Up and on the road by 5:15. Got to first stop and waited.   Appointment was for 6 am and we sat until after 10.   Greg went in and asked about the time and was told they are all on break.  Will call you when they are done.   Well, apparently they were done before break and didn’t tell anybody because the guy came right back out and said we were good to go.
Now we get to second load in Miami which is at a Winn Dixie.   We were told to park behind the line and wait.   Oh goodie!

Yep.  This far back.  Weird.   

DG: They were obsessed with lines. Behind the line here, wait for the call, which came within minutes since it was Sunday and they were not busy, then make surely you drive past the line going out, stop and have your trailer inspected. Sometimes I think rules are made just so people won’t have to think about what they are doing.

Went inside to present our bills and get a price for unloading from the lumpers, oh, and use the facilities, that’s standard procedure at every stop.  I like what Annie told the lumper manager, “The only thing standing between me and my grandchildren is what’s on that trailer.”  I think he got the message.  Still it was a couple of hours getting empty which isn’t bad.

Now on to Fort Myers to park.

Gregory was already at the truck stop when we got there and wouldn’t you know it I just had to perform one of my now famous parking maneuvers.  He got a kick out of that and offered to park the truck for me.

Melissa called Gregory on our way to their house and said it was storming to please hurry because the kids had their faces planted against the windows looking for mammie and she was concerned because of the lightening.

Arrived. There was such yelling and screaming when they saw mammie it reminded me of a Beatles concert in the 60’s.  Once we all calmed down and hugs and kisses were exchanged we had dinner and some more hugging and kissing then I fell asleep.

So now it’s morning of the next day and I have some things to attend to on the truck so will write more later.

Good morning and God bless.

Happy 4th of July everyone!   

We got to sleep in a bit this morning since we didn’t pull in until midnight.   So had breakfast at the restaurant in the TA and now ready to head south. 

Pretty uneventful day.   Drove to pompano beach, Florida without any trouble.   Rained off and on but as it is in Florida it was only for a few minutes at a time.  

We used our trucker guide book to find a truck stop for the night close to our stop but it turned out it was closed so while we were trying to figure out what to do an older gentleman driving by saw we were having trouble and said I know where a truck stop is close by.   Follow me.   We did and when we got there he said give me $20 for gas.   Haha.  It was worth it to find somewhere close to stop as time was running out.   So we got parked and while I knitted a while Greg took a safety test his company sends around to everyone periodically.    He passed and I am closer to finishing a sweater for Maddi. 

Well we have to be up at 4:45 so turning in.   Get to see my babies tomorrow!!!!!

Goodnight y’all. 

DG:  Got to see some fireworks tonight albeit from a distance.  Two stops in the morning to deliver the salad fixins then to Cape Coral to see the grandkids. We’ve been missing them something awful. 

My navigator didn’t mention that it was me that found the nonexistent truck stop so I promised to allow her to do her job from now on and I will stick to the driving. 

Early day tomorrow so goodnight and God bless. 

DG:  I happened to notice last night that my pick up time for this next load is 11:00 PM tonight so I sent a message to dispatch to inquire if this was an appointment time or if it was one of those cases where we have until the pick up time to get it as is the case sometimes and from the information I receive it is not always clear. The response came that this was one of those anytime until then deals but the general consensus was that I should call to confirm the readiness of the load before moving out and starting my clock prematurely. So I called at 6:00 this morning as my break ended at that time. I was told they didn’t start loading till 8:00 so back to bed. 

The extra couple of hours sleep will do me good today. Up at 9:00, wow, feel like I slept all day.  Truck stop breakfast at TA is not too bad.  They have a full service restaurant so there are more choices than Burger King or Arby’s. Even though there is a Bojangles right across the street, four lane highway, that fact and the pouring down rain influenced our decision to eat where we were. 

Annie – Greg called and load is ready so off we go.   Except we get about an hour in to a two hour drive and come up on stopped traffic.  There is a wreck up the road between a tanker truck and an SUV.   We ended up sitting or inching our way for 5 hours!!   

   
   
We finally got to our stop which was a Dole plant and we picked up 10,000 pounds of lettuce mixes like you see already bagged up in the store.  We are taking part of the load to pompano beach Florida and the rest to Miami.    Then off to see the babies. 

The pictures below are of a flat bed truck with a sense of humor.   You see them carrying all kinds of stuff but this was too cute. 

   
 We parked at a TA just south of savannah so only about 6 hours to go tomorrow.    

Turning in.   Goodnight y’all.  

DG: I’ll second that. Goodnight and God bless.

Up at 5:30 and headed to Atlanta.    They said they had five trucks waiting on loads to Florida so we may be there for a bit. Also, we are going to get an inverter put in the truck so we can plug in appliances.

