7:30 am.  Woke up with the truck being started.  Apparently I slept through Greg getting up and dressed.    I was sleeping good.  It got down to about 42 last night and I was all snuggled up in the blankets.  No heat on.  Perfect.   It’s still only 45 degrees now.    We have caffeine and are ready to get on the road.   483 miles to go today.  

Good morning Ohio! 

6:30 pm.  Quiet day just driving along.  Rain for a minute or two but not much.   We have stopped for the night just east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.    35 miles to go in the morning to get to our stop.   It’s not due until 8 am so plenty of time to rest.  

10 pm.  We tried to watch the movie Blackhat with Chris Hemsworth.  Even Thor couldn’t make that a good movie.  We only watched about half of it and turned it off.  Then we watched the next episode of The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.  It’s a good show.  Guess it’s time to hit the hay.   Good night y’all.  

DG:  Big parking lot. We were blessed to find a spot fairly close to the main building. No dinner at the Country Pride. Neither of us could bring ourselves to go in having eaten there three or four times this week. So it was Bologna and cheese for me and peanut butter for Annie. 

Took Precious for her last walk of the evening.  She was a good girl, as always and ready to get back in the bed where she spends most of her time these days as she does not feel good. But we are praying she gets better and trust God to take care of her as he does us. 

We have missed most of the storm, a rather large one, much of which is coming behind us and we are trusting it will move on past before we awaken. 

Well, hope you all had a wonderful day and continue such tomorrow. Me, I’m going to dreamland. Not the one in Kenova, the real one. 

Good night and God bless. 

12 am.   Phone rings.   It’s the receiver.   They can take us now.  Greg gets up and takes the truck over.   Almost immediately they are unloading us.  Awesome!  

12:45 am.  Call came in that they were done.  Greg goes to pay the lumpers and get his paperwork so we can go.   He gets back in the truck but we still have a red light on the dock which means we can’t move the truck.  We still hear them thumping around back there too.   Usually we don’t get any paperwork until green light.  So we sit.   Well, I go back to sleep.  Greg waits a bit then lays down as the light is still red.  

3:45 am.   Greg gets up and light is green.   All set to go.  Appointment wasn’t until 8 am so we are doing good.  Hope to get a trip early!  So we head to truck stop hoping to get a spot this late.  

4 am.  A truck is pulling out as we are pulling in.   Perfect timing!   Back to sleep! 

8 am.  We get a trip but it’s only 700 miles in 4 days and delivers on Monday which means we would get there tomorrow and sit all weekend.   No thanks!   Tell them to send another trip.  

8:30 am.  Get a trip to Manchester Pennsylvania delivering on Sunday.   Now that’s more like it. 1400 miles.   We can’t pick up load in Council Bluffs until 4 pm and Greg is pretty tired so decide to rest a bit more and get up at 10:30 and go.  It’s a 3 hour drive but have to get fuel and a trailer wash out before we get there.   

11 am.   Heading north to Council Bluffs.   Had to get caffeine first and something to eat.  

3 pm.  Arrived at shipper.   We’re a little early so load isn’t ready yet.   Decide to go to the bathroom while we wait.   Still trying to figure out the signs in the bathroom.    Apparently you are only required to wash one hand and you must be   courteous and close the door on the way out but no such stipulations about closing the door while you’re in there.  Seems a bit backward to me.   

4:30 pm.  Loaded and ready to go.  Pointing truck toward I-80 and hitting the cruise control all the way to Pennsylvania.   

DG:  It’s been one of those days. Smooth. I seriously thought we were going to run into snow eventually but nothing so far. And we all know who to thank for that. Jesus. And parking. And safety. And everything else. It was amazing to see a truck pull out of a full lot just as we were pulling in. And tonight, indications were that this lot was full, but there was a space right up front with plenty of backing room. I like that. 

Shower, now time for dinner.  

It may snow in SWFL soon as it is getting very cool down there. 

Son in his new uniform. Don’t know if he’s mad or just serious. 

We’ve stopped for the night. Big parking lot of sleeping truckers. I’m about to become one of them. 

Good night y’all and God bless. 

8 am.  Up and ready to go but real foggy.   We only have about 400 miles to go so no big rush.   Going to go have breakfast and give the fog time to lift before getting on the road.   It’s a little cool this morning at 53 degrees.   Not that I mind.  

DG:  Looking at the weather news it looks like we missed the worst of the storms yesterday.  Praise the Lord. Still highly favored. 

Still foggy but we gotta go. 

DG:  Wasn’t that foggy once we got out on the road. Did run into a little rain and it was cloudy for about two thirds of the way then the sky cleared and the sun shone through. There was some really dark sky to the north of us but we stayed in the clear the rest of the way. 

