Trip Log - Days 9 - 13

7/9/07
8:00 AM – We slept in as long as we could this morning. It is just 6 AM here and the place we deliver to doesn’t open until 8 AM. As we walked in to use the bathroom and brush our teeth, there was a woman standing outside the entrance. She looked nice enough, not scaggy like most women you see out here. As we came near, she asked if we smoked cigarettes. We both said no and I added, thank God, as I walked passed her. I knew what her next question would have been if we said yes. We are about 10 minutes from Vancouver, WA, but Carl wants to head over now so we are there the minute they open. He was concerned we might run into rush hour traffic and take longer than we expect to get there.

10:30 AM – Our first stop of the day is delivered and we are on our way to Gig Harbor, WA. It is just 8:30 AM here and still only 64 degrees. The air feels really chilly.

1:45 PM – Dropped off one pole in Gig Harbor. As with many of the other places we have delivered, getting in and out with the truck was nearly impossible, but Carl did it. We are now headed up to Bremerton, WA. It is just 25 miles up the road, so we should be there soon.

2:15 PM – Drove around a large bay in Bremerton on our way to our delivery. On one side of it was Puget Sound Navel Shipyard and full of large naval ships. It is just 80 degrees outside at 12:15 Pacific Time, just beautiful. We are actually delivering in two different locations in Bremerton. After this we will just have two poles left on the trailer. Carl plans to call about picking up a couple Isuzu trucks since we will have so much room. I hope there is a load of trucks going towards California or New Mexico. It will make more $’s for our time. (PIC)

4:00 PM – We dropped off the final six poles here in Bremerton and are on our way to get showers and dinner. YEAH!!! As we were leaving town, Carl reminded me it would be a while before we could get anywhere to use the bathroom, so we should use the portable toilet on the job site. Why I thought this was interesting enough to put into this blog is the name of the portable toilet was Honey-Pot. Can you imagine?

7:00 PM – I had noticed a Vanity Fair Outlet on our way up to Bremerton today. Carl was on the phone so I wasn’t able to show him which exit, but planned to see if we had time on our way back through. By the time we were, I had forgotten which exit it was on. Instead of checking each one I called Steve. He checked online for me and found the information in about 30 seconds. It was at Exit 82 off I-5. We have just left the outlet on our way to Exit 57 to eat and take a shower. We had planned to go further tonight, but Carl’s dispatcher called and told us not to go further than Portland, OR. She may have something to go with this load by morning. Glad she let us know so we could take the time to stop at the Vanity Fair Outlet. Carl found five new pair of jeans in his size, 34 x 30. We got two irregulars for just $10 each and three regular ones for $19 each. I could only find one bra in my size, but lucked up with a couple pair of pants. The first pair was a dark peach corduroy, in a long length, for just $3. Long lengths are so hard to find, especially on sale. I also found a pair of black twill for $7 in a long length. My other sale rack find was a long-sleeved blouse with a really unusual design that will go great with my khaki pants for work for just $5. When I finished at the register I had spent enough to get a $10 gift card, good until 12/31/07. I’m sure I will get another chance to shop at a VF outlet before then.

Later – At the truck stop and so hungry I feel sick, so we decided to eat first. I just ordered a hamburger steak with grilled onions and a baked potato. It came with a salad. As soon as it arrived I knew I would LOVE it and Carl was going to hate it. They made it with different kinds of lettuce leaves and baby spinach – delicious! After we ate we walked back to the truck and watched the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie. It was as much fun to watch as the first one had been.


7/10/08
7:30 AM – We woke up early to get fuel and showers before heading up the road. Just 5:30 AM here so won’t know anything about a load for a couple of hours. This gives us plenty of time for showers and breakfast. Keeping our fingers crossed about another load.

11:00 AM – We are still not sure about a load, but we have had showers, breakfast, picked-up a couple things in the store and have decided to head on towards Portland (57 miles) and call one more time from there before we continue to San Francisco, CA. Still a chance for another load, but doesn’t look good!

2:30 PM – Ran into traffic delays in Portland, OR. It took a lot longer to get through there than we had expected. When we finally got through it all we figured out there had been a truck broke down in the left lane of the Interstate. We finally made it through and continued to the TA in Aurora, OR for lunch; had a great buffet for only $8.50 each. The salad bar had fresh cantaloupe, pineapple, and honeydew melon. They were just putting lunch out when we got there, so everything was still very fresh. We actually had to wait a minute for the hot food to come out, but it was well worth the wait.

During our meal, I cut the knuckle of my right thumb on something under the table. I told the waitress because it was razor sharp and I was afraid a kid might crawl under the table and get cut bad. They brought me out some antibiotic ointment and a bandage. It made me feel better because I was worried it would get infected.

