3:30 am. Uugghhhh. It’s 9 degrees and we are up and heading out to Detroit. Thankfully, so are the snow plows and salt trucks. Roads are clear though. No worries. Wish I could see where wee are going but it’s still pitch black outside. It’s nice being only a handful of vehicles on the road though.

Ok. Not scary at all. We got to the warehouse about 5:30 and parked out to the side. The place doesn’t Open until 6 AM. And, of course, I had to go pee so when the warehouse opens I was able to get in and on the way back out I ran into a trucker who has been to this place many times. While talking to him, as Greg backed up the truck to the dock, he told me to be careful and don’t come to this place before 6 AM. He said this is a bad part of town and they will rob you blind. He said one time a trucker backed in with his trailer doors right up against the pole in the parking lot so they couldn’t open the doors to steal anything but when he woke up they had taken the doors off the trailer and robbed him. Ok. I am now ready to leave Detroit!

Got a peak at the load as they were unloading. We had over 30,000 pounds of fajita seasoned chopped chicken breasts for Jets Pizza!!

Noon! We are just now able to leave. All these hours for them to unload the truck! Good grief. Somebody works by the hour and not the job!

We drove back through Detroit on the way out.  It is so sad to see so many run down houses, graffiti, empty houses and burned out ones.   I took several pictures and could have taken dozens more but just didnt have the heart for it.   I thought St. Louis was awful with the run down houses and a lot of homeless people but Detroit is much worse.   Its amazing that a city like that is here in the United States.  You drive by beautiful, immaculate farms for miles and miles and then go in to a city that was once so prosperous and see what it has become, its unbelievable.   You can almost feel the sadness and desperation.

Right on the outside of downtown is the bridge to Canada.  If I lived in Detroit I would be sorely temped to cross the bridge and not come back.

Our next load was at an old familiar spot – Campbells Soup.   We are taking a load from there to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where will pick up a load headed for Minnesota and then pick up a load there headed to New Jersey.   This can all change, but thats the plan as it stands now.   At least it is in Keasbey, New Jersey, not Newark or Jersey City.   Looks like we should be able to get in and out without much trouble.

We are parked for the night at a Pilot again.   Finally got to do some laundry.  Yeah!  Ran in to another lady driver.   There are quite a few.  I’m impressed.   She used to drive with her husband until he got a ticket for reckless driving for going 1 mile over the speed limit in Virginia.   Cost him his CDL for 3 years.   She is now doing it alone.  I dont think I would have the nerve to do over the road by myself.    She said there are definitely some strange people out here.   She said one guy was talking to her by her truck and she mentioned that she her eyes were red and needed some Visine.  He said “well, there’s Visine in my truck”.  LOL   She declined his offer and got in her own truck.    No, dont think I would want to do this by myself.   Plus, she about talked our ears off while we were folding laundry.   I dont think she has had anybody to talk to in a while.   Very nice lady though.   She too said I needed to get my very own special “can” for the truck.   Still holding out on that one.

Well, going to watch a Downton Abbey (dont know what we will do when we get caught up) and head to bed.  4 am alarm set.   Have to be in Cedar Falls by noon.

Goodnight all.

3 am Dexter, Michigan

Bridge to Canada

Marathon

I dont think this ship is going anywhere.

Toledo, Ohio

Maumee River, one week later. What a difference.  You cant see it in this picture but there were tire tracks on it.

What a day.   It has been a snowy mix most of the way.   Woke up this morning and it was only about 30 degrees but warmer than the day before.    We are headed toward Detroit, Michigan and the clouds have looked ominous.   No sunshine at all today.   It snowed for a little bit and quit part way through Indiana but when we got in to Michigan it started snowing pretty good.   Saw quite a few places where people had slid off the road.  No major damage except one wreck just outside Ann Arbor.  They had the highway completely blocked off on both sides but we couldn’t see what was going on.  Ended up taking an hour detour through Jackson, Michigan, which threw us off a bit but we were able to get back on course.   This threw his clock off of course and the computer kept saying “you have gone over your allotted drive time” for 20 minutes but due to the accident making us detour we were okay.   Everything is computerized and there are several people watching you, which is kind of creepy, but they also let you know if you go over, forget one of the endless forms or they just feel like waking you up to tell you something you already know.   One good thing about having a big loaded semi is it went right down the road without a hitch.   We were able to get to the Pilot pretty early tonight which is a good thing as its filling up fast due to the snow.   I had planned on doing laundry tonight since we had a bit of extra time but it looks like we pulled in to the one Pilot so far without laundry facilities.   Good thing we packed extra clothes.