Our receiver is American Wholesale Grocers, a pretty big place in the midst of a fairly large industrial park and amazingly there are only two truck stops nearby both of them very small. So by the time we arrived, around 7:00 pm. Both were full so we came on to the delivery stop where there is staging parking for about a dozen trucks. There were probably eight already here so we got our spot and our number and they will call us when they have a door ready for us. Probably close to our appointment time of 8:00 am. 

Not much else to say for the moment so I will close with hope you all had a blessed day, good night and God bless. 

7 am. Up and heading to get the trailer washed out. Can’t leave a dirty trailer on the lot. We have plenty of time as our load isn’t here yet. 
9:30 am. Finally have load and ready to get on the road. Need to make a stop at a truck stop as we are pretty heavy and need to check weight. Bill says we have 38,000 pounds of BACON!   
DG: After a very hearty breakfast we now have 37980 pounds of bacon. Just kidding. These trailers are sealed when we pick them up for very good reasons. 
As we were waiting for our food to arrive so we could have some lunch during our two hour break here just outside Dayton, OH, I took a picture of Annie’s hands and started thinking about all of the ways these hands have blessed so many people. The quilts, scarves, gloves, hats, throws and Lord knows what else they have made that many people still use and cherish. I know I have been the recipient of many much needed items those hands have produced over the years. I think of the cuts and bruises they have helped heal, the babies they have held and comforted. And most importantly, to me anyway, are the time they have touched me with loving tenderness and encouragement that means more than words can ever relate. So when you look at these hands please say a prayer to God that he continue to bless them and use them for His goodness. 

Annie – Well. Jeez. How do I follow that up? He sure can get sappy at the strangest times.   He’s very sweet though.   

5 pm. Ran in to a bad storm just east of Indianapolis. Hail was so loud it was almost deafening.  

DG: Ran into a lot of rain and as you will see above, some brutal hail. At a rest area I kept staring at this silhouette. Don’t know how I missed it pulling in, but once I got to looking at it, sure enough it is what I thought it was, deer silhouettes. 

Also, at the stop where we took our break, the world’s longest semi-tractor.   It has a large video screen on the side and plays commercials while parked.  Hope your all’s day was good, more tomorrow. Good night and God bless. 

Annie – We have stopped for the night in Brazil, Indiana for the night.  Greg has the truck in the shop for the 30,000 mile maintenance so we had dinner in the restaurant at Petro while we waited.   Hope they get done soon! 

9:30 pm.  Maintenance done and we can get back in truck.   Going to watch a bit of TV and turn in.   Good night y’all.  

7:30 am.  Up and loading the car to get ready to leave after we take Precious to the vet.  We have a 5 pm appointment at Walmart in Wintersville, Ohio so want to get an early start if we can.  

9:30.  Vet thinks Precious may have glaucoma, as well as an eye infection.   And an ear infection.   Left with two bottles of eye drops, ear drops and an oral antibiotic.   Poor little thing.   

10 am   Mom dropped us off at truck.  It was great seeing her, the girls and Jr even if just for a little bit.   

3:30    Arrived at appointment a bit early but we can go two hours early at Walmart so that’s good.   We get a door right away to get unloaded.  Now we wait.   The road to get to this distribution center was narrow and curvy.   He had to pull way over once going around a corner when a wide load was coming the other way.   Walmart likes to find places out in the middle of nowhere for their distribution centers.  Lots of trucks on this back road through Amish country.   It’s beautiful though.   It was nice for me to get off the highway and enjoy the scenery.   Not sure if Greg enjoyed it that much as he was having to negotiate all the turns.   

A couple of pictures from the road.  One guy had part of a train in his yard.   Wow! 

7:15 pm.   No call from Walmart yet that load is unloaded so we go to the office.   Unload is done now just “waiting on paperwork”.  

8 pm.  Finally ready to go.  Now off to Coshocton, Ohio to the KLLM yard to wait for our load in the morning to Kansas City, Kansas.   

10 pm.  Pull in to the lot.  It’s not far from the Kraft plant here in town and that’s what all the trailers here will be loaded with.  All the trailers are empty that are here now and the guy who runs the trailers back and forth from lot to Kraft will be here at 7 am.   We can’t leave until 8 am anyway so that works out just fine.   Now time to eat a bite and hit the hay.   

Goodnight y’all.  

DG:  A TRAIN WITH A CABOOSE IN HIS YARD!!  How cool is that?  Now I’ve seen everything.  

That road was narrow. And curvy. I thought I had a challenge until I met a guy hauling a new yard pan (that’s the part of an earth mover that scoops up the dirt), coming around a curve. He slowed way down and I stopped so he could get by cause we were not both going to go through that turn at the same time. 

