Up at 8:30.   Called the vet and they are able to see Preciois at 9:15 so off we go.  

10 am.  Diagnosis is uveitis.   Not glaucoma thank goodness.  We got drops to put in 3 times a day with a follow up Tuesday.   

11 am.  Everybody in the house is falling asleep.   Guess it’s time for a nap.  Greg will be up most of the night so it’s a good thing he lays down for a while.   

DG:  That’s right. Got to Nicholasville around 8:15, got checked in, now waiting with other truckers to be assigned a door. 

Another nap is in my future.  From here I go to Erlanger for to take some frozen poultry to Kennesaw, GA. 

Until tomorrow, good night and God bless. 

Annie – 11 pm.   It’s a lonely world without your split apart.    Missing my sweetie already and he’s only been gone a few hours.    Enjoying the time with mom and being out of the truck a bit though.   Watching a bit of TV and then going to bed.  

Goodnight y’all.  

4 am.  Bam bam bam.  Somebody banging on the door.   “You’re all done!”   Took them 4 1/2 hours to get us loaded.  Good thing we could sleep while they did it.  So, now we are up and at ’em.   First stop is in Marylabd for fuel and then on to Nicholasville, KY.   Looks like we are taking a big cross section through West Virginia.  That’s going to be fun with a loaded truck.   Fortunately we aren’t too heavy.   Just 15,000 pounds of candy! 

8 am.  Stopped in Hamburg, PA, and found this on the bathroom door.  Apparently P is for Peach.  It looks like it was made with white-out.  Usually all you see is profanity so I thought this was cool.  

Noon.  Stopped for fuel in Cumberland, Maryland.   Looks like our route is going to take us through Ashland on the way to Nicholasville so Greg is going to drop me off.  I get to spend a couple of days with mom, go to the dentist and get Precious to the vet.  Something has been going on with her right eye lately.   It’s swollen and red.   Doesn’t seem to hurt her but want to get it checked out while I can.   

Some pictures of Cumberland, Maryland.  

7 pm.   Made it to moms and going to have some Giovannis pizza!  

DG:  Oh, I ate too much pizza. It was good. 

Very relaxed at the moment. Should have written something earlier. Isn’t that always the case?  

Hope everyone is well. Headed for Nicholasville tomorrow. 

Good night and God bless. 

4:30.  Up and ready to head to Pennsylvania.  It’s 17 degrees with a wind chill factor of 3.   Getting out and going to the bathroom is going to be fun.   We have just a little over 400 miles to go this morning.  No snow accumulation last night so the roads are clear.   

DG:  Note; never get the first stall by the restroom door at a rest area in the winter time. You have your pants down and there is no protection from the wind.  Just saying.  

Annie – 1:30 pm We got our load delivered to Mars on time and got another load to pick up in Reading, Pennsylvania.  

We went through this little town on the way.   It said it was wide enough for trucks but just barely.   It’s called Tamaqua.   Little old run down coal town. Apparently it used to have 8 lines running through it but due to government regulations it only has one line operating now.   The houses are piled on top of each other.  I swear for a bit I thought I was going through Delbarton.   The population has dwindled from 12,000 to 2,000.  Sounds a lot like eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia.  

Then we come out the other side of the town in to the country and found where Christmas trees are grown.    For probably 3 miles there were Christmas trees on both sides of the highway on every hill and flat place that didn’t have a house or barn on it.  They also have flowering and fruit trees but there were thousands and thousands of Christmas trees from little sprouts all the way up to big trees.   I bet it is something to see with snow on them.  The name of the tree company was JC Hill Tree Farms.   

http://jchilltreefarms.com

5 pm. We got to Reading to pick up our load.  They can’t load us until tonight.  We are to go back in at midnight and sign up for the night shift and its first come first serve so that’s going to be fun.  So it looks like we are spending the night in the parking lot.   This is a candy place where they make the little hearts for Valentine’s Day with the letters on them like BE MINE, etc.  Looks like we got here just in time.   No samples though.   At least they have a bathroom! 

Pretty bridge over the Schulykill River in Reading.  

6:30. Knock on door.  We can’t stay in the parking lot tonight.  Have to go back down the road about a mile to Walmart parking lot.  Good grief.  Gregs clock is out of hours and we aren’t supposed to move but we will have to go now and then drive back at 11:30 for appointment.    

11:35 pm.  Time to get up and go back over to candy place.   There are several trucks in the Walmart parking lot, probably all waiting on midnight too.   

