DG:  Up and on the road by 7:15.  53 miles from stop but not familiar with traffic in this part of the country so I should have time to get there by 9:00. Okay, standing rule, anytime one is driving through a major metropolitan area one should give oneself at least two hours just for city driving. I was five minutes late so no biggie. These dedicated shippers and receivers are not big enterprises so it’s not like there is a line of trucks waiting to load/unload. In fact I am usually the only one for the time I am scheduled.  

It was a bit difficult getting into the parking spot though. I had to angle my tractor as not to block traffic. 

Here’s a history marker for your reading pleasure. 

4:00 pm, Marshall, MN.  Looking for a truck stop I use my handy trucking app. It says there are two in the area. I come to the first one, but it’s not really a truck stop. 

Go on up the road and I come to the second truck stop and low and behold it looks familiar.  I’ve been here before. The last time I had taken some resin to a place in South Dakota to use in making windmill blades then came over here to pick up some ice cream at the Schwann plant just down the road. I even got my same parking spot. 

More pics of Minnesota.  This is either St. Paul or Minneapolis. They’re side by side so it could be either, I don’t know. 

Got a couple pics of the bridges. I thought the lamps were cool. 

And here is the Mississippi very near its source. When I say very near I mean markedly closer to the source than say, Memphis. 

Don’t know if you can see this, I hope so, it’s the second bald eagle I’ve seen in as many days. 

An interesting building in South Saint Paul. 

And this sign. Didn’t know what it was so looked it up. 

http://kaposiadays.org/calendar/2016-06-23/

Then there was the indoor water park.  It is much bigger than it looks. I couldn’t get it all at the speed I was traveling. 

Then there was the road crew.  After holding us up for more than several minutes and gathering quite a line of vehicles a pick up truck with a “Follow Me” sign on the back drove up and lead the whole line to the other side of the work are. Pretty neat. 

Annie – Abby and Lindsey got to spend the night again.   Yay!   Abby and I worked on Maddi’s quilt a bit today.   We’ve got the lay out and now need to get the white squares cut out.   I think she will like it.  

11 pm.  Going to settle in and watch a movie then turn in.   

Good night y’all.  

DG:  6:45, slept as long as I could without getting in trouble. Could have gotten a few more Zs but then would have had trouble getting out of bed. 

Looks like rain. Much cooler this morning. Not far to go. No rush. 

7:08, pretrip completed. GPS recalculated and now says only 15 miles to receiver and most of it interstate.  Another blessing for coming to this truck stop.  

Don’t know if I would want these guys moving me. 

11:00 am, back at the same truck stop where I spent the weekend.  While at the receiver an interesting thing happened. See below. 

So what happened……. Caught bumper on piece of concrete sticking up that I failed to see. 

7:00 stopped for the night at a rest area on highway 169 in Minnesota.  It’s a beautiful evening with a perfect temperature. So I had a picnic. No bugs either. Very nice. 

8:06: sitting in the truck watching the sun set as the birds chirp. 

Saw another bald eagle today. It was being harassed by about a half a dozen smaller birds. I don’t know what that eagle did to make them mad but they were swarming it as it flew, apparently trying to get away from them. 

Looks like I have a short trip in the morning. Only about 55 miles from delivery. The driver I swapped trailers with was picking up a load this evening going to New Jersey.  I don’t envy him. Hope he has an easy time parking. 

It’s so peaceful here. That’s why I prefer rest areas to truck stops. They’re not as busy. The highway next to it is not very busy either which adds to the appeal. 

Some pics of St. Peter, MN. 

That’s it from the road today. Good night all. And God bless. 

Annie – Mom had physical therapy this morning.  She is coming along pretty good with it.   She should have occupational therapy tomorrow.   Then we went to the quilt shop to get some more bonding material for the appliqué pieces will be doing tomorrow.  Can’t wait!  

Abby and Lindsey got to come over and spend the night.  Yay!   What a great time.  We had dinner and then went to Dairy Queen for banana splits and then watched The Hobbit.      So glad we got to spend time with the girls tonight!  

Turning in.  Goodnight y’all.  

DG:  8:20.  And here I sit, and sit, and sit. Thank God and my wife I have the History Channel.  Or maybe it’s a curse. But I don’t think so. I am learning so much useless knowledge to add to my already voluminous storehouse of little known facts.  Perhaps someday i will be on Jeopardy, and win. 

So what did I learn last night?  Sea plankton can survive in the vacuum of outer space. Who would of thought? Now how would that appear on Jeopardy?  These sea creatures were found to thrive on the windows of the International Space Station.  Alex, what are plankton?  Correct for $2000.00.

