Well, change of plans.   This is why we didn’t tell the kids we would be there Saturday.  Just in case.   Got a call about midnight that they wanted to swap our load with another guy because his brother died and he needed to get to Florida ASAP.   So Greg said ok.   Now we have a trip back to Oklahoma.  They are trying to route us back to Florida “but it is going to be very difficult”.   His manager called this morning and said “why did you take the swap? We had you headed home?”   What were we supposed to do.  The guy’s brother died.  Last time Greg asked if he had to take the swap and she said “well it’s nice because you may need a favor some day”.  Make up your mind!   Running my own business for so many years I forgot what working with other people is like.

So, we are heading to get the trailer washed out and headed to Rich Products in Lebanon, TN then to Oklahoma.   I pray they can get us back to Florida this weekend!

Oh the lovely world of truck driving.  LOL.  We spent three hours getting the truck loaded (With 34,000 pounds of different kinds of shrimp) and found out we are swapping trailers with someone again.   They have found us another trip to Florida so I can’t complain.  So now we are headed back to the truck stop we were in this Morning to wait for the guy to show up “sometime before 6 pm”.    At least I will have time for a shower!

Got a shower and a nap and the guy shows up to switch trailers.   5 o’clock so even a little early!  Yay!   Now we can drive about 4 more hours tonight.   This trip is a two parter.  First part goes to Macclenny,Florida and then on to Arcadia which is real close to the kids!!

Well, we didn’t get far.  About an hour outside of Nashville it started snowing pretty hard.   We made it a few more miles to a truck stop and pulled over.   It is coming down fast and hard.   Weather report says we are supposed to get 2-3 inches tonight and black ice around Atlanta so its a good thing we are stopping here.  Hopefully they will have had time to get the roads clear around Atlanta by the time we get up and out.

Driver here: Chickens, helicopters, goats, cows and horses and now snow.  What a variety.  Looks like the snow is more rain now.  If it doesn’t freeze we will be alright.

This is the same truck stop where we met the guy that toured with the Grateful Dead so many years ago.  You may or may not remember that story from an earlier blog.  This blog has helped us remember so many things that we would otherwise forget as the days seem to run together out here on the road.

Speaking of time, it seems to expand out here on the road.  Looking back it has only been 29 days since we started the blog but it seems like years.  Not that time seems to drag by, but it may be due to the fact that your whole day is spent concentrating and traveling.  Maybe it has something to do with the motion.  Don’t know.  Someone should do a study.  Any grant writers out there?  I’m sure the government has a spare mil lying around they would be glad to throw at a study that studies the relationship between time and travel.  As Einstein theorized, if you traveled at the speed of light time would stand still.  So maybe at 60 miles an hour it slows down, if only slightly.  But done daily would be somewhat noticeable.

Okay, I am really sleepy now.  Good night and God Bless.

Snow really started coming down in a hurry.

Helicopters flying around Nashville.

Tennessee countryside.

LP Field. Home of the Tennessee Titans.

Doesnt this AT&T building look like a Transformer?

Good morning everyone. Up at an early hour again. Greg got up at 4:30 but told me to stay in bed if I wanted to so I did but the rocking and bumping and bouncing only makes me nauseous so I’m up now too.

Stopped at a rest area in Illinois and we started getting messages that the refer (refrigerated trailer) had a critical error. I’m not worried since it’s set at 27 and the temp is 9 with a windchill of -8. Don’t even know why we have it on in this weather. It’s not going to thaw out. Anyway, Greg had to hit some reset buttons and see if we can fix whatever’s going on.

We are in to Illinois now and it is finally getting warmer.  It’s 34.  Greg has finally stopped crying so much.  Lol.

We passed through Kentucky on our way to Tennessee tonight.  Did you hear us yell hi?   Probably not all the way from Paducah but our thoughts were with you guys there tonight. We saw quite a bit of snow passing through.   More so than we saw in Iowa this last trip.   Now thats surprising.

We have stopped at a Truck stop in the heart of Nashville tonight.   Right now we are across the street from downtown.   Pretty neat skyline.    Got a long drive again tomorrow. We are due to hit Orlando at 11 am on Thursday!!  Should get a couple of days with my babies!!