Precious doesnt know what to think about the snow.   Its deeper than she is tall and she doesnt like the cold anyway.   She wont wear a sweater or I would get her one but she just stands there like “really?”.

The farm lands have been really pretty today with the snow.   We saw one river that had big ice chunks in it but I didnt get to my camera fast enough to take the picture.   We passed several casinos in Indiana.

Greg asked me if I had had my snow fix yet but of course I havent.  LOL   I love looking at it and stomping around in it.  (yes, Gregory, really)   Greg threw a snowball at me at a rest area and hit me in the side of my head.   Lucky for him I had my hood on.   I then proceeded to put a snow ball down the back of his pants when he wasnt expecting it.   You know what they say about paybacks!

Well, we are going to settle in and watch some TV, probably Downton Abbey again.  Trying to get to the current season.   Still only on season two.   We have to be at the Tyson chicken place by 6 am so we need to leave here at 4 am to give us time to maneuver through Detroit.  What fun thats going to be but at least it will be early and shouldnt be much traffic.   The snow plows and salt trucks have already been out so the roads should be clear.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Des Moines River

Ohio River

Ice on the windshield

Detour

Wreck

Arent you glad this isnt you?

Piled high but at least the roads were fairly decent

Des Joseph River

Getting an early start on the day. Have to be in Kansas tonight so already up and running at 7 am.

Now, I know I have a southern accent but I figured in Georgia it wouldn’t be that hard to understand but I was wrong. Either that or the lady behind the counter had something more exciting going on in her head than waiting on customers. You be the judge.

Me: looking at breakfast sandwiches at the counter of a quick stop. Bacon! So I asked the lady – does the bacon biscuit have egg or cheese on it?

Lady: I don’t know what egger cheese is.

Me: Egg…..or……cheese!

Lady: Oh yeah we got egg, cheese, sausage, whatever you want.

Me: Never mind. Give me the bacon one.

I figured worst case I had to take the egg and cheese off but thankfully it was just bacon. After splitting my bacon with Precious we are back on the road.

Change of plans. Since the mandatory drive time is 11 hours it looks like we will be running short on time so we are switching loads in Troy, Illinois and then on to Detroit, Michigan where it says it is 12 degrees and they just had the biggest snow storm since 1974.

What a treat!  Today we saw the world’s largest catsup, not ketchup, bottle in the world.   Its in Collinsville, Illinois.   Who’d have thought.  LOL

http://www.catsupbottle.com/

We traded our carpet for 34,000 pounds of chicken and are off again.   Weather here is 19 degrees and we are heading north!   We didn’t see any snow until we hit northern Illinois, around Bloomington.   Not a lot but a few inches.   Found a poor snowman someone tried to build at a rest area we stopped for the night.  Poor little thing.   Its in no danger of melting any time soon that’s for sure.   It took us 45 minutes to find a place to park tonight.  We went to two truck stops and they were both full so we finally ended up at a rest area along I-55N.   Ton of truckers here too but at least we found a spot and its close to the bathroom!!

Hope we get our load to Michigan tomorrow.   Here is the weather now.

Well, we are all snuggled in for the night.  Ready to watch a Downton Abbey and hit the bed.  Got to be on the road early.   Goodnight everyone!

World’s largest catsup bottle, Collinsville, IL.

Lovely Nashville traffic

Nashville, TN

This building looks like its a transformer

Tennessee Titans stadium.

Road sign in Tennessee, y’all

Old barn in KY

Birds

Tennessee River

Ohio River

Snowman in Bloomington, Illinois

Woke up to sunshine this am. That’s something we haven’t seen in a couple of days. And then it started to rain but thankfully only for a few minutes. We can actually see blue sky between the clouds now which is encouraging.

We got a late start this am due to me having to pee midnight. Apparently when we went two miles down the road it activated his drive clock which did something to his sleep clock. There is really a lot yet I have to learn about the rules and regulations. Thank you Government. Fortunately we stayed at a Racetrac gas station so no worries this am about finding a bathroom. Who would have thought my time would revolve around bathrooms and truck stops.

We made it to our appointment at the Atlanta Kroger distribution site with our pork loin intact and frozen as it should be. It was nice to read on the bill of lading (which explains what and how much you are carrying) that the pork is raised, harvested and processed only in America. Good to know.