Got the inverter put in and also had them set the governor on the truck a bit higher.   The truck was set to go a max speed of 61 mph, which means little old ladies were passing us on the highway.    We got really great fuel mileage but sometimes you need to speed up to get around someone (usually someone else who is governed) and you dont have the speed.   We can now go a max speed of 70!!   So thats all settled.

We were told we may not get a trip out of atlanta until tomorrow because 5 other people were waiting on loads to florida.   Good weekend to take off I guess.   Finally at about 4:30 they told us they had a load for us but we had to go to North Carolina and pick it up and take it to Miami on Sunday.    Thats going to run us a day late but at least its in the right direction.

We didnt get too far from Atlanta before the time ran out but we only had a couple of hours to go in the morning to get to our stop.     We have stopped at a TA for the night just north of Athens, Georgia.

I was able to get my pictures uploaded tonight.   They are of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

 DG:  Yes it’s good to have a little extra speed when you need it. Now I have to be careful not to keep my foot to the floor in order to keep the fuel expenses at a reasonable level.

Deadheading to Bessemer City, NC to pick up a load with two stops. One in Pompano Beach, the other in Miami. It’s a good trip for a weekend. 

Well, hope you all have a wonderful Independence Day. Be sure to give some thought to the real meaning of the day. And thank God for working this all out so we can live in a land of liberty. 

Love to all. Good night and God bless. 

5:30. Up and ready to go.   Got a bit of breakfast and getting on the road.   Should get almost to Atlanta today.  

Sunrise in Sealy, Texas.  

Stopped in Baton Rouge for lunch.  Little local diner.   Food was pretty good.   Greg had the gumbo and Cajun shrimp.  I of course had the burger.   Haha 

   
 
Little convenient store sold hot sauce.  Loved the name of this one.   Not brave enough to try it though.  

Made it through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and part of Alabama today.   Will get to Atlanta in the am.   Almost to florida!  Get to see my babies soon!!   FaceTime with them earlier and they are so excited.   Sadie said she was about to cry she was so excited and Maddi wants to kiss all over our faces.  Lol. Can’t wait! 

Turning in for the night.  5:30 comes awfully early.    Goodnight y’all. 

DG:  God is certainly favoring us. Truck is running like a top, missing the really bad weather. All is good. 

Well, it’s bedtime so I will say goodnight and God bless. 

Sitting at a Freightliner shop this morning.  Hope this doesn’t take all day!

Well, we decided to stop whining and pray over the truck.   Immediately the check engine light went out and the truck started without any problems.   Thank you Lord!   He was waiting on us to ask him I think.   We are back on the road and headed to get trailer and head east!

Below are some pictures taken of Laredo.   We were just this side of Mexico.  So close I got a text from AT&T thanking me for traveling abroad and the weather kept giving me the temp in Juarez Mexico.   Haha 

I took several pictures of some cacti that was growing in the fields along the highway.  I’m not sure you can see it or not but the cacti go all the way back in to the fields as far as you can see.   Sure would hate to be a cow trying to walk through that field.  I bet they are gorgeous when they are all blooming.   The hummingbirds must love it.  

Made it all the way to just outside of Houston before stopping for the night.  

DG:  Yes God fixed our truck. Early this morning while waiting for a rework of our trailer to get the weight down to the legal limit the truck stopped idling and three warning lights came on. One was the usual check engine light that nobody gets excited about, the second was the stop engine light that will shut the engine down in a few seconds if you don’t and the other a red light that says nothing but means you need to find a shop soon and have things checked out. We had the third one which was why we were at the shop.  

The service manager tells me they may not even get to us today they are so busy. I start making plans for a rental car and hotel. Annie doesn’t like that idea and a discussion ensues about our prayer time and how we forget sometimes and how we should ask God to help us in everything we do. So we did. I started the engine just to get some air moving and the light was out. I don’t know how else to explain it. The truck has been running great ever since. Praise the Lord. 

So we are still in Texas but will be out and almost to our destination by tomorrow evening.

Keep praying and make God a part of your life.  He loves to be involved. 

We love you. Good night and God bless. 

4:30. Up and almost ready to go.   Caffeine first!   We are finishing up this leg of the trip this morning.   Only 115 miles away but need to be there by 8 am so giving ourselves a little bit extra time to be sure.   

Stopped at a rest area on the way and saw some really pretty flowers.   Must like a lot of heat.   I’m not sure what they are but really beautiful.   Bet the hummingbirds would love them.  

 We dropped off our load at 8 am.  Now we get to wait until this afternoon for a load to take.  Apparently Greg and I are the only English speaking people in Laredo.   Granted, we are only a couple of miles from the border. 