Well, what a day.  Refer problems, cold weather, I get to the truck stop with 12 minutes left on my clock and I have to do a 10 minute post trip inspection.  Talk about cutting it close.  Already had one hours of service violation this week.  Another one within 30 days and I could get written up.  Or worse.  Not sure.  I guess I just like living on the edge of danger.  That being said I added another check off to my list, I bumped a guy’s trailer trying to park tonight.  I didn’t even know I had hit him.  I tried to get into a spot that was too tight and backed out and parked in another area of the lot.  Next thing I know this guy is taking pictures of my license plate and truck.  I ask him what he is doing and he says I hit his trailer.  So, I go look and sure enough there is a small dent on my trailer about the height of the light I knocked off of his trailer.  Not sure what that’s going to cost me.  Reported it to the company.  Waiting to hear back.  I’m sure there is some DOT report I will be involved with.  The irony here is I just got a notice this morning that I got some sort of safety award for the week.  Go figure.

Oh well, stuff happens huh.

I didn’t see where Annie explained the tire tracks in the snow in several of the pictures below so I will mention that they are on a lake.  Don’t know about you, but I don’t think it could get cold enough for me to feel safe driving a vehicle on a lake.  Maybe in Antarctica.  But you won’t catch me there, ever.  Oh, and the helicopter shot was taken close to Fort Campbell.  There were two others flying around but didn’t get pictures of those.

I think I said before there are places in other states that look similar to Kentucky, but the thing I noticed today, no matter how close they resemble our fine Commonwealth, they are not it and it is plainly obvious to me when I am in Kentucky.  It just “feels” different.

Well, it looks like we are headed for warmer weather and yes, I was crying when the temp was in the single digits and below.  It’s just not right.  Early morning, so I will say Good Night and God Bless.  Keep the shiny side up and eyes on the road.  That goes for all of us.

Up at 0 dark thirty. It’s 2 degrees with a windchill of -7. It wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t so much whining coming from the drivers seat. LOL. He does not like cold weather.

It’s too dark to take pictures yet. I tried once before and the flash about blinded Greg while he was driving so I figure that’s probably not a good idea.

It’s getting colder as we go. It is now -3 with a windchill factor of -13. The sun is starting to come up so hopefully will the temperature.

We passed a sign that said birthplace of John Wayne. Apparently he was born in Winterset, Iowa. Cool

Well what was supposed to be a quick trip to Tyson ended up being five hours. The brakes weren’t working on the trailer and Greg couldn’t slide the tandems in place. He tried everything he knew, emailed Transam and tried everything they said and they still wouldn’t work. Ended up waiting on repair guy to come and help. We were supposed to be several hours down the road on our trip next but only had an hour and a half so we didn’t even get out of Iowa yet. Greg needs to get out of Iowa quickly. All he is doing is crying about the weather. LOL. It hasn’t gotten above 2 degrees today with the windchill -7 still. He is not made for the cold weather love his heart.

We got loaded up with 44,000 pounds of pork.   That surprised me since we were at the Tyson place.  I was expecting chicken.   Guess Tyson does more than just chicken.

All tucked in for the night now at Pilot outside Cedar Rapids, Iowa.   It’s not a big place but several industries right in town.   Everywhere you look there are smoke stacks and steam and whatever else coming out of them.

We are headed to Illinois tomorrow so I don’t look for much warmer weather yet.

Sorry I don’t have a lot of pictures tonight but I figured you were getting tired of farmland and barns so I only took a few.

Talk to you tomorrow.   Goodnight, y’all.

Brrrrrrr…….  I don’t like cold weather.  It feels crisp and clean for about 10 seconds and then it starts to hurt.  My bones are cold.  No kidding.  According to the GPS we will be heading east for while before turning south.  Can’t wait.  I need warm sunshine.

Cedar Rapids smells like oats.  I guess it’s because of the big Quaker Oats plant in town.  Can’t imagine smelling breakfast all the time.  I guess it’s what you get used too.  I grew up smelling Semet Solvay so oats would probably be an improvement.

So, here we are in a small truck stop outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Dinner was cafeteria style chicken and meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans.  A hot meal is good when you can get it but a good hot meal would be even better.  It was filling.  And we’re thankful.

That’s about it for today.  Most of the day spent working out problems with the trailer.  I must be the broke trailer magnet.  That’s two within a week that I’ve found needed fixing.  Somebody else’s turn now.

Well, gotta turn in.  Early day tomorrow.  Good night and God bless.

