Our New York City Run...

Our New York City experience…

Wow! What a place to visit.  I’ve been in New York City before (once or twice), but experiencing it in the truck surely gives you a different perspective.  I am going to try to explain this experience the best that I can.  Let me start by telling you that Randy almost suffered a heart attack and that is putting it mildly.  Actually, I believe it was more like he was in need of squeezing the Charmin…LOL.  While driving on a six lane highway (three lanes each way) Randy started approaching a bridge and as he got closer he started noticing that the bridge had three different height limits.  That was strange he thought to himself.  So as he approached closer he could see the sign for lane one said 13’3” limit, the sign for lane two said 13’4” limit, and the sign for lane three said 13’5” limit.  (Now keep in mind that the height on our truck is 13’ 6”.)  Randy was in the middle lane and quickly changed to the highest limit lane…but by this time it was way too late.  His heart fell to the floor and he decided to close his eyes and hope for the best as he went under the bridge.  He was convinced our truck was about to be shortened by at least an inch.  As he looked up he noticed the concrete above him was broken out about 3 to 4 inches.  Evidently this was from other trucks hitting it over the years.  Wow that was close, I heard him say.  Our career had almost come to an end.

As I was sitting in the passenger seat with my camera in hand and going over one of the bridges in New York, I noticed a sign that said “Use of Cameras Prohibited”.  What?  Isn’t this a free country?  Well not only is the use of a cameras prohibited, but this rule or law is also strictly enforced.  Randy thought it may have something to do with 9/11.  Hmmm so I am thinking that if a terrorist truly wanted pictures or diagrams of the bridge, I am positive that they could Google it and find all the information they could possibly want.  So maybe, just maybe it has to due to the flash from the camera?!.  I could understand blinding someone with a flash while driving.  Ok so I managed to convince myself that this sounds reasonable and if stopped by police I would try to talk my way out of this one.  I proceeded to turn off the flash on my camera and the picture taking started.  I did look behind us to make sure that the cops were not after us.  After all the “Use of Camera’s is Strictly Prohibited”…lol

So back to New York City…I felt like the city was just suffocating me.  The high rises, all the vehicles, and all the walls around me, just felt very restricting.  I think that literally every square inch was accounted for.  We drove under a big high rise, which was strange.  It reminded me a lot of being underground, which I only seen in the movies, but you know what I mean.  Everything was so tight and snug and it seemed like there wasn’t room for anything.  Now mind you that we did not go thru the best part of town, and it was very gloomy and rainy outside.  I am putting some pictures for you to see.  Look at the pictures of the cemetery.  Even though the pictures did not come out very well, (I could not resist) look at how tight the grave stones are.  After we left New York City I felt like I could breathe again… there was a sky, air, and trees I always thought I could be a big city girl…guess I was wrong…just couldn’t imagine living like that.

Of course we did have some laughs along the way…as always.  Randy has a supply of 5 hr. energy drinks he keeps in the truck for when he drives at night.  This is by no means for keeping awake…just a little pick me up for when he feels flat.  Well one day he noticed one drink was missing and asked me if I had drank it.  “Yes” I replied and I proceeded to tell him exactly what I thought of his little drink.  Well, I told him, I know now why they say that it is fast acting.  Once the taste hits your lips and tongue, the nasty flavor immediately wakes you up.  It makes you want to jump out of your skin.  Oh, and do you know why they call it 5 hour energy ?  Cause it takes about five hours to get that nasty taste out of your mouth.  Randy busted out laughing and said he would have loved to seen the look on my face when I drank it.  LOL

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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