A time of sorrow

Another year has past and unfortunately this one ends with some sad notes. A fire took the lives of a mother and 5 year old son down the block. Four other children escaped to call for help.....their father, a truck driver was not home at the time. Our hearts go out to the family...

The morning after.....

After you attend a big wild party (and have a sleep over) you wake up to drag yourself home to see the haphazardly parked cars. Early morning at a truck stop is just like that!

The night before people pull in after long days on the road and  pretty much park wherever they can. People are parked in no parking zones (like we were last night) taking a chance at getting kicked out. Trucks are blocking other trucks. Then there are those who are lucky enough to have stopped before the rush and get a spot that's actually between the lines!

So the next time you wake up at a truck stop.....just pretend everyone was at a big party (including you) and you had such a good time along with a few too many that you just can't remember it!

I Still Don't Get It

We just passed through a weigh station in the state of New Jersey. We pulled in and there were two state policemen waving the trucks through and over the scales. Did they weigh the truck? I mean...did it actually do something? Was there actually a reason we pulled off the highway in the middle of rush hour traffic, risking accidents on the freeway? Or was it for nothing? How much do these guys get paid anyway? And what about all the trucks that didn't stop? How come they didn't have to stop?.....do they know something I don't?

White....the new black

Traveling across this country gives you a lot of time to think. Added to that is the fact that we get to see inside some places the public never sees as well as deliver items the general population doesn't want to know exists.

Time on your hands, deserts, places where there's no cellular service even though you can see the towers on top of distant mountains, places called Roswell, and the dodododo factor makes for some great conspiracy theories for those of us with an active imagination!

Regardless, there is one thing I know for a fact......

The next time you're next to a black SUV with tinted windows don't worry about who's inside that one....worry about who's in the white one right behind it!

Back to work!

Had a great week in Lake Tahoe over the 4th. We did stay in service but it was so slow if we would have been stuck at a truck stop all week we would have been miserable!

So it looks like our run through the Dakotas, Montana, Utah and Nevada will circle us around through California and back through Colorado and only the wind knows where we will go from there!

This is a good one.....

At a delivery today and trying to find the correct building on a  military base (that's your first red flag). Nothing matches the "address" on our paperwork (remember military base). So after driving up and down the same road for 20 minutes (in a truck with a logo as big as your house).

We pull into a building where there are loading docks and ring the bell. The sign on the door says " do not ring bell more than once, we hear you". So we wait some more....  then we call the number, again. Quote...." yes Sir, I don't know where you are but I'll come find you".

An interesting morning!

North Dakota prarie changed forever?

I've spent the last year traveling the lower 48 states and Canada but I haven't seen anything like the oil boom in western North Dakota. They say the output of oil will surpass the Alaska pipeline.

I visited North Dakota over 15 years ago, traveling in a giant square so I could see it all, but I never saw anything like this. There are travel trailers as far as the eye can see, housing that resembles military barracks and so much new construction along highway 2 in the west that it takes my breath away.

Need a job....there was 39 pages of jobs on one website! Everything from geologists, biologists, safety managers, technicians, national guard, electricians and everything in between.

If you aren't afraid of the cold and you love to duck hunt this is the place for you!!!!!