Sound asleep and get woken up by scraping noises and the truck bouncing. I woke Greg up (of course) and told him somebody just hit the truck so he gets up just as the guy knocks on the door to tell Greg he hit the trailer. Greg goes outside and sure enough the guys trailer is on ours. He pulls forward and there goes the screeching again and the truck rocking as he pulls away. Greg said he didn’t hurt anything. The guy backs in again without hitting us this time. Good grief. All of these trailers have scrapes down the side where somebody has rubbed up against them. They aren’t usually going fast enough to do real damage when backing. We saw a guy the other night go too fast while turning and not wide enough and just nailed the guy’s trailer on the end. He didn’t even slow down. Just kept going like it didn’t matter. At least this guy came to the door and apologized. Now to try to go back to sleep.

Alright. All ready to start the day at 6:30 AM. Greg has his coffee and I have my Diet Coke and off we go.

We hadn’t been on the road but just a few minutes when a coyote went streaking across the highway. Man it was fast. It ducked right under the wiring in the median and kept right on going. Fortunately not a lot of traffic yet.

We drove through Missouri, Iowa and in to Nebraska.   Nebraska takes their corn seriously.   There is a busy town and right beside it would be a huge corn field.   Apartments, restaurants and then more corn fields.   I guess if you have an empty spot you put corn in it.   The part of Nebraska we are in is rolling hills.   It seems real congested here which is different than what I thought it would be since Iowa and other states around it are so sparse.  Of course, where we came in may be the hub and outside is more corn fields.   Maybe will see tomorrow.   We are headed to Waterloo, Nebraska.

We went by a corn field and there was a bird tornado.   Thats what it looked like.   There were so many birds and they were taking off and landing and swirling around.    Wow!

We have done a lot of sitting around and napping again today.   Got to Truck stop, Sapps Brothers, around 4 pm.   We are leaving about 2 am to go to Waterloo.

Sapps Brothers takes their truck stops seriously.    It has lots of knick knacks and stuff like that but the bathrooms have bidets in them with heated seats.    Fancy!    You need the heated seats here.  It is 12 degrees and the wind just cuts right through you.

Well, turning in.   2 am comes early.    Goodnight y’all.

I’ll make this quick since I need some sleep.  Came across the Missouri River a couple of times.  This is along the Lewis and Clark trail.  It is something to see that river and the surrounding landscape and to think of those explorers seeing this for the first time.  The bridge across the river from Iowa into Nebraska is a toll bridge with these two old ladies sitting in the booth collecting tolls.  $5.00 for the truck.  Not bad as tolls go for these things.  But the guy at the place where I dropped my trailer wondered why I wasn’t routed from the interstate which is about a quarter mile from where we were standing.  This GPS system really needs an update.  It brought us across the toll bridge, through town, when we could’ve taken the interstate all the way.  Jeez.  Oh well, good trip all in all.  The other day we see a roadrunner and today we see a coyote.  I tell ya, he looked like he was chasing the roadrunner as fast as he was going.  The bird tornado was really something.  The pictures don’t do it justice.  It was really amazing.  I have never seen so many birds in one place and swirling like they were.  There has to be a name for that phenomenon.  Not long before that we saw what looked like Canadian geese except they were much higher than I had ever seen them flying and in great numbers.  Amazing sights almost every day.  What a country we live in.  Just wonderful.

Well, that’s it from the road this day.  More tomorrow.  Good night and God bless.

BIrds

Poultry or some kind

What the heck?

Up early again this morning. Much warmer this morning which is nice. It is currently 42° which is 10° warmer than it was last night when we went to bed. Unfortunately it’s raining this morning but I guess that’s better than sleet or snow. On our way to our pick up and then onto Nebraska.

We now have our load from the wrangler warehouse and now starting the 14 Hour Drive to Omaha Nebraska. We have 6200 pounds of blue jeans. The weather is getting colder instead of warmer which is fun.

Interesting facts about Hackleburg, Alabama. It is home to Sonny James the country music star of the 60s and 70s with songs like Young love and running bear. He started singing at the age of three and played a banjo that his dad made from a molasses can cut in half and strings put on it. His family had a 300 acre farm but they toured around different states playing school gymnasiums and things like that but after graduation he enlisted in the National Guard and was sent to Korea. After Korea he came home and went back into the country music business. He was the first country music recording artist to have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Other lovely sites we have seen in Alabama. Too Fat Sisters in the kitchen restaurant, Coon dog cemetery, and the Buttahatchie River.

Crossed in to Mississippi but didn’t get picture of sign. Batteries ran out in camera and was changing them when we went passed.

