pieces of sweet pickle in them which was different but a big heat kick which was nice.   Definitely put this on the map to stop at next time.  

Greg also went down memory lane a bit while we were here.   This is the exit to Blytheville Air Force Base where he was stationed for two years and also where he met Doc and Sherry.   Lots of memories (which I’m sure I will have to listen to all the way to Dallas – haha).   He said this whole area used to be just soy beans and cotton.   Now it’s mini malls and car dealers.   We did see the fields outside of town though.  

It’s a gorgeous 56 degrees today. 

DG:  No stories. She’s heard them all and I’ve forgotten most of them. People talk about the snow we got this winter like it was something unusual. I was at Blytheville for two winters and both of those brought lots of snow and freezing temperatures. The summers were good for thunderstorms and one very bad tornado. Okay so I guess I do have a couple of stories left. I’ll keep them to myself though. 

One very important thing happened while I was there. I met the best friend a person could have, Doc. And we still keep in touch.  In fact we are planning on seeing him tomorrow.  Really looking forward to it. 

Weather has been very cooperative today, traffic minimal and the truck is running well. 

Tired and groggy. Good night and God bless. 

DG:  10:10 am, waiting for a trip.  Looks like the weather is clearing some. The snow has begun to melt and now there is slush everywhere. And still some icy spots. 

Annie – Precious and I are officially back in the truck today.    We got our trip and are heading to Johnstown, Ohio and then to Dallas, Texas. 

Got to Johnstown for our appointment and was told there were 5 trucks ahead of us.  So settled in to wait.   Fortunately this was not Walmart so it only took them a couple of hours to get to us and get us loaded.   Now on our way to Dallas.   

We passed Bob Evans offices on the way through. 

  
10 pm.  South of Louisville and looking for a place to stop tonight.   First place we stopped was a Loves but it was full.  Now on our way to a Pilot about 11 miles away. That’s the bad thing about trying to park so late.  It can make it hard to find a spot.  

Pulling off the exit for the Pilot there is a sign that says Makers Mark distillery this exit.   It must be really close because you can really smell the mash.  It is so strong.  Of course Greg doesn’t mind.  Just too bad he can’t have some and drive.  Haha. 

DG:  So I sleep in the blissful fog of the aromatic mash and dream is vats and stills producing that divine liquid that refreshes our spirits. Ahhhhh!!!!

Sleep tight. God bless. 

DG:  Relaxing at Ruthie’s. Sound like a movie title. 

Delivered in Brooks, KY, just south of Louisville then headed for Ashland. Got here around 11:00.  Annie got us an appointment with our favorite chiropractor and after a much needed adjustment, relaxing is much easier.

Went to the movies tonight. Can’t remember the last movie we saw in a theater. Tonight it was Star Wars. Wow, what a movie. And a real cliff hanger. 

It’s good to be here and getting my navigator back. We won’t know until morning where we are going as the planners don’t get in until 7:00 am central. 

So that’s how it is in our world. Good night and God bless. 

  
DG:  Just a neat house in Illinois.  

Nothing to report really. Pretty routine day. Not many miles driven. Plenty of time to get where I gotta be.  On my way to get my baby. Can’t wait to get her in my arms. Gonna kiss her all over her face. 

Love you sweetie. 

God bless you all. 

  
DG:  WARNING!  The invasion has begun. I don’t know what the purpose of this giant spaceman was and I went by too fast to get a good picture so I took one of my rear view mirror. It appeared to be in front of a store so one might assume it has something to do with the business it is in front of but I cannot guess what it might be. I didn’t catch the name of the town either. Somewhere in Indiana. 

In case anyone is paying attention the number of days has been corrected due to a couple of repeats I found during a review of the blog from the beginning.

Anyway, delivered my frozen waffles, got my trailer washed out and got to the truck stop in time to see the Carolina, Arizona game.  And some dinner. 

Here are some pics I took today going through Indiana. 

Okay, I thought I had more to say but sleep is overtaking me. Good night and God bless. 

DG:  It’s almost 7:00 am and I am looking for signs of weather. Looks like the storm has moved on to the east. Drivers are leaving the parking lot so that’s a good sign. Everyone I spoke with yesterday was coming from the south so I was unable to glean any first hand reports of the weather around Nashville.  I feel certain they have it cleaned up by now. 

Annie – Can’t get out and do anything today.   So stayed in and made peanut butter cookies. 

  
The snow really piled up good in the last day. 

DG:  What a mess. Highways out of Nashville were icy and the Tennessee DOT didn’t do a good job of clearing the roads. 

  
The truck stop where I was to get fuel was jammed with trucks that couldn’t get out. So I went on by. 

   
 Then into Kentucky where the roads were clear and the snow was deep. 

   
 
Sorry, I think the picture of the road is still in Tennessee.  

Anyway it was one nasty day. 75 more miles and grocery stores will have their frozen blueberry waffles. 

Good night and God bless. 

We have groceries in and all set for the winter storm they say is coming.   I’ve made bread today and a big pot of vegetable soup. 

   
 
Gregory FaceTimed me today to watch Sadie on her bike.  She took her training wheels off today!  Such a big girl.  

DG:  Love the food pics. And my Sweetpea. Growing up. So wonderful. 

Well, delivered my candy and picked up some frozen chicken. 33 more miles to go but out of time. Appointment isn’t until 8:00 in the morning so getting there tonight wouldn’t have done me any good. 

It’s a lonely truck without my navigator. I looked around a couple of times today thinking she was in the bunk but she wasn’t.  Miss her terrible. 

And now the storm. I think I will request they keep me in the south a few days. 

Too sleepy to see. Good night all. God bless.