Saturday, April 26, 2014

Been Awhile

Been awhile since I updated in here .... 

Billy finally got out of training yesterday and picked up his truck in Wisconsin. 
It needs some mechanical work and needs to be cleaned very badly so he is at the yard in Indianapolis and will stay there while it gets detailed and worked on. 
He is under a load he picked up last night that delivers tomorrow morning. 
Finally he can start making some good money. 
He has been making decent money during training but out of training and on his own now if he can get miles like his trainer did things are really going to pick up for us! 

Monday, March 31, 2014

New beginnings

Billy left for orientation at his new company yesterday morning. 
We drove him an hour and half away to Tifton to drop him off to catch a ride with another new guy that was coming up out of Florida. 
He went to Lenore Tennessee for orientation with Schaffer Trucking. 
Today he will do his drug test, physical and road test. 
Then all of the company paperwork etc. 
Thursday he should meet his trainer and head out for 4 weeks of OTR training. 
Then he should get to come home for a few days and we are hoping that by then we have enough money to move. If not then for sure by June 1st. 
♥♥♥

Friday, March 21, 2014

Funny how life changes

So we have made the big move and now live in Georgia. Billy is currently looking for a new company to drive for that will get him home more and run more than just the North West area. May was a great company and he had a great DM but they keep him in Oregon and Washington way too much and no guarantees on how often they can get him home. 

Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Big Change

I am home to stay for quite some time now. 
We are moving!!!!!
Within the next 2 weeks we will be on our way to Georgia. 
Billy is going out to run for the next 14 days to give notice to his company that he needs time off to move us. 
He will for now stay running for May Trucking but we are going to get moved and settled and then go from there. 
They said they would either get him a bus ticket to get back to Layton to get his truck or get him a ride with another driver that will be in that area. 
Big changes for our family!!!! 
♥♥♥

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Headed East .. Snow storms and checking off states

Well we spend the day Tuesday in the Gary Indiana yard. 
Billy had to do his 45 day review and get a DOT physical. 
Now he has a medical card good for 2 years so that is a good thing. 
We got our load and left Indiana over to Bettendorf Iowa to load. 
We got loaded first thing this morning and we are headed to Charlotte North Carolina. 
Got a load of frozen soups ... 
The snow storm/winter storm that they are calling "The Triple Threat of 2014" started yesterday just as we were leaving the Gary yard. It took us 4 hours to drive 180 miles. 
Its still snowing this morning and the roads are iffy in spots. 
Gonna be a long trip I am afraid. 
Only 882 miles but I think with the weather conditions its going to take us awhile. 
♥♥♥

Monday, February 3, 2014

No service and Winter Storm Maximus

Well its been a few days since I blogged ... 
I have so much to share. 
We lost service about half way across Northern Idaho and did not get it back until we got to nearly Fargo North Dakota. 
Sprint apparently does not offer service in most of Idaho, Montana and most of North Dakota. 
Go Figure!!!! 
I was going nuts. 
So going across Northern Idaho and seeing Lake Coer D' Alaine was beautiful. I would love to have a summer cabin there overlooking the lake. It really was that breathtaking. 
Then we got into Montana and ran smack into Winter Storm Maximus. 
The roads were absolutely horrible. 
So much so Billy thought  many times we should pull in somewhere and wait it out a bit but each time he would think about doing so it would clear up a bit so we just took it slow and we pushed forward. 
Seen some pretty strange things like some guy riding a bike down the side of the Interstate right smack in the middle of the blizzard....LOL 
We then got into North Dakota and we stayed the night in Bismarck. Nice truck stop and we parked right up next to a McDonalds so the walk to the bathroom was quick and easy. 
We ended up having to idle the truck because it was -25 outside. 
We got up in the morning and continued our trek across North Dakota and into Minnesota. 
Not much to say there it was a quick trip across LOL 
We are now in Wisconsin. 
We stopped last night in Oakdale and stayed at a Loves. Billy was able to go in and watch the last half of the Super Bowl which was a waste of time. Way to not show up Broncos. 
It got quite cold there last night also and we didnt realize it was going to get that cold so we did not idle the truck when I think we really should have. So this morning we had to let it warm up good before we could take off. It seems to be running ok so that is good. 
We are headed for Chicago. Never did get a delivery/unload appt from Customer Service so per the DM yesterday we are going to attempt to deliver when we arrive and go from there. 
Once we get unloaded then we will see what our next adventure is. 
Billy needs to get a DOT physical by Wednesday. His medical card expires and he is not supposed to drive a CMV until he gets it renewed. So we have been looking for a place to do that but have had no luck so far.  
On a good note I got to check 3 new states off my lower 48 list. 
North Dakota - Minnesota - Wisconsin. 
♥♥♥

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

WOW! What a day!!!