Now in to Tennessee. It has rained for hours. Creeks and rivers are running over their banks. It’s a nasty day to be driving.

Stopping at a Pilot in Jackson, TN. Time for Greg’s 30 minute break and something to eat.

Ran into a young girl (20’s) in the bathroom crying her eyes out. Big gulping sobs. I asked if she was alright and she said yeah. She had a big duffel bag with her so I wondered if she and her husband or boyfriend had a fight and she got out of the truck or was tossed out. I asked her how she was getting home and she said she didn’t know. I tried to talk more to her but she left and I didn’t see her again. I pray she finds a safe ride home.

Going down the road we see this big house and then did a double take. What we first thought was a horse was actually a Zebra. What? Yep. And there were also a bunch of what looked like caribou. Further down we saw a sign that said it was a small safari park. How random is that?

Ran into quite a bit of flooded corn fields coming through Tennessee. What looked like ponds were actually fields. It has rained all day.

Got in to Missouri and the rain stopped but lots of ice on side of highway, trees and fields. Beautiful to look at but glad roads are clear.

Made it past St. Louis so stopped for the night. Got about 6 hours to go to get to Omaha. Going to eat a bit and settle in. Got to see what’s going on in Downton Abbey tonight.

Goodnight, y’all.

Not so fast.  Gotta put in my two cents.  Reaffirming everything Annie said about the weather.  Aweful.  Could have been worse, but still miserable.  Saw the sun for a few minutes at sunset driving into Missouri, but that was about it.  I don’t mind driving in the rain, just would rather not.  Doesn’t make for good sightseeing either.  Well, my navigator found us a truck stop just on the far side of St. Louis so we can avoid any Sunday morning traffic in that area in the morning.  I was worried we weren’t going to make it before my 14 hour clock ran out.  I was driving on that one since we took such a long break for lunch.  As you may recall from our clock lecture a few post ago, the 14 clock does not stop once started.  It is your daily limit for driving, working and taking breaks.  We were about 20 miles away from the truck stop with 32 minutes drive time remaining.  Speed limit 70 to 65 and sometimes 60, so that shouldn’t be a problem right?  Well, you never know what’s going to happen with traffic.  As we speed toward our stop getting ever close I move into the right lane a few miles ahead of the exit so that I won’t have to worry about traffic to my right when trying to get off of the interstate.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, there is a car in the right lane and he is going 55 in a 70 mph zone.  De Javu.  If you remember, that’s hour I got my hours of service violation a few days ago, riding behind a slow poke on a two lane country road for 30 minutes as my drive clock expired 14 minutes before I could stop.  Well, no problem tonight.  Pulled into the parking lot with about 14 minutes to spare.  Now remember, I cannot sign off as long as the truck is moving and the clock continues to tick.  I find a spot, back in, that’s right, I back in.  There was nothing for 50 feet on either side of my parking spot but that’s not the point here.  Got stopped, hit off, but then it asks if I want to do a post trip inspection.  I say yes.  This requires 10 minutes minimum and if you check off before that it will make you go back and edit your logs to include a 10 minute post inspection.  Set the timer on my phone so I get at least the 10 minutes.  The timer goes off, I click okay, post inspection done, and there is less than a minute left on my 14 hour clock.  Parked, inspected and done right on time.  Good planning or just plain luck?  I’m going to give the credit to my planner.  She knew how far we could get and how soon and we did.  Good job Andrea.  I think I will keep you on.

Good night all.  And God bless.

Plastic containers

Birmingham

Coal train in Alabama

Kinda creepy

Birmingham

Flooding

Started the day out before dawn again. Not too early. Got to sleep all the way to 6:30.

It is freezing here in Jackson, Georgia at 22 degrees but trying not to complain since I know you guys in Ashland are at -12 this morning. I also saw where Cape Coral is 34 this morning. I can’t believe that one. Global warming!

We are going Birmingham for pick up. Then we have to take that load to Hackleburg, Alabama where they get part of the load and then to Omaha Nebraska. I haven’t been there yet so am excited to go.

Well after waiting two hours we now have a truck full of plastic packaging. We were supposed to be on our way to Hackleburg Alabama but they canceled it today and made it for tomorrow due to possibility of sleet tonight. According to the map there is nowhere for us to stop and sleep tonight on the way to Hackleburg so we are going to have to stay here in Birmingham even though it’s only 3 o’clock in the afternoon. This also makes it crunch time for our trip to Omaha on Sunday.