We sat around for about an hour while they unloaded the truck. Then we had to go get the trailer washed and sanitized. Next stop is Dalton, Georgia for carpet.

A lot of sitting around today.   Waited two hours but we finally have 43,000 pounds of carpet headed for Kansas City, Kansas.    We need to be there by 5 am on Wednesday so tomorrow is going to be a long drive.

We are parked for the night in Manchester, Tennessee and ready to watch another Downton Abbey episode before we go sleep.

Greg writing here:  You never know who you are going to meet out on the road.  Went inside to use the restroom, a must at every stop, and see what kind of snacks they had for the evening.  Pizza rolls, chocolate cake and a cream horn.  Mmmmmm,,,,,,,,,good eats.  While looking around and waiting for Annie to come out of the restroom, (really, what does she do in there.  It always takes so long.) I’m listening to the oldies station that’s playing over the truck stop speaker system.  As we approach the counter I notice that the cashier, a guy about my age, is quietly singing to himself the Little Feat song playing on the radio.  I say, “Quick, name that band.” to which he quickly responds, Little Feat.  I congratulate him on his knowledge of somewhat obscure 70’s music and he tells me he is a big fan of theirs and then proceeds to tell me his story, well part of it.  A very interesting part.  It seems this gentleman, who on first appearances looked about as normal as normal is, was once in the Marine Corp.  Honorable and noteworthy, but not the most interesting part of his story.  Apparently upon discharge from the Marines this young 22 year old went to a Grateful Dead concert, I don’t recall where he said it was, but at said concert he proceeded to get drunk and wondered backstage where he made friends with the “Dead” and was offered a job as a roadie on their tour that summer.  And he became a “Little Feat” fan when they opened for the “Dead” at Madison Square Gardens that summer.  There was some references to drug use among the bands and crew but we didn’t dwell on that.  Most of it he couldn’t remember anyway, but there was one more very interesting episode in his summer adventure that he delighted in sharing.  For those who do not know or have never heard of Gerry Garcia, driving force behind the Grateful Dead, know that he had a drug problem, mainly heroine and everybody he knew gave him hell over it because they loved him and didn’t want to see him succumb to an early demise because of it.  Well, it just so happens that on one occasion, in the hotel where band and crew were staying during their multiple day concert gig in New York, the door to Gerry’s room was open and as our new found acquaintance was passing in the hall Gerry invited him into his room.  (I wish I could tell you his name here, but I did not even ask fearful of interrupting the flow of the tale being told.  So let’s call him Carl.  I always liked that name.)  So Carl goes into the room and there is Gerry, by himself, with some “works”, drug speak for syringe, spoon and lighter, all used to “cook” the heroine in preparation for injecting.  Don’t ask me how I know, I must have read it somewhere.  So, Gerry asks Carl to “cook” him up a hit, but Carl says he does not know how, so Gerry says, don’t worry I will walk you through it and he does.  Once high, Gerry proceeds to play a four hour solo concert for Carl in the hotel room.  Just the two of them.  Imagine what he heard.  I don’t know about you, but I think that in itself is an amazing story.  Aside from the drug use of course, but one cannot hardly tell a story about the 60’s or 70’s without drugs being involved somewhere.  And that’s that on this day from the road.  I’m beat.  Goodnight all.

A rare moment of getting to sit with daddy.

Way down yonder on the…………… well you get the drift. Allen Jackson would be happy.

Not a pretty or big river to have a song named after it.

Dont you love traffic in Atlanta. This was at 3 pm. So glad we missed the 5 oclock traffic.

Couldnt resist.

I think we are going to be a while at the carpet warehouse.

Stop chasing me! I am not getting back in the truck!! He had to chase her all over to catch her!!

Chattanooga Tennessee when you have the settings wrong on your camera.

It was nice to see rolling hills and big trees as we headed in to Georgia.

Downtown Atlanta

Atlanta

Atlanta

Home of the Atlanta Braves

Restaurant out front of stadium.

Well, today has been a long day.   Greg got up early and there was snow all over the truck and parking lot but when we got up later on it was raining and it is still raining.   Most of the snow was gone pretty early which we were grateful for.