When we pulled in for the night we heard sleet hitting the truck ... thinking we should have either kept going or it was a good thing we pulled in ... 

So we wake up this morning to about an inch of solid ice all over the rest area where we stayed the night .... so we went to the restroom and then made coffee and we happen to notice there was absolutely NO traffic in either direction on the road headed up or down the canyon. So we got to talking to other truckers and they said the roads are bad and that we should chain up ... well we were parked on a slight hill and its hard to chain like that so we pulled around the other side of the rest area to chain ... Hubby had never chained before .. he was shown how to do it in class but never had done it .. about 10 minutes into chaining it starts pouring freezing rain ... he finally gets the chains laid down and you have to pull forward onto them so you can wrap them around the tires and we start to slide to the left ... CRASH right into a sign in the rest area .. took it completely out of the ground....... finally get the chains on and go to leave the rest area and on the on ramp to the highway there is a fedex truck STUCK and sliding backwards ... so we creep around him .. make sure he is ok and no need to get out nothing we can do to help ... 
We get out on the road and you can't go fast at all with chains on so we are creeping ... we finally get about 17 miles to the next truck stop and pull in for cigarettes and drinks. 
As we are getting ready to leave this guy comes up to the truck and says he has never chained before and doesnt know how to do it ... asks for help .. so hubby jumps out and helps him out .. that takes about an hour .... 
We head on up the road still creeping .. the roads finally clear up so we can pull over and take the chains off which takes about 30 minutes ... 
Had to make our way back through the pass and drop down into Pendleton Oregon where I finally have service ... 
Phewwwwwww the things I get to experience riding in this passenger seat ... 
Oh and for those that dont know I have MAJOR anxiety issues so this has made me a nervous wreck!!!!!

Friday, January 24, 2014

Washington State and Going Home.

So we picked the truck up on Wednesday from the Peterbilt dealer and nothing had been done. They could not get to us until next week sometime and the company had paid for 2 nights hotel for nothing. So now its decided we will take the truck to Peterbilt in Salt Lake City. 
We had a couple of little runs here in Washington state. We hauled some frozen food stuff then picked up some wine and now we have a load of Apples, Pears and Cherries that we are taking to Layton and another driver will snag it and take it on to Alabama. 
We will then drop the truck off and go home for a couple of days and spend time with the family and see the grandbabies. 
Yes I am super excited!!!!!! 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Why can't people just do what they say they are going to do?

Well here we sit again another night in the hotel!!
Billy calls this morning to check on the truck and the Peterbilt dealer tells him that they have not even gotten authorization to work on the truck so they have not even touched it!!!!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
So even if they get authorization today the truck will not be done. 
So his DM authorized another night in the hotel.... funny how she is right on it I mean we had that money within 5 minutes and everything taken care of as far as the hotel goes. 
So Billy calls the "breakdown" department that sent us here to start with and tells them look you're screwing me .. I am not making any money get this authorized and they act all stupid like "Uh it should be authorized. Let me give them a call" 
Yeah you better give them a call and get this thing going .. GRRRRR!!!!! 
The worst part is we have a freaking 2500 mile trip that needs to be scanned in by midnight tonight and we have no way of scanning it in because this truck stop does tripak only and we need transflo. 
That means no paycheck next week ... the following week will be HUGE but then again taxed out the ass and draws taken out and what not .. not to mention we will be a week behind on all our bills which is what we DO NOT want .. we are trying so hard to get ahead and its one thing after another all the time and we just can't seem to get there. 
I see the surface of the water but I will be damned if I can reach it! 
♥♥♥

Monday, January 20, 2014

Truck Fixing and Jubitz

Well the truck is in the shop. Getting the bunk heater fixed on it so that we dont have to idle the truck non stop. That will make the big wigs happy. 
But we dropped the truck off this morning as instructed and was told the 1 guy at this shop that does what we need done only works Tuesday - Saturday. 
So definitely not getting done today and maybe tomorrow barring any sickness etc and the guy comes to work and he can get the work done tomorrow. If not then maybe Wednesday. 
So we found a hotel with a shuttle to pick us up and here we are. 
We are Jubitz in Portland Oregon. 
Claimed to be the "Classiest Truck Stop in America" 
It is a very nice place. 
We are staying at The Portlander Inn and its a very nice room. 
The staff thus far have been very nice. 
There is lots to see and do here .. they have a lounge/bar. 
They have a grill. 
2 deli's 
2 convenience stores. 
Arcade
Movie Theater
Post Office
Coffee Shop
Barber/Beauty Shop
Restaurant
Laundromat
Boot Repair 
Ice Cream Shop
Truck Museum
Drs office 
Drug Testing place 
I might have left some things out but you get the point. 
WOW!!!!
Definitely a good place to be stuck if you gotta be stuck. 
We will enjoy our time in the room tonight and see what happens tomorrow. 
Hope we are back on the road making money. 
♥♥♥ 