12:05.  Back at candy place.   There is a door open.  They told Greg to grab it and go back to sleep.   Guess we are going to be here a while.  Looks like 5 trucks ahead of us.    

Goodnight y’all.  

DG: The trick is not to go over 20 mph or else your clock will start. I managed to drive the mile to and from Wal Mart without starting my clock. There were a few cars following me that didn’t appreciate the time sensitive nature of my snail pace driving but I’m sure they are over it by now. 

Back in door 3 and back in bunk. You guys have a great day. We’ll be on the road in a little while. 

God bless. 

2 am.  Time to get up.   We have to get a light on the trailer fixed before we can head out.   Thankfully the Petro has a shop on site. 

3:30. Still waiting on them to fix the light.  These boys are not motivated at all.  We told them we would be here at 2, which was 7 hours ago, yet they wait until we are here to get approval from KLLM for repairs.  Seems like we could have had that little bit taken care of before we got here and saved us all some time.  

4 am. Back on the road.  Heading to M&M in Cleveland, Tennessee to take a load to Mars in Hazleton, Pennsylvania – again. 

7 am. Got our load and headed to Pennsylvania.    Clear weather so far but may have some snow going through Virginia.  

DG:  Looks as though there was a little snow but no accumulation. 

We stopped in Max Meadows because I didn’t have enough time on the clock to get very much farther with the next truck stop just 67 miles away it wasn’t worth the time and effort. We had stopped here for fuel anyway so decided to stay put. 

8:30.  Getting pretty cold and starting to snow.  I don’t think it’s supposed to accumulate though.   Will see in the morning.   

What a weekend for sports.  First Kentucky loses to auburn, the packers lose to the cardinals and tonight my steelers lose to Denver.   There may be tears on my pillow tonight.   Haha. 

Goodnight y’all! 

3 am.  Time to head to Georgia.  We are about halfway so about 7 hours to go.  Precious isn’t ready to get out of bed yet so I think I’ll keep her company.   

8pm.  We got to deliver our load this morning but Kraft didn’t have a trailer for  us to pick up.  This presents a problem as you need a trailer to pick up a load.   We called dispatch and it being the weekend hit a wall.   They didn’t know where any were either.  We ran in to Mario,  a KLLM driver we met in Laredo about a month ago, and he said we could try Mars in Kennesaw, Georgia so off we go.  

We were able to get a trailer but no loads available yet so we head to Petro for some dinner and wait.  

40 minutes left on the clock and Greg gets a load to Pennsylvania and it’s due to be picked up by 9 pm in Tennessee.   Not going to happen with 40 minutes left.  So we call dispatch and it’s ok to pick up load in am but it’s due Monday am so a long drive tomorrow.  

Greg has already gone to sleep and I am about ready.   Just couldn’t go to bed at 7 pm.    

Goodnight y’all. 

5 am.   Up and heading to truck wash and then to Kraft in Champaign, Illinois.   Taking a load from there to Union City, Georgia.   Maybe it won’t be so cold down there.  That will make Greg very happy. 

8 am.  Got to Kraft for our load.   Guess what we have? 

   
 
We are close to the load limit of 80,000 pounds so we have to get weighed and make sure it’s balanced.   Took us 2 times to get it right but now we’re legal.  You can only have 34,000 pounds on each axle and we had one that was 34,450 so had to move the trailer a couple of times to get it right.   Now on our way to Georgia. 

DG: Made it to Oak Grove, KY.  Gonna spend the night here and move out really early.  Trying to get through Nashville ahead of the traffic. 

It’s been rainy, but we got through that before stopping. 

Dinner and a little tv in the “driver’s” lounge then off to bed. 

I know the picture is of macaroni but what we have is mayonnaise. 

6:30.   Well, we didn’t win the lottery so back to work we go.    We have to get to Illinois today which shouldn’t be too hard.  The roads are already cleared off so we shouldn’t have any trouble.  It’s a whopping 24 degrees.   

My nose is cold. 

  
Wow.  Heat wave! 

3 pm.  Made it to receiver on time.   Picked up our now empty trailer but Greg noticed it had a hole in the door and a dent and snow was inside the trailer so obviously it’s not sealing.  So we have to take it to Crete, Illinois for repairs.    We get there in about half an hour so all is good with our clock.   So far so good.  But then the only trailer they have available for us to swap with is an FFE trailer.  They are essentially the same company but certain trailers go to certain places or something like that.   Anyway, waiting on an answer as to whether or not we can have this trailer. 

5 pm.  Running out of time.  Somebody say something please.  