We are in Georgia at least and almost to our stop so just another couple of hours in the am.   Unfortunately, I dont have a lot of pictures today as it was raining so hard I couldnt get very many and what I did get werent good ones.   We did cross over the Missouri River, The Mississippi River, the Ohio River and the Tennessee River.   We had stopped for the night in Ringold, GA at a rest area only to find out at 12:30 that they closed up at 11 pm so off we go to find a bathroom.   Being a girl definitely has its disadvantages on the road.  I ran in to one lady in the bathroom today who was a truck driver and she told me I needed to get a “piss bucket” for the truck.  The guys all pee on the road, off the road, anywhere they can so she said we ladies have to have a way to go too when there isnt a truck stop around.   I told her I wasnt quite to that point yet and still had some dignity left but many of these late nights trying to find a bathroom or having to walk in the rain and snow a block just to pee and I may change my mind.   But again, not there yet.   Fortunately, the next truck stop was only a couple of exits down so all is good and we can get back to sleep.

We started out in the western part of Missouri and drove the whole width to Illinois and then down a bit in to Indiana, then Kentucky, to Tennessee to Georgia, back in to Tennessee (honestly, the highway goes up and down a bit there in the corner) then back to Georgia.  We stopped at a rest stop in Tennessee because it was raining so hard and then it got foggy so we thought we better pull off and see what was going to happen.   Fortunately, it cleared up before too long and we were back on the road.

We came down one really steep mountain in Tennessee and because of the weight of the truck (80,000 pounds including truck and loaded trailer) we could only go 25 miles an hour but we didn’t want to risk losing the breaks so it was worth the extra time.

Our stop is just outside Atlanta.   The rain has slowed down some finally so hopefully I will be able to see out the window tomorrow.

If you squint really hard you may be able to see the St. Louis Arch.

Mississippi River, just outside of St. Louis

I think Precious is enjoying life on the road.

Ohio River at Western part of KY

Oh My Goodness! You would not believe the smell we woke up to this morning! I cannot do it justice by trying to describe it. We got to the meat plant at 1 am as instructed but load wasn’t ready. They said they were running about an hour behind so we decided to go back to sleep a bit as they said they would knock on the door when done. Woke up at 5:30, still no knock. Started making calls but being Saturday morning no one was in customer service so we called dispatch, our guys, and they hadn’t heard either. Ok. Back to sleep. Woke up at 7:30 to a stench that would make skunks run and hide. It’s kind of a cross between rotten meat, boiling meat and something else I can’t quite put a name to, but it’s bad! Ok. Enough about the smell. You’re welcome. But at least now we can get our load and find a bathroom!

Another delay. Seals on the trailer door don’t match the ones on the paperwork. Waiting for it to be fixed before we can leave. We have 40,000 pounds of boneless pork loin.

10:30 finally back on the road. Temperature here is 22 with 4-6 inches of snow coming this afternoon so we need to get down the road! Really gloomy day here.

Chili is on and smells great. Can’t wait to have some homemade food.

We made good time today and a lot of miles which is good after all the sitting around yesterday.   Should get in to Georgia tomorrow night.

Weather was really gloomy starting out and then got worse as the day progressed.   Predictions of 7-8 inches in Southern Minnesota and Western Iowa.   Glad to be going south east.   We got hit with some of it though.    It was really cold, around the 20’s and the wind was crazy but then it started getting warmer, low 30’s and the snow started.   First a few flurries and then came down pretty hard for a while but roads remained clear thank Goodness.    Once we got further east it turned to rain so it looks like we are in the clear.

I took a lot of landscape pictures today of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.   There are several that look a like but I wanted to give you a feel for the vastness of these states.   It is amazing to see how big these farms really are.    We passed a lot of silos and several ethanol plants.   Good things to have in corn country I guess.   A few cows but not many.   I think I have only seen 4 or 5 horses this whole trip.

I did get the chili made.   Started it at around 10 am in the crock pot and it has cooked all day.   Cant wait to get in to it when we stop for the night.   It smells wonderful.   Of course, after two days of bologna sandwiches its bound to smell wonderful.

We are almost ready to stop for the night in Boonville, Missouri.  Going through St. Louis tomorrow so hope to get some pictures of the arch if the weather clears up.

Enjoy the pictures.   Goodnight.

And these little piggies go to market

Cant believe this guy has no sleeves and no jacket. Its 22 degrees!

All the trucks lined up with livestock in them.

Brrrrr

Minnesota

Iowa!

Not sure what to call this. Big steel structures on an overpass on our way to a truck stop. 4 of them.

Trucker Chili

Welcome to Missouri!