Well it’s time for bed. We watched as much TV as we could stand and now time to turn in so we can get up early. Sorry there are no pictures tonight. We didn’t get far enough out for me to really see anything.

Good night y’all.

Well, slept in for a bit. Got up at 8 instead of 5. Made it to loading dock in plenty of time. We dropped off good Kansas and Oklahoma beef at Bubba’s Foods. The guys that make those yummy burgers in the frozen section at the store. I was not paid for this commercial. Well, I guess in a way I was. Lol. Anyway, good to know its good USA beef not from China like Walmart. Mmmm. Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.

Interesting note: Located in Northeast Georgia, Elberton was incorporated on December 10, 1803. The city was first called “Elbertville” and named for General Samuel Elbert who fought in the Revolutionary War. Elberton sits near the center of Elbert County, 33 miles east of Athens and 110 miles east of Atlanta. Known as “The Granite Capital of the World”, Elberton produces more granite monuments than any other city in the world. Elberton is also known for attractions including granite monuments, historic homes and architecture, beautiful lakes, historical theatre and downtown square, and the 20,000 seat Granite Bowl.

Next stop is to trade trailers with a guy so he can have time off. We are taking his trailer on to Florida. We are to meet him at —- Bucksnort Road in Butts County, Georgia. Seriously. You can’t make this up.

Driver here: arrived early at consignee, but 40 minutes later, and no unloading started. Must be union. Wouldn’t think so this far south and such a small town, but who knows. Annie made fun of my backing again. Wide open parking lot and I still get crooked. I think it’s my mirrors. Yea, I’m going with that. Gotta get new mirrors. Well, will write more later. I have waiting to do.

Well, change of plans again.  We got trailer from guy as mentioned above and Greg noticed oil on one of the wheels.   So, he had to call Transam and let them know.    They think it’s a leaky (yawn) wheel cylinder type thingy (please stop talking).    Whatever it is, it means we can’t take this trailer for fear a wheel will come off.    So, we are now sitting in the truck repair place at a TA truck stop.    In the meantime, they have told us we are not going to go on to Florida as planned but will leave this trailer here and go get another trailer in Birmingham, Alabama tomorrow.     Not many miles today but don’t want a wheel to fall off going 60 mph in a truck either.   So here we sit.   I see a shower in my future since we are going to be here a while.

Not very many pictures.   Sorry.

Driver again:  Going around the trailer with the driver swapping with me I notice a big puddle of oil in the left rear outside trailer wheel.  Definitely something leaking.  These things have oil in the axles and seals on the outside to keep the oil from leaking out.  Well, this one was bad and needed some attention.  The guy who had driven the trailer from Indiana said he hadn’t noticed it and I gave him an out saying that it was probably the cold weather he had come through.  We both know the truth.  Anyway, here we sit.  Will get plenty of rest tonight before heading for Birmingham early in the morning.  May write more later but if not, you know what happened.  Zzzzzzzzzzzz………

The road to Elberton

This is the kind of place I would lose Greg in for hours!!

What the heck?

Lovely!

Gracious, what a day.   Greg drove 615 miles today in 11 hours so we didn’t get out of the truck much.   Boy are we tired.

We started out in Arkansas this am and went through Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and then finally Georgia.   We are very close to the South Carolina border.

We weren’t in Tennessee very long, mostly just around Memphis and over in to Mississippi. We were 7 miles from Graceland but couldn’t stop doggone it.    They don’t make these places easy for a semi to pull in to.   Saw the huge Memphis port where they were getting shipping containers off the trains and putting them on trucks.   What a huge place.   There was some snow but a lot of ice which was surprising for me.  I don’t think of ice and Memphis usually together.    We crossed the Mississippi River again to get in to Mississippi.  Look at the ice on the bridge and then on the trees once we cross the river.   Everything was frozen.    We went by Tupelo but didn’t see any city buildings or anything.   It’s either a small place or we weren’t close enough from the highway to see it.    We crossed over the Tallahatchie River.  It’s actually a very small river, unlike what you would think it would be when remembering the song.   No sign of Billie Joe McAllister though.   (Anybody remember that song?)

We crossed over in to Alabama and drove all the way across.    It was really cold here but at least no ice.  We didn’t see anybody or anything for miles until Birmingham.   Quite a big city nestled right in the Appalachian Hills.   We were in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Alabama and Georgia.   So beautiful.