8:10 PM – We were welcomed to California with 6 miles of a 7% downgrade hill. Right at the bottom they wanted trucks to stop at the inspection station. They had large signs up telling trucks with no brakes to bypass the scales. For those of you who don’t know…if a trucker doesn’t handle a steep hill correctly they can get their truck brakes hot. When they get hot they quit working. Of course if they bypass the scales without brakes the state police will chase them until they can stop and give them a ticket for improper equipment.

9:30 PM – Just 50 miles north of Redding, CA, we saw something I have never seen before – A Bear Crossing sign. And I was impressed with the Elk Migration next 12 miles sign the other day – Silly me! It has just started raining and is the first rain we have had since July 4th. It smells so good up here in the mountains when it rains.

Later – We made it to Redding, CA and stopped to get something to eat. They had a Pizza Hut Express, so we ordered personal pan pizzas. We ordered our usual, Carl asked for Meat Lovers, and I asked for Veggie Lovers - Talk about opposites attract! Just too tired to go any further, since we had a good park (close to the building), we just spent the night here.


7/11/07
8:15 AM – We are on our way! Just 212 miles to go and we will be in San Francisco!!! If they would just let trucks drive faster than 55 in California, we could get there a lot faster. This is going to be a long day.

Later – We drove through Corning, CA. They consider themselves the olive city. There were large olive orchards on both sides of the road, for miles. Right after we got through Corning I saw my first palm tree of the trip. I didn’t realize how much I missed palm trees. We had three in the yard of the house I grew up in.

Noon – The last sign I saw said we were 40’ above sea level and we have come down a big hill since then, so we are probably below sea level at this point. As we drove through Rollingwood, CA, across an overpass, we saw a large group of police cars and motorcycle cops congregated below. There was one car sitting on shoulder right before the exit ramp. Just as we got passed him, he pulled out in the middle of the Interstate and threw on his lights. As we came to the on ramp at least 15 motorcycle cops got on the Interstate and came around us on both sides fast, with their lights and sirens going. We didn’t know what was going on. As we continued up the Interstate we saw each on-ramp had a motorcycle cop blocking traffic from entering the freeway. There was no traffic on the road clear up to the toll bridge we were taking across to San Francisco. One of the last overpasses we went under had a fire truck sitting about halfway across with lights on and fire fighters standing around it. We decided it might be a fire fighters funeral. Good thing we weren’t a half a minute later or we would have been sitting on the Interstate for a long while.

1:00 PM – We are finally at our destination. It shouldn’t take too long to unload since they are only getting one pole.

1:20 PM – We are already unloaded and ready to go. We are still trying to get a load of generators out of here before we leave San Francisco. Carl is calling now. Either way we will head to New Mexico after while.

1:45 PM – As we were driving by the San Francisco Airport, Carl told me a story about delivering here years ago. He had delivered a jet engine to the airport when he was leased to Warren. While there, the guy unloading him gave him a 50th year commemorative medallion. These medallions were only given to airport employees at the time, but he had one left, so gave it to Carl. This story actually began at the Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. They had an engine with an oil leak. Carl picked up a good engine at the Denver Airport and took it to Dulles. They had a crew from New York sitting on the runway waiting for his arrival. They exchanged the engines and Carl took the one with the leak to the airport in San Francisco because they were the only facility equipped to repair it.

2:45 PM – On our way to the truck stop as we drove along CA-205E we saw where someone had cut a big cross in the grass that was at least 100 ft long. Within the cross they had written, “Jesus Saves.” At the top of the cross there stood a huge buck deer. It was just standing there looking out over everything, as if he owned it. Right above this all the mountains had hundreds of huge windmills all along the tops of them, generating electricity.

6:30 PM – We just finished eating dinner at the Flying J in Ripon, CA. After we ate, Carl got enough fuel to get a shower. Everywhere else they have let us have two showers, but this one made us pay $6.50 for mine – So I took a loooong one! We checked for the next Wal-Mart up the road. Carl needs cold medicine and I never miss a chance to shop at Wal-Mart. While I was checking on the Internet for Wal-Mart he was looking for loads. Only one near here and it was too big to go with our one pole. Hope we can find something between here and New Mexico. Otherwise we will be back in Jackson, MS loading more poles.

10:30 PM – We stopped at a very small truck stop, with a large parking lot, in Tulare, CA. The lot was nearly empty so we had no trouble finding a park. We just about have the routine down of who does what to get the truck ready for bedtime. Even Phoenix has learned where she needs to stand and when to go there.


7/12/07
8:15 AM – We are up and ready (to be home). I guess the rough roads yesterday did me in. My lower back is extremely painful, but feels some better after a good night sleep.