Snow is really coming down now

The exciting word of the day is SHOWER! We stayed at a TA truck stop and they have great showers with lots of hot water. Greg says that isn’t the norm everywhere so definitely took advantage of it. We have two stops today. First one is in Hopkins MN to drop off the soup and then on to Worthington, MN to pick up a load for Kroger in GA. Hopefully it’s a bit warmer there than here. It’s 12 degrees right now!

We had a short drive to the first stop at SuperValue but had to wait 3 1/2 hours for them to call us to unload the truck. Waste of hours but on the bright side we got to watch another Downton Abbey while we waited.

The trip to Worthington, MN was really pretty with slightly rolling hills and huge farms. There would be a house way off in the distance and corn fields as far as you can see. They are already getting the ground ready for spring and had manure over a lot of the fields already. The smell was pretty powerful but its good to see natural fertilizer being used. I tried to take pictures but it was getting dark by this time and not much turned out well enough to post. Hopefully will get a chance to come back through at some point and take some.

I am amazed at how windy it is here. Trying to go in to the rest area is a lot of fun. Weather says its 18 degrees and with the wind I know its even lower. Cuts right through my jeans. Thankfully I brought my boots and big heavy coat. Have definitely needed those today. I still have my sandals though and am just waiting for the right moment to put those on.

Our appointment was for 1 am but we arrived at about 7 pm to the meat processing plant. We were told before we headed this way that if we got there early we could get our load and head out. Well, apparently not. We have to wait until our 1 am appointment. Total change of plans. We went ahead and had the trailer washed and sanitized and then parked it in the lot where they would get it to load.

It was a little disturbing pulling in to the plant. At the front entrance is the truck with all of the cows head IN to the plant and we go around to the back side of the plant and head OUT with the meat. Disturbing yes, enough to make me stop eating beef – No. Nothing like a good steak in my opinion. Sorry!

Since we had several hours to hang out we found a Walmart close by and got stuff to make chili tomorrow (God help me) and sandwiches for supper tonight. Not a big fan of sandwiches but it did in a pinch. We are going to get some sleep and head back to plant at 1 am, where we were told we will hang our trailer number on the window and when our load is ready they will come find us. Then we can go back to sleep and head to Georgia tomorrow.

Goodnight for now.

Hudson, WI

Hudson WI

Minnesota River

Minnesota River

Welcome to Minnesota

Weigh station

Thats a heavy load

MIssissippi River

Arrived at SuperValue

Huge warehouse

Day two started a bit later than yesterday, thank goodness. We have an 11 hour trip but 30 hours to get there so need to time the work clocks to maximize drive time so didnt get out until about 9 am. We are headed to Hopkins, Minnesota. A 650 mile trip. We settled in for a long trip. One blessing on this trip is that Greg has a bluetooth headset for his phone so he can listen to his talk radio all he wants and I dont have to throw him out of the truck. LOL I have my camera and iPad so am good to go as well. Precious is in the bed still and doesnt come out until the afternoon. She likes laying under the covers. Cant blame her in this weather. Its been mostly low 30’s so far today but by the end of the day its 16 and dropping.

We started off headed to Minnesota with the intentions of going about an hour out of our way so we could miss Chicago because we were worried we would hit traffic and sit for two hours. But…. there was a detour on the highway and 80W to Iowa was closed so they kept us on 90W to Chicago but we never saw an exit back to 80W so you guessed it. We ended up in downtown Chicago. Fortunately, we hit at 1 pm so the traffic wasnt too bad. A few stops and starts but pretty good going for Chicago. It was fun seeing Chicago again even if we were just driving by. We saw the 4 towers which was where Gregory used to live when he went to school there. Passed the exit for Addison Street which is where the bike shop is located in the movie Return to Me with Minnie Driver. Wish we had time to stay and visit but no luck today.

Passed in to Wisconsin late afternoon. It is really a beautiful state. Reminds me of Kentucky a bit with the hills and farms but the valleys are wider. After the flat of Ohio for so long it is a welcome change in scenery. Then it got dark on us and I couldn’t really take anymore pictures. We are close to Minnesota but hope to get some pictures of Wisconsin before we cross over. It is really cold tonight and the wind is really whipping us around. Walking to the bathroom is a real treat!

Greg got fuel when we got to the truck stop tonight. $250 worth. Didnt even fill it up! Well, off to see what culinary delights await us in the Travel Plaza. Cant wait to find a Walmart or grocery store and get food I can fix in my new oven!

Coming up on Chicago

Closer

Closer still

Sears Tower

Lovely overpass

Gregorys old apartment buildings

Old apartment

Waiting on the train

Wisconsin Welcomes you!