We saw quite a few coal trains in Alabama.   Apparently they have some really big coal mines.  They range from 1400 to 2100 feet below ground.   Wow!

In Georgia it was pretty quiet and peaceful until we hit Atlanta.   I hate driving around that town in a car, in a semi its terrible.   A lot of people think its okay to pull out in front of an 80,000 pound truck.  I just don’t understand it.    A few people were nice enough to let us over when we needed to change lanes and a few idiots would drive over in the emergency lane to go around us instead of waiting a minute.   We got there right at 5 o’clock and the traffic was unbelievable.   We sat and went a few feet, sat and went a few feet for 2 1/2 hours.   I couldn’t do that every day.   I really couldn’t.     Finally got out of the city and drove another 2 1/2 hours to our stop for the night.   We are in Elberton, Georgia.   Never heard of it, right?   There is a Bubba’s Foods out here in the middle of nowhere that we are delivering to in the morning.   At least we have a 10 am drop off time so we can sleep in a bit.

It doesn’t look like we will get to spend time with the babies this weekend as we had hoped.   They have us going to Ocoee, Florida on Friday but then turning around and heading back to Oklahoma by Monday.   Doesnt leave a lot of time.    I am so disappointed but we are requesting specific time off to go back and get our kisses!

We are having roast, potatoes and carrots for dinner.   I fixed it in the crock pot yesterday.  I forgot to mention that yesterday, I think.    I let it cook all day and it was so yummy.  We had roast beef sandwiches for lunch and tonight finishing off the rest.   We get so tired of fast food and eating at truck stops but our trips to Wal-Mart (the only place that’s big enough to pull the truck in) are few and far between and the refrigerator doesnt hold much so we can’t stock up.   It wouldn’t be so bad if the truck stops would alternate the fast food places in them somehow.   We usually stop at Pilot and almost every one of them has had a Subway.   No more Subways for me ever if I can help it.   Just walking in now and my stomach does flip flops.   It was never one of my favorite places to begin with and now I can’t even think about it.

Well, time for Downton Abbey and then turn in.   We get to sleep late (later than 5 am anyway) and want those extra hours.

Enjoy the pictures.   Goodnight, y’all.

Hello!  I’m back.  Was just too tired last to write last night.  We switched our schedule around a little.  Usually, we pull in, park, eat, watch a little TV, then Annie uploads the pictures and writes her part.  By that time I am too tired to write.  However, tonight we parked, ate and then Annie did her part and I am doing mine and then TV and sleep.

Well, last night I realized I am not a truck driver.  I drive a truck for a living, but I cannot claim the title truck driver after seeing some of the parking maneuvers we witnessed last night.  Pulled into the Pilot truck stop outside Little Rock and the parking lot was quite narrow.  There were a few empty spots so I selected one and did my set up.  I knew it was going to be tight when I stopped and looked at my position.  Started backing and saw that I was going to be too long to hit the spot.  There was really no room for me to pull up anymore.  Oh well.  I saw a spot on the end of the row I was trying to get into.  It wasn’t really a designated parking spot but from the tracks in the snow I could see that someone had used it before so I went around the block so I could pull straight in and back straight into this spot.  Some truckers grumble about people who take up these spots on the end.  Say they do it because they can’t back a truck.  Oh well, let ’em talk.  I got a parking spot and I knew that if I didn’t take someone else would once all the other spots were taken.  I see it all the time.  Heck, these guys will pile in four and five deep from a curb when it gets late and there is nowhere else to park, barely leaving room for a truck to get by.  In fact a guy pulled in beside me not long after I parked but moved after a truck that was leaving the lot scraped his trailer about halfway down the parked trailer.  Then he just drove off.  Didn’t stop to see if he had done any damage.  I have heard storied of guys getting their trucks damaged in the night and no one owning up to it, but had not seen it before.

Anyway, the reason I say I am not a truck driver is that I am not all that good at parking.  And that is a big part of this job.  So far I have been very lucky to find spots with several empty slots so I can back without risk of hitting something or finding a pull through, an open space from the back of a row that you can pull right into.  Heck, there are more and more drivers just pulling into spots that are designed to back into.  Then they back out in the morning when there are not very many trucks around.  See it all the time.  Haven’t done it yet, but that is another option.  That was probably unheard of until just recently.  I can’t imagine my father in law pulling into a spot like that.