8:40: Breakfast at Denny’s. Getting my protein. Along with a few carbs. Trying to watch tv with closed captions. They don’t always get the words right so it’s kind of funny, sometimes when it’s not supposed to be. 

9:15; Alright, breakfast was good. Now what?  Need ice for the cooler. 

Kids called. They wanted to wish papaw a happy Father’s Day. That was nice. Got to tak to all three of them and Kaiden told me Alex said hello so that made my day. They were having fun so didn’t talk long. Just missing me. I miss them too. 

Wanting to try something different for dinner I asked Serie about restaurants in the area. Only one within walking distance but it’s on the other side of the interstate.  The only restaurant I can think of that I would cross that kind of traffic for is Bojangles and they don’t have one in Iowa. Like it says in the movie, this ain’t heaven. 

3:30: Feeling like an early dinner. Walked around a little. Not much here. There is a Menards next door but don’t need anything from there. There’s a gym across the road but I’m not a member and don’t have any gym clothes with me. Sitting in the smoking area having a cigar and watching drivers get fuel. This is so exciting. 

Word of caution:  If you have one of those high powered butane cigar lighters that burn so efficiently you can’t see the flame don’t stick your thumb over it to see if it’s burning.  If it’s lit it’s really hot. I don’t think it will blister. 

It’s a beautiful day here in Clive. Don’t know what the locals do for fun around here but they have a beautiful day in which to do it. It’s hot but there is a nice steady breeze. 

So dinner was good. This is a jalepeno, shirhacha bacon burger. Can it get any better than this?

I’m contemplating another shower as after tonight I will most likely be traveling everyday of the week. 

6:00 pm, still warm and breezy. I saw on the news that Colorado had a record high of 103. No thank you. 

I checked the web for cab companies as I heard of this new one Lyft that’s supposed to be better than Uber and I found that there are a lot of apps for rides including some that let you order a commercial cab online. I couldn’t think of anything around Des Moines that I would want to spend money to get too so left it at curiosity. 

NBA final game was on in the lounge/tv room so I stayed and watched the first half. I had turned my truck off to save fuel before going in around five hours ago. When I came back this is what I found. 

That’s the temperature on my thermostat in the bunk area of the cab of the truck. Never to worry, it’s cooling down pretty quickly.  

9:15: getting cool enough to go to sleep now. But first some history channel. 

Good night and God bless. 

Annie – I haven’t done anything but lay around and watch TV all day and miss my baby.    Guess it’s time to go to bed.  

Goodnight y’all. 

DG:  11:00 am thereabouts. Finally got out of bed.  Stayed up late watching new History channel show on Barbarians. I, like many of you probably, thought Barbarian was just a name given to mean ruthless people in general. However, the truth is it was a name given to people outside of the Greek and Roman Empires, people that resisted coming under the rule of those cultures. Names such as Hanibel, Spartacus, and Ghengis Kahn to name a few were leaders of such people’s. As I was watching I felt a kinship to the barbarians as I too am being ruled by a people who I totally disagree with, as I am sure there are others, however it would be impractical for us to band together and go to war. We would be defeated in an armed conflict even though most of those fighting on the side of the government may agree with our premise unlike the soldiers of Rome who shared Rome’s view of those who resisted.  Ours must be an accumulated war of ideas. 

Well, good lunch.  Prime rib Cob salad. 

Clothes are in the dryer and I’m thinking about going back for dessert. 

Got a couple of pictures of Des Moines. 

Must be a government building of some sort. The city is much larger than this picture implies however it was not convenient for me to be using my phone at that time. 

TV is not working. Fairly large lounge for a Love’s. Heck, I think this is the first Love’s I’ve seen with any kind of lounge. Love’s are like convenient stores with truck parking, however they all do have showers.  I mentioned to the young gentleman at the counter that the TV was not working and was told he would reset it. I thought he meant soon but as he did not give me a set time I guess it’s up in the air. 

I am avoiding going back to the truck just yet as the outside heat would require running the engine to run the A/C and that uses fuel which cost money so I will take advantage of Love’s A/C for as long as practical.  

Annie – Mom and dads anniversary today.  It would have been 53 years.   Wow!  

Mom and I went back to the quilt shop and got fabric for Maddi’s quilt.   I think she will like the colors.  It’s going to be butterflies on a white background.  

Afterwards we came home and I made more bread for Mom and Gladys.   