DG:  All true.  Except for all of the American businesses around everywhere else looks like a foreign country.  And sounds like it too.  

I’m dog sitting in the parking lot at Michael’s enjoying a cigar while Annie looks for yarn. 

Well, it’s four in the morning and we are sitting at a dock waiting to have our load reworked because the previous driver took a load that was overweight. And while I do not know why he did not take care of this problem it is up to us to have it corrected. The other issue is that we did not have an appointment to have this resolved so the company doing the rework had to work is in. We have been here since 3:30 yesterday afternoon. And they still haven’t started on our trailer. On top of that we have to go to the dealer to have our truck looked at as a check engine light came up on my dash a little bit ago. 

But all is well. We are well rested, our clocks are reset and when the time comes we will be ready to go. Heading for Florida to see the kids. 

Love to all and God bless. 

Up at 5:30 to get to Dallas and see Doc for breakfast.   First we took a wrong turn and ended up going through a part of Dallas where the football payers live.  Wow what houses.   Huge!

Met Doc in parking lot of empty strip mall.  Parked and got in his truck to go down the road to IHOP.   Ordered and had taken about two bites and got call that they were going to tow the truck.   Ran from restaurant after paying and not eating and got to truck.   Of all days a crew had shown up to pave the parking lot we had parked in.    Got to have a nice visit with Doc even though it was short.  He is going to be working on finding us a meeting spot for next time.

After leaving Dallas we went through Waco, Austin and San Antonio.  Stopped for the night just outside San Antonio.   About 150 miles from Laredo.  Don’t have to be there until 8 am so napping and catching up on some TV.

DG: Sometimes boredom sets in when you have long stretches between drive times.  Caught Annie at the hot dog warmer watching the hot dogs roll around. It can be mesmerizing and that’s why I try to avoid it.

It was great to see Doc this morning albeit a short visit due to someone complaining about where my truck was parked. The threat of a $1200 tow bill will make you leave your breakfast on the table. Which is what we did.  Next time we will have it worked out that the truck will be at a truck stop or other approved parking area.

Two hours from delivery but out of time so the day has been spent watching tv, napping and oh, watching hot dogs cook. There’s no end to the excitement.  Love to all. Good night and God bless.

5 am.   Time for caffeine.   Got a long day today.   Greg has 11 hours on his clock and we are going to need every one of them in order to get to Laredo by Monday am.   He only has 6 hours on his clock tomorrow.   Crazy way this system works.   

We made it to about an hour north of Dallas before the clock ran out.  Not much going on today but excited about tomorrow.   I have never been soUth of Dallas and we are going to Laredo which is right on the Mexico border.   Will definitely have to get some pictures!   

Getting up at 5:30 so turning in.   Goodnight y’all.  

DG:  Another BBQ place. This time in Anna, TX. good brisket but the ribs were fatty and I feel they could have smoked a little longer. BBQ beans and potato salad.  Both very tasty. 

Nice sauces as well. Not as good as Soulman or the little independent place we found in Kansas City. Far better than truck stop fare. 

Meeting our friend Doc for breakfast somewhere around Dallas. He’s going to scout it out for us in the morning.  

Better get some sleep. Good night and God bless. 
 

Up at 4 am.  Headed to Illinois. Kind of rainy this morning and gloomy but we don’t have far to go.  Unfortunately Greg only has 7 hours on his clock so we will probably be sitting most of the day at a truck stop as his time won’t start again until midnight.  

Made it to our stop in plenty of time.   Dropped off our Reese’s Pieces and now picking up more candy to take to Texas.   It’s a live load so who knows how long that will take.  Hopefully not too long.  Greg only has about an hour and a half on his clock so we aren’t going to get much further today. 

It took 4 hours to get our trailer loaded.   Uugghhhhh.  At least we got a good nap.   I would rather have done laundry though.  Haha.  

Well, we have 22,000 pounds of caramel to take to Texas.  Yummy! 

With all the waiting around I had time to make a baby blanket for the new little one coming in September.   

Well we didn’t get very far after we finally got loaded so we parked and did three loads of laundry and took a shower.   Now just chilling and watching TV.   Early start again in am.  

DG:  Short day, early stop. Get a not so early start tomorrow on our way to Laredo. I got two addresses to take one load so I inquired as to the second one. Apparently the first address is the company that is going to take this trailer to Mexico after I drop it at the second address given. Both in Laredo. They’re just trying to confuse me. 

Feels good to to have some leisure time, get some things done, laundry, shower, finish the series Texas Rising. 

We hope you all are well. Good night and God bless.