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Pictures Sunday January 19 2014

Relaxing Sunday

We got into Troutdale Oregon yesterday afternoon and was able to have a nice visit with our niece and nephew. It was great to see them. Haven't seen Ryan in about 5-6 years and we hadn't seen Britny since she was like 6 and she is now 18. 
We had a great visit and was able to catch up with all they are doing with their lives. 
Ryan is working part time at FedEx and Britny is still in high school and taking college courses and looking at going to college in the fall in St Louis Missouri. 
They have both really grown up. 

Today we were able to sleep in until our bodies told us to wake up which unfortunately was about 730am since we are getting older we have to pee more frequently lol 
So we had coffee and breakfast and then went in and took showers and are just relaxing now the rest of the day. 
I am playing on the computer and Billy is inside with all the other truckers watching football to see who will be playing in the superbowl. 
We deliver our load tomorrow morning then we will take the truck over to the Peterbilt dealer here in Portland Oregon and have them fix the bunk heater. If it is going to take over night we will get a hotel somewhere in Portland and wait for it to be fixed if not and they are going to be quick about it we will hang out at the dealer and then get a load and hit the road running after the fix is complete. 
I really hope for the later so we can get to making some money. 
♥♥♥

Friday, January 17, 2014

Friday's are so stressful

Well it is Friday .... my arch nemesis. 
Friday's are so stressful. 
Friday's are payday. You would think it would be a happy day but nooo not in our world. 
We are still trying to dig out of the hole we got into when he was driving for CR England. 
We are so far behind in all our bills and when payday comes now its a huge sit down and who we going to pay and when and how much and who are we going to call and beg them to hold off and wait and let us slide a week .... With the truck being broke down all the time it seems we get a good week in and then blamo we have a really crappy week and so that just puts us behind yet again on the good weeks. 
We keep discussing that I should go home and try again to find a job but I just dont know .. I looked as hard as I could for over a year with nothing .. no luck ...not 1 single bite. So it is frustrating for me and I dont know what the magic answers are. 
I just wish just for once that we could have a Friday with no stress. 
♥♥♥

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Picture January 15 2014

My fav things

Tuna Fish, Classic Rock, Dancing in the drivers seat and smart ass-ness

Well we were up this morning before the crack of dawn. 
Coffee made .. pop tarts ate and ready to hit the road. 
Slowly making our way west. 
We are currently driving through the Quad Cities area in Illinois. 
I feel like I have been here a million times before ... oh wait I have just a few LOL 
We stopped at a pretty nice rest area right inside of Illinois and ate lunch. Our standard tuna salad and crackers. Topped off with some chips and soda lol. 
Got back in and driving down the road singing classic rock along with the radio at the top of our lungs. 
Billy keeps dancing in the drivers seat and I so badly want to get a video of him doing it but I can't catch him without him realizing it then he just stops and gives me the bird..... hrumphhhhh someday. 
He really has a smart ass mouth on him today and thought it was cute to take a picture of me earlier when I was catching a morning nap in the passenger seat and posted it on facebook. I hate that. You can't control what you look like when you are sleeping so your mouth could be gaping open wide ... your head bobbing around etc etc.... drives me crazy. 
We will just keep making our way westward. So far looks like they are going to r

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Headed West yet again

Well our trip out here in the east and semi south is over ... 
We dropped our load this morning in West Virginia and the new load sent us empty to Ohio and now we are headed back to Portland Oregon again. 
Unless they take the load away somewhere along the way or head us into Salt Lake City to get the truck heater fixed then Oregon it is. 
This time in Oregon we are hoping to see our niece and nephew and spend a little bit of time with them. Its been almost 5 years since I have seen our nephew and about 10 or more since I have seen our niece so that will be nice if we can make it happen. 
We almost expect them to however take the load from us or send us into Utah to get the truck fixed which means we will repower the load for another driver to take the rest of the way. 
I can't share what it is that we are hauling as it is a high profile load and they have had many of these loads stolen which is beyond me but ok ... very strange LOL 
Anyhow been on this same stretch of road and ran this same route I cant count how many times before so talk about boredom. 
Also means we have to go through Nebraska and Wyoming which means 2 days without phone or internet service .. grrrr!!!!!!!! 
Also its been nice weather here in the east the last 2 days and now we are headed back into the cold. Booooooo!!!!! 

