Missing the little things in life...

It’s funny how the simplest things in life become so valuable once you don’t have them.  I miss Randy grilling mushroom cheese burgers in the back yard for the kids; I miss sleeping in on my huge bed on the weekends; I miss the kids piling in my room one by one (even though I am not ready to get up) and wanting breakfast; I miss making the kids French toast; I miss our family dinners; I miss our family meetings that the kids oh loved so much;  I miss all of us on the couch watching movies; I even miss television; I miss driving out on the beach with the bubba truck; I miss going for walks with my husband;  I miss taking a shower or soaking in the tub whenever I want; but mostly I just plain miss all of US!

Life on the road is not easy, and one of the hardest things about this job is driving during the night.  I’m sure that eventually we will get used to it, but for now it is still a challenge most nights.  The other very hard part is trying to get a good night’s sleep.  Randy is having a harder time sleeping than I and he usually functions on 3 to 4 hours of sleep a day.  The roads are very rough and while the truck is running everything shakes and rattles making a lot of noise.  Some state roads are better than others, but it is hard to sleep when you are being shaken to death.  I used to kid around with my trainer about it when I was going thru training.  I was convinced that the vibration and bounce would make me lose weight LOL.  Remember those exercise machines from very long ago that had that band around the butt and then the machine would vibrate your entire buttocks?  Well we get the same effect in the truck except the entire body is shaken.  When we were deciding on making this life style change, a friend of my dad’s told me that the best way he can describe “over the road driving" is to compare it to prison.  Yea I can see how it can resemble prison, but with a beautiful and constantly changing view.  I enjoy driving very much, and I am not really itching to go home either, which is a good thing.  If the girls were home from college, then yes, I definitely would want to go home.  However, by staying out on the road I am avoiding the “empty nest syndrome”.  Oh and I also get to spend every minute with my wonderful husband.

There are many perks of this job.  At the top of the perks are the pay checks we get.  Every time Randy gets annoyed or frustrated, I just pull out one of our pay stubs and remind him of why we are doing this.  Another perk is that we can take time off any place in the entire country we want.  We simply tell the company the city we want to visit and the company has to get us there.  We can visit family or friends in 48 states (we can’t go to Hawaii or to Alaska).  On a daily basis we see breath taking sunsets and sunrises.  At night we see shooting stars.  We get to see all sorts of landscape.  We are starting to know Southern California very well, which I love by the way.  Sometimes I think that is where we are based out of.  By being on the road we are definitely eating better.  It is very hard to stop at restaurants to eat.  Mostly it is only truck stops that we can eat at, but we just can’t bring ourselves to doing so.  We decided that the best option for us is to eat in our truck.  We have a little fridge and a microware, and we shop at Wal-mart for groceries.  I think we have even lost a few pounds.  When we can get to a decent restaurant we do treat ourselves, but it is not very often.

Randy and I have everything to be thankful for.  We have great kids; great family and we both have jobs so we really have nothing to complain about.  We get to spend every minute together, which I’m still deciding if that is good or bad…ha ha .  I want to work hard as long as I possibly can so that I can help my kids out (and have a little fun).  In today’s economy it is extremely hard to get a head, but I surely want to try.
 
Please keep the comments coming.  It makes us very happy to know what you all think and that you are interested in our little journey.  Very best to you and your family…

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Fun never ends...

As I have mentioned in the past, Irene has had troubles speaking with Border Patrol when she is questioned at the Canadian border or at Ports of Entry in the US. I am happy to report that earlier today she made her first successful interview without a stutter or hesitation…but of course it was not quite perfect. As we pulled into the Texas Port of Entry, the officer asked if she was a US citizen in which she replied yes (good answer), then the officer asked if there was anyone else in the truck with her which she replied, my husband (another good answer)….so I’m thinking to myself, Irene is doing great, could this be the first time she gets it right without choking or asking for my help? The officer then asked the last and final question…what are you hauling ma’am in which Irene replied, “ahhh lots of stuff”. OMG I thought I was going to die. The officer who was trying his hardest not to laugh looked at Irene and said “you can go now ma’am”. I am writing this approximately 12 hours later and I still laugh when I think about it. This particular load was a hazmat load, which contained a large amount of explosives. Lots of stuff…is that all you could come up with Irene? “Well, Irene said, it’s better than saying a truck load full of explosives. He would have stopped us for sure she said. I looked at her laughing and said…I am sure he could read the placards (signs) on the sides. Two out of three questions is progress though so today she gets a gold star…lol…I am so proud of her!

Some good news from this week, as you all know I was ticketed in Arizona for not having a current registration card in the truck, well I spoke with the judge on Thursday morning via telephone, and explained myself in regards to the ticket. The judge was kind enough to dismiss the charges. Needless to say, I have no fine and no marks on my license. This makes me a very happy camper. Irene thinks we should send him a box of chocolates, but I’m not sure how he would take that.

Last week was a very busy one for us. We drove about 6600 miles and this week is no different. We are about to finish the week off with a little over 6800 miles. The road has taken us from Texas to Ohio, Indiana, California, back to Texas and now we will be leaving for Orlando. Once in Orlando we plan on taking a couple days off to visit Irene’s family and do our 34hr. reset at the same time. Funny while we were at Indiana earlier in the week it snowed and a gentleman said to me…its only snowed a couple times up here this year…yeah, no kidding I said…we have been here both times...lol

Well my honey has the microwave fired up and something smells good…so I gotta run…stay tuned!