Now I’m off to bed.   Doctor gave me new medicine that’s making me sleepy.   I’ll probably beat Precious to sleep tonight.   

Goodnight y’all. 

DG:  I miss my navigator. I had trouble finding a place to park for the night. We’ll be together again soon. Love you sweetie. 

Well, more ramblings tomorrow.  Good night and God bless. 

DG:  Up at 6:30.  Alarm was set for 7:00, but I was awake. Went in for coffee and breakfast. 

7:58 arrive at shipper.  Shipping clerk tells me that he was not informed they were out of one of the products that are supposed to go on my truck. I’m waiting. 

10:41 loaded and rolling. Little over 500 miles to go. Delivery time had to be changed as I found it highly unlikely that I could get there in three hours. Now I have all weekend to kill so get ready for some long rambling blogging. 

9:00 I found a Love’s with a couple of parking spots left so parked for the night. Tomorrow I move on to find a more accommodating T/S, one with a lounge with tv and perhaps a good restaurant.  

Found a good show on the History channel. It’s about the rise of the barbarians highlighted by historical facts given by history and military experts.  

This is as close as I got to Branson. 

Okay, have my tea, do a little reading then off to bed. Good night all and God bless. 

Annie – I went to the quilt shop today to look at material.   Unfortunately the shop takes cash only so looking is all I did.  Will have to go back tomorrow after hitting an ATM.    Got mom to go with me.  Then she took a nap.   

Then I made two more batches of cookies.  My aunt Gladys said she wanted some chocolate chip and peanut butter.    Probably make more bread tomorrow. 

1 am.  Turning in.   Precious is already asleep.    Good night y’all.  

DG:  Woke up about 4:00am, had almost 500 miles to go to deliver some roofing supplies to Firestone in Prescott, AR.  My delivery time for this was between 8:00-2:00, no way I was going to make 8:00 so shot for 2:00.  And made it. Quick unload, 45 minutes from dock to having papers in my hands. However, my next load was picking up in Little Rock at 2:00, and that is 90 miles away. My teleporter was on the fritz so I had to drive. Traffic, almost to a standstill. Got there around 3:45, made good time in spite of the traffic. However, when I pulled up to the gate the place looked abandoned. One gentleman was going out the other side, he stopped his car and got out to open the gate so I could get out of the road and to tell me that they quit loading around 3:00 and everyone is usually gone by 4:00. Well it was after three but not quite four but I let that go as all personnel but him were already gone. So I came to a Love’s truck stop about 10 miles away and here I will stay until the morning and head over around 7:00 as I think he said they open again at 7:30. 

One good thing I got out of that, if they stop loading at 3:00 in order to get out by 4:00 that means they should be pretty quick. Here’s hoping. 

This is the case that usually holds the smoked meats that come out of the built in smoker at the Blytheville Travel Plaza. We’ve told you about this place before. Some of the best BBQ on the interstate. If not the best. However, when I got here, around 8:00 am, as you can see, it was empty. A tear ran down my cheek as I stood there staring. One of my fellow truckers saw me, put his arm around me and told me it would be okay. I think he was sad too.  Oh well, what are you gonna do?  I didn’t even feel like a biscuit at that point. And next I’m going to Des Moines, IA so won’t be going by there for a while now. 

I hope this video comes through. I noticed all of the corn was planted at an angle that created this interesting view as I drove by. 

​

So here’s what I found after dark sitting right next to me. I don’t think these at intended as Christmas lights. 

Tried to get my tea pot to work to no avail. Instead I went inside and got a mug of hot water and put a tea bag in it. Good. 

Annie – Mom had physical therapy again this morning and it wore her out again.   I keep telling her that it’s a good thing but I don’t think she believes me yet.  They work her pretty good.   Good thing is it’s only 4 days a week so she has a break until Monday.  

I baked bread today.   I took a loaf over to Aunt Gladys while it was wa and she called to say it was good.   Wish I had thought to take a picture.    Next time.  

Mom and I watched a couple of Hallmark mystery movies tonight until I couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer. Time to turn in.   Doctors appointment at 10:30 tomorrow.    

Good night y’all. 

DG: 5:00 am, woke up to thunder and pouring rain. Think I’ll sit a minute, see if it lets up. 

It didn’t let up but just a few miles down the road it let up and then wasn’t long before it cleared up. 

10:11, arrived at OMG, Inc. I don’t know yet what they have here. Looked like a variety of dry goods in the warehouse. 

More traffic. I think we need to spread out. 

