Pictures from June

I-80 Utah near Bonneville Salt Flats

This is not snow, it is at the Salt Flats in Utah

Underground Warehouse Facility in Springfield MO

Amish

It has been about three weeks since we took possession of our new 2013 Volvo truck.  All I can say is “so far so good”. We have not had any troubles to speak of. Our fuel mileage has been great and the truck has not broken down…LOL. One of the nicest features of the truck is that it has a ton of storage space. When you live on the road, storage space is a blessing, to say the very least. We also have NaviGo navigation in the new truck. Therefore, between the NaviGo,  our Garmin GPS, and Irene I now have 3 women in the truck telling me where to go. It’s been coast to coast already and from southern Texas to Detroit Michigan without a hiccup.

Speaking of Detroit…we picked up a load of truck axles headed to York, SC.  We decided to save on some miles so we took a short cut across Ohio on Route 250 to I-77.  This route happened to take us through Amish country. Wow! What a beautiful early evening country ride we had. On top of all that, I was able to see several Amish in there buggies and a team of work horses being put to use by a farmer. I am not sure why but for some reason I am very fascinated by the Amish…Irene thinks I am nuts, oh well. Maybe it’s there simple way of life…after all…I am a simple kind of guy.

Just about at the end of highway 250 (where it meets I-77) there was a little town called Strasburg that we rolled into. While driving thru this little town I noticed a drive-in movie theatre. Irene and I looked at each other in amazement. We could not believe that a drive-in movie theatre was still open in America. Honestly, we have not seen one of these drive-ins anywhere in years.  I wondered if the Amish people drive to the drive-in in there horse and buggies. It was early evening and there was a line of cars going in to the drive-in, which happened to be playing the movie “Madagascar 3”. Of course we tried to look inside the drive-in to see if there were any buggies in there, but we could not get a good look.  We are such knuckle heads. I started to think we were doing a “Back to the Future” scenario…

On another recent run we did from California to Indiana, Irene got up close and personal with a black bear. We had just fueled at a Pilot Travel Center and we pulled back onto I-80 heading east in Utah. It was late and Irene was at the wheel.  I figured it was time to get some shut eye. Now keep in mind, this was a mountainous countryside, we were traveling through. I had no more than put my head on the pillow when I hear Irene yelling OMG! OMG!  I thought to myself this is it; we are going over a cliff! Oh, I did not want to go this way. Please help me Jesus! I’m sorry for breaking that window when I was a little kid; I’m sorry for putting my parents thru hell; I’m sorry for not sharing with others; I’ll never tell another lie; just let me live through this! Then I hear Irene yelling “Holy Sh!t”.  Now I am thinking to myself…Oh Lord, this is the big one.  A lot goes through your mind quickly when your life flashes before ya! Now at this point I am out of my bunk and Irene says…“a huge huge bear just crossed in front of me, and I mean huge.”  You mean we are not going over the cliff!  Dang Irene, you scared the heck out of me!  “Scared you? How did I scare you?” Irene asked.  She was the one who almost hit the bear…but I was the one who thought we were going over the cliff. “So you think I drive that bad?” she asked.  Good Night honey…I said…love you!   

Our miles have been okay but nothing to brag about lately. We were in Joplin MO last week for some Qualcom (computer) work that needed to be up-graded in our truck. We spent the night at the Holiday Inn and we were able to relax, go swimming, and just enjoy some normal time for a change.

Later that evening Irene was showering and I was watching TV.  She yelled for me to pass her the shampoo and conditioner.  Usually Irene does not use the complimentary shampoo and conditioner from the hotels, but she happens to like the ones at Holliday Inn.  She says that they smell nice. Anyway, I quickly picked up one green bottle and one white bottle and passed them to Irene in the shower.  For a second I wondered why the hotel leaves two conditioner bottles and only one shampoo bottle.  Oh well, back to the TV.  A couple of minutes later I hear Irene say “RANDY” in that tone that tells me that I am in trouble. “What did you give me?” she says.  I headed to the bathroom with tail tucked between my legs and asked what the problem was. “This isn’t conditioner you idiot…this is body lotion!” I guess the Hotel leaves complimentary shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion.  You learn something new every day. “Oh” I said, “I was wondering why there was 2 white bottles…hmmm.” It was a very quiet night in the hotel room…rather cold to…won’t make that mistake again…LOL

Things are going well, truck is running good, the family is healthy, and we are heading home in a few weeks to celebrate Irene’s and my birthdays…big 50 for me this year. Life is good…