Monday, January 13, 2014

Pennsylvania and Onion Rings

We finally got a load yesterday and got out of South Bend Indiana ... 
They had us go to the Gary Indiana yard and pick up a repower and bring it to Pennsylvania. 
We are hauling 2 different types of onion rings. 
They came all the way from Idaho. 
Hopefully we can get unloaded tonight in good time and get moved to a truck stop where we can get some laundry done. 
We are just killing time now because we dont want to move the truck and start the clock. 
Nothing worse than just sitting ... ughhh hate it!!! 

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Picture January 12 2014

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Picture January 11 2014

Truck is fixed and now we wait ......

Wooops been a couple of days ..... 
Probably for the best tho I had a bit of a meltdown day before yesterday being stuck in this truck at the whim of someone thousands of miles away that I felt didnt give a crap if we sat for weeks it was no skin off their back ..... 
Yesterday mid day we finally got a tow and the company that came to tow us was supposed to take our trailer to their secured lot then tow us over to a Kenworth dealer .. now mind you we had a pretty good idea that all that was wrong with our truck was the fuel filters. So the tow company got ahold of someone at May finally and got authorization to switch out the fuel filters quickly and see if that did the job .... guess what ... IT WORKED!!!! Go figure. 
So we went and did some grocery shopping for the truck last night ... grabbed a subway and watched a movie .. 
Today now we are waiting for the planners to find us a load and get us on our way. My guess is it will not happen until tomorrow when our DM comes into work. The other DM's sadly are not as proactive for us to get loads like ours is. 
We love Sorelle ... we need to find her a little thank you gift of some sort. She really does take good care of us. 
So here we sit .. still in South Bend Indiana .. Still at the same Pilot with no driver lounge .. no tv room .. no laundry .. no nothing aside from Subway. If there was a TV room Billy wo uld be much happier and since we desperately need to do laundry I would be perfectly happy doing laundry today LOL as much as I hate it. 
Oh well ... we will wait for a load and then do some laundry when we can stop next at a truck stop with a laundry area. 
The weather today here in Indiana is chilly and rain/snow mix. 
They finally got the parking lot cleared yesterday so we can walk across it without climbing mountains of snow and slush. 
I will post a picture here in a minute. 
♥♥♥

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Day #2

Well today is day #2 at the Pilot Truck stop in South Bend Indiana. 
We have been waiting on a mechanic for over 24 hours now. 
My guess Indiana needs more mechanics if it is taking this long to get someone to us. 
The other frustrating part of this equation is that OTRS (over the road support) will not even give us an inkling of an idea when someone may come .. no please be patient we are working on it .. sorry we have no idea when someone can get there ... no instead we get nothing .. radio silence .. so now we are losing money .. the company is losing money and we have a load that should have been delivered yesterday sitting on our truck ... I dont get the concept ... I really think from a business standpoint they would be scrambling to get us back and rolling so we can start getting loads delivered. 
So frustrating!!!!

I will tell you tho ... I love people watching ... always have .... when I was a teenager me and some friends would go out to the Salt Lake International Airport and park and get a coke and sit and watch people ... 
Truck stops are great places to people watch .... you see things you wish you could unsee and you get a good laugh all day long ... 
Give it a try if you are ever bored. 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

-42 degrees and turn around spots

Yesterday was a bit of a trial for us ... the truck started acting funny as we were going down the turnpike after crossing over into Indiana. Billy thought the fuel was gelling up so we stopped at a travel plaza and he got OTRS to send him some money for anti gel stuff. We got it put in and decided to grab some dinner and let the truck idle. 
We got back out on the turnpike and the further we went the worse the truck was running. So we get off the turnpike and gonna pull into a Pilot .... Ummm nope think again the Pilot was full up and overfull to say the least ...so we make our way down the road and gonna turn around ... there is a paved road city road at that and we go to turn and STUCK!!!!! 
Stuck as stuck can be. 
We sat there for over 14 hours ...breakdown told us we were in line to be towed but who knew when. 
We went to bed....woke up this morning and still no word on when. 
Then along comes this angel ..... this city plow guy came along and helped dig us out and put down a sand gravel mix and helped us get out. After about 30 minutes we were out ....
But the truck still will not run so here we sit in the truck stop waiting on breakdown to figure out our next move. Needless to say we will not get our load there on time. 
*sigh* 

Monday, January 6, 2014

January 6 2014 picture

Even through the dirt in life you have to look for the rainbows.

