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.

6:30 Wish I could tell you we woke up to warmer weather but no.   Colder.  

Wow it is cold.  Part of the Mississippi was frozen when we went over it.  This river in Iowa (sorry forgot name) was freezing too.  

  
I don’t think it’s going to get much better over the next couple of days.  

  
Greg trying to get fuel.  The wind just cuts right through you.   He has two jackets on and a scarf and gloves and still freezing. 

Some of these drivers out here are just dogs.   

A couple of old barns in Utica, Illinois.  

Cold, cold, cold. Freezing cold. The parking lot we pulled into tonight is a sheet of ice. But we’re parked and warm and ready for bed. 

God bless. 

Up at 6:30.   Heading to the shower. Too cold and too tired last night.  

We got a bit of snow while we slept.   

  
Boy.  You never know what you are going to see in a truck stop.  

  
Also a temple of some sort but I don’t see a name.  

 
We stopped at a scenic overlook to look at Echo Reservoir in Coalville, Utah.  Just gorgeous.  I did a periscope of it.  If you have a smart phone you can follow us on periscope.  User name is hillinc2.   It shows the videos live as I’m recording them.   And you can chat.  It’s pretty cool.  

When it’s 12 degrees outside its nice to see this sign. 

DG:  I had no such seat. But I didn’t need to sit. Would have been nice though. 

Snow, yes there is a lot of it. But no chains needed today, thank God. 

  
  
The west can be beautiful and deadly. It’s so cold. 

  
Driving the past two days have been brutal. Yesterday with the chains and then the blinding snow. Today was a lot better but still full of challenges.  Nevada for the most part was clear and then Wyoming roads were clear except for warnings of black ice and there were two rigs in the median at one point. It was clear they were going too fast in the left lane where there were some visible icy spots. All in all our trip thus far has been uneventful and we pray it stays that way. 

God bless all.

8 am.  Got in so late last night we got to sleep in a bit.  Time to get back on the road.   

First off need to find a bathroom.  I didn’t mention it last night but the Petro we stopped at is undergoing renovations so the women’s bathroom and the showers were closed.   They pointed me to a pink porta potty outside but that’s not happening.   So, Greg checked the men’s room and gave me the thumbs up.    This morning the repair shop is open so I can use their bathroom.   Yeah!    

Greg is putting on new wiper blades this morning.   Coming through all the snow the old ones just couldn’t keep up so time for new ones.   

Lots of miles covered today.   Across Nevada and in to Utah.   We’ve had a little bit of snow.  Nothing compared to yesterday.    The mountains sure are pretty though with the snow on them. 

Lovelock, Nevada Prison.  Home to O. J. Simpson. 

 DG:  So today was nothing like yesterday and being so we were able to travel twice as far. Still a long way to go but no worries. We’re going to be there on time cause that’s what we do. 

Was talking to a cattle truck driver that happened to have come over Donner Pass last night about the time we did. Apparently he does that quite regularly as he was headed back that way tonight. He said he has chained up eight times this year compared to three times in the last six years. Global warming is all I can figure. 

I asked him how much weight he was carrying as he had a full trailer load of cows and he said about 81000 which is 1000 over but he said they rarely say anything to him which I had heard from others cattle truck drivers. And to get that kind of weight he had 37 older milk cows that were going the processing plant to be turned into hamburger for McDonalds. Yep, Micky D uses the cheap stuff. Who would have guessed. And that’s right from the cow hauler’s mouth. 

Okay, off to bed. God bless America. 

6:30.  Don’t need to get up so early but guess we have slept enough.   It’s 9:30 on the east coast and the phone and emails have started.  So rise and shine.  

Don’t have to leave until 10ish so go have some breakfast.   Greg is trying to decide whether or not he needs to get chains or not.   We are going back over the mountain today and they are recommended but not required so waiting to see what the plan is. 

9:30.  Ok.  Time to get started for the day. We have our new trip.   Head to Modesto California for a load going to M&M in New Jersey.    Definitely have to come back when the weather is better.   Nasty cold rain for two days.   We also didn’t get to see much green.   All the fruit trees, fields and miles of grapes were all dormant.  

I know Northern California isn’t all beach towns but I didn’t think this would be my first trip to California.  Haha.   And then they aren’t even letting us go through California and through Arizona but back through the mountains.   Greg isn’t too happy.  Haha 

Rainbow outside of Stockton, California.  

  
A few pictures of Sacramento.  

Heading across I-80 east back through Donner Pass.   Snow is coming down pretty good. 

Got to stop and put our chains on.  Here is the Periscope I took.   

https://www.periscope.tv/w/aV3cmzF6dktOYm1KTkRLZWR8MU93eFdCa1JCZFJKUVezXrKw4O9kdivtGoiCm4ou98LupYr2NahG90ETLY3P
 

Skiing anyone?  

10:30.  Made it to Reno, Nevada for the night.  Completely exhausted.  Greg had to get out in the snow twice, once to put the chains on and once to take them off.  Then the trip down the mountain was slow going.  It was great seeing the big white fluffy snow flakes though.  

We are turning in for the night.  Goodnight y’all.  

DG: Try as I might there was no getting around putting the chains on. And side of the road, in a snow storm is not the most desirable place to install chains in a semi for the first time. It’s not a complicated procedure but labor intensive nontheless. 

Removal is easier than installation for obvious reasons. 

So we made it and I am bushed. God bless all.  

6:30.   Rain, rain, rain.  Waiting on them to give us a trip.   May go back to sleep.   

DG:  While we’re waiting, here are some pictures I meant to include yesterday.  

At our receiver, the tumbleweed was everywhere. Even at the gate. 

And some from my view as we climbed Donner Pass. 

upside down, please turn over

And going down. 

And like corn from Ohio to Iowa, grapes are the crop of choice here. 

   
 
  
God bless America.