So it looks like I have a load of roofing sealer and stuff like that made by Firestone. Once again stuff gets moved from place to place and costs gets added. Oh well, it pays. 

This is my new friend Bruiser. He is a real English Bulldog, from England and belongs to a driver I met here at Love’s. Just so happens he is from Florida. 

Annie – Pretty lazy day today.   Mom had physical therapy this morning again.   They are wearing her out but that’s a good thing.    We put all the soup and chili in freezer bags for mom to heat up later on.  Tomorrow I plan on making bread.    

Well, Precious is ready for bed so I guess we’ll go.   Goodnight y’all.  

DG:  4:30 am. Time to go. It’s a cool morning in New Jersey. Finishing breakfast and having some coffee. 

Annie – 5 am. Precious needed out and I noticed that Greg’s dot was moving so I called and we chatted a while. We have the iPhone cloud and know where each other’s phone is or can locate a missing phone and when he is on the road he tells me to follow the dot so I know where he is. How sweet.   We talked a bit and then I went back to sleep.  Sorry Greg.  

DG:  That’s okay. I would go back to bed too if I could. Like these guys. 6:40am.

This was a rest area in Pennsylvania and they have these statue carvings. 

And day Lillys. 

Annie – 9 am.  Occupational therapy is here for mom.   She is pretty wore out from yesterday but did the exercises like a trooper.   Then took a nap.  

2 pm.  At the dentists office about chipped crown.   Hope it’s good news. 

2:30 pm.  All done at dentist.  No damage so she didn’t have to do anything yay!   And no charge either.  Two yays!

3 pm.  Found a seeded watermelon at Aldi’s.   Finally.  After searching every store in town.     

On the way home I decided to take a different route just for the heck of it and found the neatest quilt shop “by accident”.  So excited.   I want to get started on Maddi’s quilt.  

DG:  5:30 stopped for the night in Elkhart, IN after driving 612 miles. Not bad. About two hours away from receiver so no hurry. Picking up another load in Illinois going to Arkansas. 

Annie – Stood outside and watched the fireflies tonight.   I forgot all about them until they were there.  They don’t have them in Florida and I don’t remember seeing them on the road.   I heard birds this morning too.   I think it’s been a while since I’ve heard a bunch of birds singing.     Weird.   

Some pretty pictures in moms garden. 

10 pm. Turning in. Missing my sweetie pie.  

Goodnight y’all. 

7:15 am.  Awake and ready for the day.   Going to try to get in to see dentist today or tomorrow.   Thankfully still no pain or more chipping.  

8:30 am.  Appointment set for tomorrow at 2.   The receptionist said hopefully Debbie can just file the chip.  Here’s hoping.  

9 am.   Physical therapist here for mom.   She is doing her leg lifts and squats.   

DG:  1:24, unloaded after three and a half hours. Barnes and Nobels doesn’t let you back your trailer into a dock. They have you drop it and the yard jockey puts it in there for you. That was nice, but then they have you wait in a not so comfortable driver’s lounge until they call your door number.  Go get your paperwork, hook up to your trailer and your off. 

Next stop wasn’t too far away, but these New Jersey roads wear me plumb out.  You see the towns have been there a really long time and they are fairly close together. Then the highway system came along and put all these major highways around them and they had to figure out a way to get you off the highway, through the town, then back onto the highway. And they hired a traffic engineer who used to be a pretzel maker and an abstract artist and he was very creative. Add to that four million cars all going to the same places everyday at all different times and you have some idea of what I have been dealing with today.  Contrary to popular belief, at least outside of the northeast, the people were very accommodating once I figured out their system. If you want to get out in traffic you have to let your intentions known, then they will make allowances and let you in. 

6:30, So I’ve only gone about 150 miles today but spent around five and a half hours unloading and loading. So I stopped at the truck stop where I fueled. Probably could have gone farther but then it would have been hard to find a parking space so I opted to stay here and get an early start. Hopefully I can avoid some traffic. 

Headed for Geneva, IL with some plastic display stuff. It’s light. I have a full trailer, all the way to the doors and it is only 12,000 pounds. That will be good for fuel mileage. 

Here are some pics of where I’ve been today. 

New Jersey. What can ya say?

Tomorrow is another day so sleep is required. Good night y’all.  God bless. 

9:30 pm.  Mom has kept me busy today.  We went to the store, meat market and produce stand.   No seeded watermelons yet so the search is still on.   

I made vegetable beef soup and chili today so mom can freeze it and eat it later.    
 Turning in soon.  Gpodnignt y’all.