Leaving Wal Mart and coming to the yard the road was wider and less curvy. Would like to make that trip in the daytime as we passed what looked like a very pretty lake. 

All in all a good day. Spring is in the air and the air is beautiful.  

Good night and God bless. 

6:15 am. Up and ready to get going.   After I get a Diet Coke!   Headed in to the truck stop just in time to see a 300 pounder’s butt crack.  Haha. Lady working in the restaurant told him to get some clothes on that we didn’t need to see that much flesh this early in the morning.   Love it!!   In a few more months his mullet will help hide it too.  Gotta love rednecks! 

Anyway, we are heading to Ohio and have routed the way to Ashland.  Hoping to surprise mom and get precious to a vet.  I don’t know what’s going on with her eyes lately.  The right one is still cloudy and swollen and now the left one is getting that way.  The drops they gave us last time helped some but sure wish we could find out what’s causing it.  

The canola is in full bloom in Bowling Green, Kentucky. 

Alex got to swing today.   How beautiful! 

We surprised mom and the girls today when we got in to Ashland.  Jr. came and picked us up.  Had a great evening.   Back on the road after a vet appointment In the am.  

DG: Our puppy’s not feeling well. Have a vet appointment in the morning then back on the road. 

 Another pic from truck stop in Mason. 

Got some laundry done and a shower and had some Giovanni’s pizza. Only place in the country for that. A good day. 

So tomorrow we head for northern Ohio. Goodnight all and God bless. 

8 am.  Up for the day.  No trip yet but will go bug the dispatcher and see if we can get one.   After caffeine! 

My sleeping buddy this morning. 9 am.  He has a trip going to Wintersville, Ohio.    We’ll take it!  1200 miles but not due until Monday evening.  Good deal.  Beats sitting all weekend.  

Gorgeous day for fishing.  

Memphis at Dusk. 

DG:  Well, whatever was happening in Memphis tonight, we missed it. There were two multi mile backups at two consecutive off ramps.  Why the left lane backs up as well, I don’t know. So we didn’t get as far as we had hoped but still have plenty of time to get to receiver on time. 

We are at the Longtown Travel Plaza.  There is a doughnut shop down the road from this place that brings fresh doughnuts everyday. Just what we needed. I had a cinnamon roll. Oh boy. They’re dangerous.  As is the security here. 

Oh, here are some pictures of a neat truck stop we stopped at yesterday.

Don’t know why all the trophy mounts. There is not really a wild life or hunting theme to the place. They actually have a full size adult stuffed lion behind the counter but I didn’t get a picture.  Maybe the owners are big game hunters. 

All in all a good day. See you tomorrow.  Goodnight and God bless. 

4 am.   Time to get up and head to receiver.   Only about 30 miles or so, so it won’t take long.    It’s a 3 part live unload.   Stopping here, then Lewisville and then Dallas.   

5:30 am.  Arrived at receiver.  We got a door right away which is encouraging.   We hope.  

9 am.   Well, took longer than we thought.   Now on to second drop.  We are already late for this one as we had a 9 am appointment.   Fortunately it’s not too far.

9:50  am.  Arrived at second stop.   The guy at the guard shack told us to go to door 36.   We get there and there are cones in the lane.  Go inside to office and that door is broken.   Put our name on the list. There are three trucks ahead of us waiting on a door.   Oh boy.  

12:30 pm.  Unload is done.   Guy in office said he would be out with papers in a bit. 

1:40 pm.  Finally get papers.   “Sorry man, went to lunch”.  Now we are late for third stop which was supposed to be at 1 pm.  Dispatch said go on over they will try to work you in.  

2:30 pm.  Got to part three and was told by their office that they couldn’t take us today and they rescheduled it for Monday.   Greg called Kllm to tell them and they told him to sit tight that they were trying to work with receiver and get us unloaded.   

3:30 pm.   Still waiting so Greg called Kllm back and they said nope, no unload today.  Go on to Kllm yard in Lancaster and drop trailer.   Good.  That means they don’t expect us to sit around all weekend and take the trailer back on Monday.   We hope! 

4 pm.  Stopped at fuel and lucky enough to hit a Fuel City which has a burrito/fajita place in it.   We are starving.   Nothing to eat today as appointments were so late we couldn’t stop anywhere.    

4:30 pm. Headed to Lancaster yard for the night.   Hopefully get a trip out in am.   

DG:  Dadgum clock again. I spent nearly nine hours in the sleeper today.  Now what cockamamie imbecile came up with the rule that says that is not enough rest to drive?  People that have never done a thing making up rules for those who do. Nuts. 

Okay, short day, short temper. Might as well go to bed and sleep on it. 

Hope you all are well. God bless.