The Great Storm of 2014....empty condiment bottles

The great storm of 2014....and I little ole me from Utah is stuck right smack in the middle of it. 
This morning we woke up in Avon Ohio ... it was lightly snowing but not overly cold. 
We went to our drop and as we sat there waiting to get unloaded the temps began to drop and the wind picked up .... 
By the time we left and headed to our next pick up it was bitter cold. 
We stopped at a travel plaza on the Ohio Turnpike to see if we could get the windshield wipers and fluid working... they were frozen solid. 
We decided we were going to try to go to the bathroom. 
Got all bundled up and got out of the truck ... I look and the building is about a 1/4 mile away ... about 10 steps in the wind causes my eyes to start watering ... about another 5 steps and the tears were freezing to my eyelashes and I could not see ... about another 5 steps and I said NOPE no bathroom for me I will hold it and wait. 

We get to our next pick up in Fremont, Ohio. 
Thankfully we are parked right next to the building to load and they have a bathroom ... thank you whomever blessed me with that modern convenience LOL 
We get loaded ....
We are hauling 83,000 empty condiment bottles to Heinz in Muscatine Iowa. 
As we are preparing to leave the shipper another truck comes to the truck and tells us the storm is now a level 3 and all roadways except the turnpike are closed. 
We decide we are going to get on the turnpike and head on down the road and see how far we can get so we can do as much driving as possible in the daylight hours. 
I am writing you as we go down the Ohio Turnpike so I do not pay attention to the fact that we are loaded so light and the winds are blowing about 60mph which if I sit and watch makes my anxiety go through the roof. 
Pretty much no one on the road even the Turnpike except us truckers trying to get as far as we can when possible. 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

January 5 2014 picture

Snow at the loves in Toledo Ohio such a nice day.....not!!!!!

Blizzard and driving ....

So its the great storm of 2014 is what the radio keeps saying. 
Winter storm Ion I guess it is .... 
Yeah its pretty bad.... 
We shut down last night in Indiana at a travel plaza and when we woke this morning it was snowing and blowing and cold .... 
The roads were crap and seen many accidents involving both cars and big trucks as we made our away across I80 into Ohio. 
Now here we sit at a Loves truck stop. Waiting on OTR support to answer us because we have no clearance lights on the truck or trailer. Our DM says they may send us to a shop to get it taken care of .. seriously just give us $10 and we will go inside and buy some and put it in ourselves and be back on the road in just a few minutes ROFL companies are so silly. You are going to pay a shop $50 - $100 to change a fuse ... uhmmmm ok your choice. 
We are about 85 miles out from our drop which is not due until 7am tomorrow morning. We made good time despite the storm. 
Hope our next load is somewhere warm. I need something to kick this cold out of my chest. 
♥♥♥

Saturday, January 4, 2014

January 4 2014 picture

And the picture today as we drive through Iowa

January 4, 2014

Today we are headed through Iowa and into Illinois. 
It is bitter bitter bone chilling cold. 
The kind of cold that no one wants to endure at all ... honestly makes me think if its worth it to get out of the truck to use the bathroom LOL 
Today has been stressful trying to pay bills and what not from the road. Dealing with bill collectors and people you owe money to is so not fun at all especially with driving. 
Well we just ran into snow ... here it comes full force. 
That winter storm is going to hit us like no other. 
We just got a message that said Northern Illinois was expecting temperatures of -20 ..... really??  
Who would want to live in a place like that? 
Looks like I am not getting out of the truck unless its a 911 LOL 

Friday, January 3, 2014

January 3, 2014

Toothpaste. Yup toothpaste!!! And not just ordinary toothpaste. Its kids training and anti bacterial toothpaste. All 37,588 pounds of it. We picked it up in Portland, Oregon  and we are taking it to Avon, Ohio. The place we picked it up at was right near the docks in Portland so I imagine it was shipped in from somewhere. This trip is going to pay us a little over 2400 miles. Not bad. Long way for toothpaste to travel but ok. There ya have it.

And first picture of 2014 :

Crossing one of the many bridges near the docks in portland oregon.

Havent posted in forever...sorry

I always forget to blog but I am really going to get better at it I promise.

I had a request to blog about the types of loads we are hauling and where we pick them up and where we take them to and I thought yeah that is some pretty interesting stuff if ya think about it. The distances our goods travel to get to our homes.

I am also going to try project 365 again and have no excuse this year being on the road and the amount of pictures I take. So since today is the third it will be project 362 in my world. And I will be tying it in with our truck driving adventures.

With that being said on to my first blog of 2014.

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