Saturday, March 30, 2013

Red Solo Truck


Red Solo Truck…we fill you up…let’s tour the country…let’s tour the country. I love you Red Solo Truck…
We are almost a week into our new (used) truck and I can’t help but think that Toby Keith meant to sing about our truck instead of his Solo cup…lol.  It has definitely been a challenge, but we knew it would be.  Having to shift again after driving the automatic Volvo for 10 months is the biggest challenge. People have said, “Oh it’s just like riding a bike, you never forget”.  Irene has done well but for me…I crash my bike at least once a day...lol. The truck shifts very, very smooth and with Irene’s gentle shifting it goes well for her…but for me, it’s like a bull in a China cabinet. I am doing a lot better with it though day by day.

The other challenge that we encountered was “where oh where do we put everything?” You see, it was like moving from a 4 bedroom house into a 1 bedroom. Thankfully Irene is good at packing things away and she has done just that.  It’s a science now to find anything, but everything does have its place. We tell each other several times a day that this is just a temporary setting and that we will upgrade by the 1st of the year.  Hopefully when we go home in April we can remove some winter items and perhaps add a couple of shelves for more storage.…in addition, I am just like Tim the Tool Man Taylor…I can build anything. Arghhh Arghhh Arghhh!
We left our home terminal in Joplin on the 18th and relayed our 1st load at our terminal in Lancaster, TX.  From there we picked up in Dallas and headed to Kettleman City, CA to deliver a Con-way Freight load. We enjoyed this trip very much because it took us for the 1st time thru Tehachapi Pass and on up to Bakersfield, CA. It also took us just a stone’s throw from Charles Manson’s home for many years, Corcoran State Prison. Tehachapi was a beautiful ride, as the pictures attached will show.



 


 

 After we left Kettleman, it was off to Sacramento for a load.  However, shortly after we arrived the load was cancelled. No problem because we still got paid for the ride. They reassigned us a load, which would send us down to Los Angeles, but we could not pick it up until the following morning. Therefore, Irene and I decided to wander a little and kill time. We came across an Asian supermarket called Ranch Market.  What a treat this place was. If you ever have the chance to stop at one, you need to do it! The store had a small style food court inside where you could purchase your food and sit right there and eat. I have to admit that I was a little frightened by some of the items they had. Whole ducks cooked…with the beak. Chickens feet…no way Jose, pigs feet…not happening, and other things that I could not even begin to describe. Irene and I just stuck with what we knew…sesame chicken, chow fun, fish. After we ate we wandered the rest of the store and we were both amazed.  At times I thought we left the United States and landed in Asia. Most everything was written in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and the list went on. They even had a live seafood section with fish tanks and OMG they had Carp in one tank!  Yep, carp, evidently a delicacy in Asia. But the funniest part for me (with my sick sense humor) was when I saw the packages of round things. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to investigate. These little round balls were exactly that…balls! There were beef balls, pork balls, and many other different balls all packaged up. They even had shrimp and fish balls. Wait shrimp and fish don’t have balls…do they? For you guys that have lost your balls…you can definitely find them here…ha ha ha…like I said, sick sense of humor.


Well it was time to go and if I hadn’t had enough fun already I believe Irene made me laugh the hardest. She said to me oh I know why everything is in Asian…we are close to Japan. I looked at her and without skipping a beat said…can you see it from your house Sarah Palin? Now I love Sarah but I couldn’t resist saying it as I laughed all the way to the checkout while Irene stood there with a puzzled look. Dang I love her…she always knows how to make me laugh…lol.


So we  picked up in Los Angeles and delivered to Chicago and from there it was onto Kansas City, then over to Pennsylvania. We are currently on our way to Oregon as I write this for our next delivery. We had a total of 5798 miles…not bad for our 1st full week as independent contractors. As long as the miles keep coming we can’t ask for much more. I have said it many times before… we are truly blessed to be able to enjoy this life on the road, the adventure, the laughs, new friendships, and everything else in between.

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