12:30 PM – We have spent the morning driving through country that is starting to look a lot more like where I grew up in Arizona. There is beautiful desert as far as the eye could see. When we got to the crossroads of CA-58 and US 395 there was a group of truck stops, restaurants, and souvenir shops. Right in the middle of it all sat a little fruit stand. We had driven by vineyards earlier today. There were people out harvesting the grapes. I wanted Carl to stop and let me climb over the fence to try and buy some. Of course we didn’t. The fruit stand had grapes listed on their signs so we stopped. We hit the jackpot – It was a grower and his daughter. They offered samples of everything and we ended up with white peaches, white nectarines, plums and purple grapes. Everything had just been picked yesterday, so was fresh and sweet. It was hard to decide what to get it was all so good!

1:45 PM – We finished lunch at the TA in Barstow, CA. (TA stands for Travel Centers of America) Another buffet – but I told Carl yesterday I think they have gotten a lot better since I teamed with him. They are better than anything we have in Macomb or Burlington. Very Fresh!!!

5:35 PM – We have finally made it to Arizona. Right after we came into the state we passed an inspection station flying the US and Arizona State flags. I almost got chills bumps just looking at it.

7:00 PM – We stopped for the first time since getting into AZ at a TA below Kingman. Carl filled the truck with fuel and we got out a couple pieces of fruit to eat while going down the road. Yummy! Dinner will have to wait until we have time to stop. We are planning peanut butter and banana sandwiches again.

8:30 PM – We just passed the mother of all deer warning signs – Watch for Deer Next 70 miles.

15 Minutes Later – Elk Country; Be Alert Next 65 Miles.

8:45 PM – We just passed the exits that take you up to the Grand Canyon. Just 62 miles – So close and yet so far.

9:15 PM – Stopped at a rest area in the mountains, just before Flagstaff. There was a big temperature difference from Kingman. Three Native American women had jewelry, for sale, laid out on blankets around the entrance to the restrooms. They had some beautiful necklaces and earrings. It was not as authentic as what my Dad use to buy on the Indian Reservations, but still nice. Flagstaff is just 14 miles up the road; I bet it looks a lot different than the last time I was there.

9:25 PM – Went from 35’ above sea level this morning to 7335’. It is doing a number on my inner ear.

10:30 PM – We finally stopped to eat our dinner and get to bed. We found a really nice truck stop in Winslow, AZ. It sits right next door to a Wal-Mart Super Center and a Denny’s restaurant. Carl made a note of this exit since it is easy to get into and within walking distance of a Wal-Mart.


7/13/07
8:30 AM – We are on the road with our normal breakfast. Carl eats Pop Tarts and I have a yogurt with my favorite brown crackers. We are heading to Gallop, NM to drop off our last pole and look for another load. Just 120 miles and we will be there.

10:30 AM – Even with terrible directions we were able to deliver our one lone pole by 10:30. Since it would be a few minutes before we got to Wal-Mart to get Carl’s sinus medicine I went inside to find a ladies room. While using the restroom I saw a sign in the ladies room I have never seen before – Do Not Spit in the Sink. Of course I had to ask the secretary as I was leaving about the sign. I told her I believe I have never seen a sign like theirs in a ladies room before. She laughed and told me they had one electrician that always stepped in and spit tobacco in the sink whenever he was there. That’s what I figured, but still thought it was a funny sign.

11:30 AM – Gallop, NM has a Wal-Mart at Exit 20 off I-40, which just happened to be the exit where we delivered our last pole. It wasn’t too hard to get into. Carl sat in the truck and started working on our next load while I went inside to start working on our list. I was just about finished when he called to talk with me about our options. Option 1 – Drive 1100 miles to Jackson, MS in hopes of a load of poles going to the mid-west on Monday. (There are 12 trucks sitting there right now waiting on loads.) Option 2 – Drive 650 miles to Texas to pick up a load going to North Carolina on Monday. (There are currently loads in North Carolina going to Illinois, not sure they would still be there when we get there.) Option 3 – Drive 700 miles to pick up a load in Oklahoma going to Pennsylvania on Monday. I opted for number 3 because we could go by the house to drop me and Phoenix off with only 130 miles out of route. I am physically exhausted and I’m ready to be home. The trip has been interesting and a lot of fun, but hard on my body…bouncing around in the truck.

1:30 PM – Made it to the Petro truck stop in Milan, NM to get a welcome shower. We were lucky enough to get a park right beside a big fenced in grassy area and close to the building. After our showers we came back to the truck and got on the Internet for a little while. I got started on updating this blog…just four days behind schedule.

6:30 PM - We decided we were hungry and went in for the buffet. Friday nights are their steak buffet, which Carl especially likes. We ate all we could hold and headed back to the truck. I stopped at the ladies room and when I came out Carl was having his knife sharpened. When we stepped outside it had cooled down a lot, so we got Phoenix and took her for a game of fetch. She lives for fetch and hasn’t been able to play the entire time we have been gone. She was so happy and played until she couldn’t.

Later – Back at the truck, working on this blog and Carl is playing on the Internet. We are going to spend the night here since the next truck stop is over two hours up the road. We only have 10 hours of driving to do before Monday morning, so can take our time.