5:40.  Almost out of time.  Can’t go anywhere tonight even if they give us an answer so we are going on to truck stop for the night and see where we are in the morning.    

6 pm.  On our way to truck stop for the night and get email to take the FFE trailer.  Great.  Turn around and go back.  This trailer is nasty too so we will have  to get a wash out.  Luckily there is one only 8 miles away. 

DG:  What the…… ?  It took over an hour for me to get an answer on this trailer. Whaaaaa.    Anyway, here we are at the Petro enjoying the buffet and here is Annie’s reaction to potato salad and broccoli rice which I was enjoying. 

Rarely do you see such excitement over food. LOL. 

Okay, off to bed good people. Love to all and God bless. 

Annie – Well. I don’t understand why they ruin perfectly good rice with broccoli and don’t get me started on mayonnaise. 😝.    I usually call broccoli blaaaccoli to the kids.  They get a kick out of it because They love broccoli.   Nope.  Not happening.   If I want to eat something that tastes like grass I’ll go in the fields with the cows.   

Well, we are turning in.  Long way to go tomorrow.  

Night y’all. 

8:30.  Got to sleep in because clock only has 6 hours on it so no rush.   Also Greg noticed trailer doesn’t have a mud flap on one side which is a DOT infraction so need to get that fixed while we’re at a shop.   

DG:  Snow, snow and more snow. Stopped early. Weather report had us driving toward the snow so thought we would pull off and let it pass. 

Several rigs in the median on I-80. Thank God we weren’t one of them. 

Ohio is good for their spacious travel centers with free showers and food courts and tv lounge for drivers. 

Well, tomorrow is another day unless we win the lottery tonight.

Good night and God bless. 

7 am.   A whopping 19 degrees this morning.   Almost tropical compared to where we have been lately.   Haha   Heading to Mars this morning with our powdered milk for all that yummy milk chocolate!   Only have about 80 miles to go.   We would have made it last night if we hadn’t been stopped for so long due to the truck fire.   

9:30.  Made it to our stop in plenty of time.   Hard not to like a place that smells like chocolate and has free Doves hot chocolate for the drivers.   

DG:  Yea, every driver you see walking back to their truck from the receiving office has a cup in their hand. 

Mars! 

  
Now that’s a lot of sugar.  

DG:  These trucks just come one right after the other. It’s amazing. And the place does smell like chocolate. 

Pedistrian crossing sign in parking lot.  Haha 

Ran in to snow on the way.   Ended up stopping in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania for the night.  Saw one truck over the side through the guardrail so enough for today.  

DG:  In two days we have seen three trucks totaled. All with foreign drivers. Not profiling here. Just saying. 

So after around 250 miles of this stuff I was ready to take a break. We got a message from our CEO not to take any chances. Nuff said. 

So, a little tv, a Honey Bun nightcap and off to the bunk for some much needed rest. Good night and God bless.  

Good morning.   It’s a balmy 6 degrees in Indiana this morning.    Starting the last leg hopefully to New Jersey.    Should get there today, weather permitting. 

DG:  Pretty uneventful trip until we got to Sugarloaf.  Or close by. I am including a link so you can see it for yourself. 

https://www.periscope.tv/w/aWSCCTFEWktvQXdSYVhFYXl8MU1ueG5Wa2FwZVZ4T1sVRq5kTvyUu-seS1ojhwEORTT1cglT5a1mksNdFw8O

I80 fire 2
https://www.periscope.tv/w/aWSE-jFEWktvQXdSYVhFYXl8MWxQS3FRbXBQblBLYuSbJ8lT1qJXdTfh0aaWJ0swZXOethoMVPE4ggvGctC0
We had stopped about 30 miles back for a restroom break and things were moving kinda smooth. Then traffic started slowing down and about a half mile up ahead I could see a truck was on fire. The closer we got we discovered there was another truck about fifty yards behind the one that was really burning that was beginning to burn as well. The trucks in front of me were moving on when this guy comes running up in front of my truck waving his arms and yelling that the trailer that is burning is full of hazardous material and could explode any minute. I ask him what’s in it and he doesn’t know. There’s some guy yelling haz mat boom, but we couldn’t get any more out of him because we found out later that he was Turkish and didn’t speak very good English. There was a scare for a few minutes as no one could find the driver of the burning truck. The Turk was driving a flatbed loaded with bricks and his was the one that was hit by the one that eventually burst into flames. 

We’re okay, the two drivers involved are okay, praise God. 

So go to the link if you want. It’s kind of long but interesting.  

Good night and God bless everyone.