Oh, but I didn’t decide that I wasn’t a trucker until I saw a guy pull into that tight spot I was telling you about.  This is after three trucks after me attempted to get into the same spot but gave up and moved on.  So we’re sitting there watching these other drivers try to get into this spot, one was a student with a trainer and the trainer got out to help him but they still couldn’t get in there.  I tell you this spot allowed no room for error.  The other side of the lot was full of trucks so you had only the barest of margins to work with.  Well, here comes this guy pulling in, he eyes the spot, didn’t really give it a long look, made his move to set up, started backing, whoa, tight, no problem, he wiggled that truck back and forth pulling up, then back, easing it in, making more adjustments, and voila he’s in.  Never got out of his truck to look at his blind side, to see how close he was to the truck next to the spot he was backing into, never made a wasted move, every move was calculated and performed to a purpose.  It was pure beauty.  I was truly watching a master.  In walking to the truck stop later, we were walking behind that line of trucks and I looked at where he was in his spot, equidistant from the trucks on either side and straight as an arrow.  That man is a trucker.  I hope with enough practice to be half that good by the time this career is ended.

So, here we are in Elberton, GA.  Dinner was spectacular, as always when prepared by my loving wife and expert, certified, chef.  Good thing we don’t have an oven on here or she would be baking and it wouldn’t be long until I would not be able to get in and out of the truck.

Well, hope you enjoyed this entry to Hills Over the Road.  More tomorrow.  Right now it’s time for Downton Abbey.  Then sleep.  Good night all.  God bless.

o

Mississippi River

Memphis Intermodal facillity

Serious looking, isnt he?

Talladega speedway for all you NASCAR fans.

6 flags over Georgia

Atlanta at 5 oclock

This is what Precious does all day.   She chases the reflection from my camera.

Up at 5 am for our trip to Georgia. Temperature is 29 but skies are clear.

Got some pretty pictures of the sunrise. It’s so flat and open out here and it was amazing to watch the sky change colors.

Kansas sunrise

We started out in Kansas, crossed in to Oklahoma and then in to Arkansas.   I didn’t take a bunch of pictures of Oklahoma or Kansas again today seeing as I uploaded a ton of them yesterday.   It would have just been more pictures of more cows.   LOL

We drove through the Ozarks on our way through Arkansas.   You could see really big mountains off in the distance so we weren’t in the highest areas.   It was beautiful though.  After being in the plains of Kansas and farms of Oklahoma it was nice to see hills, mountains and lots of green trees and some elevation to the land.   There were several very pretty lakes as well along our route through Arkansas.    One big lake had a beach area and at first I thought it was sand but realized it was snow.   There was one guy out there in a boat fishing though.   Brave fella!

We have also been seeing a lot of hawks on our trip.   The Native Americans believe that the hawk is a protector and is able to see the way ahead and warn you of danger so I am going to believe they are working with us to keep an eye out and keep us safe.    We have seen a lot of them in pairs which is neat.   One will be in a tree and a few trees down will be the other one or they will both be flying around.    We have seen so many that its hard to believe its a coincidence.

I am keeping my fingers crossed!   We have a trip to Ocoee, Florida, on Friday and so we are hoping to work it out with the next trip so that we can go see my babies for a couple of days.   We are supposed to give a weeks notice before time off but its hard to get that close and not go.  Ocoee is just north of Orlando, so about three hours away.   I hope we can work it out.  I miss them terribly.    They ask us all the time how many states away we are and when can we get to Florida.   Maddi told Greg today that she missed him so much and was going to kiss him all over his face and hug him all over the place when she saw him next.   Absolutely precious.    Here’s hoping!

We saw a couple more Casinos today.   What is a Native American area without a Casino now a days.  One was real tiny like a convenient mart but it still said Casino.   Another was really big and they were building on.   Go Cherokees!!

There are several pictures of ducks on a pond.   They are blurry unfortunately, but wanted you to get an idea of how many ducks were on this pond.    It had to be hundreds.

I almost missed getting the picture of the Oklahoma state line sign.   We stopped at a weigh station and usually its weigh and go but this time they asked Greg to pull around and be inspected which is very unusual so I got distracted.    Turns out all they wanted to do was measure his trailer for some reason.   Making sure his axles or something were lined up right.

We are parked at our old standby – Pilot, again tonight.  Glad we got here early.   There are no empty parking spots and some are even parked on the road trying to get some rest.   It’s amazing how a parking lot with 100 or even 200 parking spaces for trucks can fill up in a hurry.

