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…

Nonstop Entertainment…

Irene mentioned in her last post that I had a funny story to tell about her on a recent trip to California. Funny for myself, but a bit embarrassing on her part…well kind of. We picked up a load at a customer that was located behind a candy factory near LA. The name of the place was See’s Candy. We had some time to kill, so we decided to check out there retail store. Actually the smell of chocolate was in the air and it was hard to resist. Once inside, Irene noticed a security guard standing off to the side and of course she had to ask…why are you here? Is this a bad neighborhood or something? The woman guard replied, “it can be”…in which Irene grabbed my arm and said, let’s get out of here. However, by that time I had noticed the “white chocolates” (and I am a sucker for it). I could not leave without buying a bag. Well anyway we finished up and once loaded had headed out for El Paso TX. I had placed the white chocolates in our truck fridge to keep cool so the chocolate would not melt because it was very, very hot outside. Well the following day Irene was on the phone (Bluetooth) talking with her brother while she was driving and I decided to have some white chocolate. Being the loving husband that I am I placed 2 pieces of chocolate on Irene’s leg so that she could also satisfy her sweet tooth once she was off the phone.

I had finished driving my 11 hour shift a little before this and decided it was time to hit the bed. Irene was good to go driving wise, and deep into conversation with her brother so why not catch some rest. After about a 3 hour nap I crawled out of the sleeper and into the passenger seat and Irene looks to me and says with this long pouty face…“I had an accident”. I freaked out and started looking in the mirrors for damage to the trailer and looking out the windows for damage on the truck while yelling “accident” what do you mean accident? With this sad puppy dog look, and about to cry voice, she looks down at the “let’s say zipper area” of her pants and says… “I forgot you put those white chocolates on my leg. I stood up and looked over at that “zipper area” and all I could see was a big white stain…I couldn’t resist, “Irene”, I said…what have you been up to while I slept? She found no humor in the question…LOL. The chocolates had managed to roll down of her leg and land in her (lap) and onto the seat while she drove, and proceed to melt leaving this big white stain. I laughed and laughed while she asked what am I going to do? Once I pulled myself together I explained that at the next fuel stop she would have to change or take a Clorox wipe and try to clean it off. The wipe worked, but left Irene with a big wet spot on her jeans and now she says…I need to use the bathroom. I couldn’t resist again…I said, it already looks like you went in your pants…she found no humor in that comment either. I said well, tie your jacket around your waist and walk on in…she did and all I could do was laugh watching her walk across the parking lot. The poor girl…she has the worst luck. Which of course I get to have all the laughs…she definitely is “nonstop entertainment”.

Our new Volvo is running great and we love it so far. Things have been going well and we have been bouncing back and forth across the country. We are currently in Pennsylvania picking up a trailer headed for Illinois and then heading out to Calexico, California to drop a trailer at one of our yards. I like the Calexico runs but last week when we were there it was 106⁰…too hot for this guy. Well time to run…I believe our trailer is ready…stay tuned, who knows what Irene will get into next…lol.

I am not a truck driver anymore…

On Friday we were notified (by our employer) that the new truck we have been waiting for was ready for us in Joplin and we could stop by to pick it up. As luck would have it, we were driving thru Joplin on our way to California to deliver a load. Randy was ecstatic. We hurried along and arrived in Joplin about 2:30 am. We went directly to truck assignments to find out about our new truck. They confirmed that we could get our truck in the morning if we would like. Well of course Randy was not going to say no, however we were under a load which still needed to be delivered in California on time. Switching out a truck and getting everything in order could take some time. To boot, we had to sit thru a class before our company would let us leave with a brand new truck.

Well, Randy talked with the dispatch office and they were more than happy to help us out. They let us keep the load to Cali and bumped the delivery time out, they helped us with all the e-log change overs, and prepared our permit book to go. We took possession of the new truck and went to class.  All in all, everything went off without a hitch. Now the only thing left was for us to swap everything from the old truck to the new truck. Wow, what a chore…I think it is easier moving from one house to another. The old truck we had was already adjusted to our needs and everything had a place. It took us a while to get it that way. With limited space, it takes time to get everything just right. We parked both trucks side by side and started moving everything over. Now, here we are with a new truck and no idea where to put anything. The fridge did not fit, the microwave did not have a spot and the TV was way too small for its designated area. Well with the sun beating on us, the high temperature and the lack of sleep, both Randy and I decided that the organizing was not happening that day. We would just put things in place on our way to Cali.

Now, back to the new truck…I can’t even call it a truck anymore. It is more like an RV. It has way more room in it then our old truck. It has a table with benches that can seat four people. The table folds down into a bed. There is a ladder to climb up to the top bunk. The walls and seats are decorated just like an RV and not like a work truck. There are ample mirrors along with a side visor for the driver, which is nice. Both of the seats have the massage mechanism in them. It’s equipped with AM/FM/ CD and Sirius XM. The truck is quiet and smooth driving and most of all it has an automatic transmission. This means no more shifting and anyone could drive this truck. I don’t feel cool anymore, I feel like I am cheating. It was so nice to know that I could do something that big tough guys can do and now I can’t say that anymore. I am not special, just your average RV driver…lol.  The minute Randy got behind the driver’s seat he loved the truck. For me, the jury is still out even though I feel like I’m on vacation all the time.

Well, keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well with the new truck.  We are very excited and happy to be on the road.

Here are some pictures of the new truck...