Going to turn in.   Got a long day planned tomorrow.   We have to make it or at least get close to Elberton, Georgia.   Its 610 miles.   Its closer to my babies though!!

Goodnight, y’all.

Casino

Casino

Oklahoma. Sorry, almost missed the sign.

Gorgeous!

Tulsa

Tulsa

Bok Center in Tulsa

Tulsa

Tulsa

What a name!

Coke!

Arkansas

First Pentacostal Church

We woke up about 10:30 last night to hear sleet and ice hitting the truck. It rained like this off and on all night.

Woke up at 5 this morning to a frozen parking lot with about 2 inches of solid ice. None of the trucks were moving and we were very hesitant about it ourselves. Our load was due to be dropped off by 6:30 so we waited as long as we could. Finally some of the other trucks started moving and they were doing okay, albeit very slowly. Biting the bullet Greg pulled out very slowly, checking his brakes several times, and moved around to the fuel pumps. We were able to get the DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) (thank you Government for the additional expense) and had to pull back through the parking lot again to get out. Made it to the highway but it wasn’t much better than the parking lot. Nobody was moving fast at all. Fortunately we just had to go about a mile to our destination and made it safely. The only time the truck even slipped a little was in the distribution center’s parking lot but it wasn’t bad and easily corrected. It is only 24 degrees so I don’t see this melting any time soon. Going to be a fun drive to Kansas where it is snowing.

You can see the ice in a couple of the pictures. One truck got stuck and poor guy’s wheels were just spinning. See video. He finally got it going again.

Across the street from the distribution center was an amusement park called Frontier City with White Water Bay water park. Of course it’s closed this time of year. https://www.frontiercity.com

We are all set and headed to Dodge City, Kansas!

The roads are an icy mess. No sign of any salt trucks or road crews of any kind. We saw several vehicles turned around and over. One truck beside us started sliding sideways then got turned around backwards before hitting the wires across the median. Scary going for a bit even at 25 mph.

The sun finally came out and we had a good trip after that. Blue skies and open country.

We saw a bunch of wind turbines again. Boy they can mess up the view.

We saw our first roadrunner. So cool. He was out of shot before I could get a good picture though but it was neat to see.

Saw a lot of open farmland and lots of cows. This is really a beautiful area.

We picked up a load of 41,000 pounds of Oklahoma Beef tonight and then drove across the street to the Love’s truck stop for the night.   The smell is awful but its not as bad as the pork processing center we were at a couple of weeks ago.     We are headed to Elberton, Georgia in the morning.

Well, we are turning in.  Early day tomorrow.    Goodnight y’all.

Just a minute there missy.  Driver Greg here.  Not sure those were Oklahoma cattle as we saw quite a few in Kansas on our way here.  Right now we are sitting in the parking lot at the truck stop across the street from the processing plant.  We watch as one after another livestock truck pulls into the lot, parks and waits for the call to bring their cargo across the street.  I would almost feel sorry for the cows as I watch them take their last trip in this life, but they taste so darn good.  Anyway, as most condemned creatures they are not shy about relieving themselves right in the parking lot so you have to watch where you walk.  Were they ever shy about that anyway?  I think not.  I once talked to a driver who pulled into a truck stop one night to sleep and awoke to find that two cattle trucks had pulled in on either side of him and his trailer was soiled on both sides.  He had to bear the smell until he could get to a truck wash.  Poor fellow.  I am safe tonight as the truck to my left is here for a 34 hour reset as I spoke to the driver when his wife came to pick him up and the truck to my right has a load of frozen meat and he’s here for the night as well.

Well, I didn’t see where Annie said much about Oklahoma or Kansas.  Suffice it to say, both are wide open farm lands with Oklahoma having the more rolling hills contour as opposed to Kansas’ flat as a pool table landscape.  Still, both states have their own beauty that is a wonder to behold.  We truly live in a beautiful country.  I hope everyone is able to see it all sometime in their lives.

Okay, I’m tired, sunrise comes early and I have to be awake before then.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

My words on Kansas and Oklahoma are in the pictures below.   (Annie) 

Frontier amusement park

Icy roads

Yikes

Kansas!

Here comes the rain, or in this case turned out to be sleet but thankfully didnt last long.

Dodge City!

GRRRR

Can you see the cow noses?

Kansas Sunset